Imagine a computer consisting of one continuous screen that either folds into laptop form or lays flat like a tablet, with little humps that pop out of the screen on demand to create a physical keyboard.
That's what Asus is thinking with its Waveface concept computers. The manufacturer had a series of fanciful ideas behind glass at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. An Asus representative told me these ideas are four or five years away from reality, but then said he didn't want to give a firm timeline.
The concept I described (and pictured) above is called the Waveface Light. It consists of a curvy screen with no hinges. Two metal bars on the back of the concept help the user neatly fold the screen, but otherwise the look is organic, with fabric backing. Also on display was a smaller screen that folds into a wrist band and a large OLED screen.
All of Asus' dream tech would communicate, so if you performed a task on the Waveface Ultra, the information would automatically be shared with the larger screen. You'd also be able to use the smaller screens as remote controls for the larger displays.
Fantastical as it seems, an Asus representative said the short-term goal is to borrow some of these ideas for actual products. For instance, the idea of sharing media and images between small and large screens is practical today. You could see it in Asus' Eee keyboard, an all-in-one PC that communicates wirelessly with a monitor, and shows photos and video on the big screen as you navigate the keyboard's built-in 5-inch multi-touch screen.
Now all we have to do is check back in five years to see if the rest of the technology came to be.
