PlayStation 4 vs. PC graphics: Can Sony even compete?

Sony's PlayStation 4 launch last Wednesday was monumental, and not just because it may very well be the first console announcement in history where the company failed to actually show the console itself.

While the rest of the world was bemoaning the mythical, missing hardware, Sony also announced some basic high-level hardware specifications for the impending machine. Hidden within the technical jargon was a secret: This so-called console is in fact a full-blown x86 PC at its multicored core. More interestingly, the specs indicate that unlike its predecessor—which was an absolute beast when it launched seven years back—the PlayStation 4 will likely lag behind cutting-edge gaming PCs from the very first day it hits the streets.

That's not exactly a surprise. "If you predict how hardware evolves at the current speed of evolution, and then take consumer pricing evolution, already two years ago you could see [that] whatever [console] launches in 2013 or 2014 or 2015 will never beat a PC again," Crytek head Cevat Yerli recently told Eurogamer.

Sony just proved Yerli correct. Should gamers on either side of the console/PC divide be worried?

The PlayStation 4 by the numbers

Sony's PlayStation 4 controller was a big focus at the console's announcement event.

Before we dive into portents, let's talk about the PlayStation 4's core technical specifications and how they stack up against desktop gaming rigs. (Fear not—I'll try to keep the jargon to a minimum.)

A "semi-custom" AMD accelerated processing unit (APU) lies at the heart of the PlayStation 4. It's made up of eight CPU cores based on the company's upcoming "Jaguar" architecture. Those Jaguar cores are joined by a next-generation Radeon GPU featuring 18 compute units capable of pumping out 1.84 teraflops of performance power.

As with every other AMD APU, both the CPU cores and the GPU are situated on the same physical die, and the two will have a whopping 8GB of blazing-fast GDDR5 memory to share between them. (Cue Keanu Reeves: Whoa.) Some other specs were announced, but the central APU is really the focus here.

Most of the intricate details about the PlayStation 4's custom-designed hardware are still shrouded in secrecy. But by leveraging what we already know about AMD's technology, we can make a reasonable guesstimate about the console's performance compared to modern-day gaming PCs—and it ain't exactly awe-inspiring.

Comparing apples to apples

First, there's the matter of the CPU cores. Without getting into technicalities, AMD's Jaguar architecture is the impending successor to the "Bobcat" architecture found in the company's current low-power APUs, and it is not especially beefy. While the idea of an octa-core console sounds dreamy on the surface, the illusion is shattered when you realize that on the PC side of things, Jaguar APUs will be modest processors targeted at tablets, high-end netbooks (ha!), and entry-level laptops.

AMD

In other words, the PlayStation 4's CPU performance isn't likely to rock your socks compared to a PC sporting an AMD Piledriver- or Bulldozer-based processor. It might not even trump a lowly Intel Core i3 processor, especially if Eurogamer's early PlayStation 4 leaks continue to prove accurate and those eight cores are clocked at 1.6GHz.

Then there's the GPU. The specs don't line up with any of AMD's Radeon HD 7000-series graphics cards, and we can't be sure just how custom the semi-custom GPU actually is. Nonetheless, 1.84 teraflops of performance puts the GPU just ahead of the Radeon HD 7850 and well under the Radeon 7870. That also holds true if you assume the PlayStation 4 GPU's 18 compute units sport a build similar to the GCN architecture used to build AMD's Radeon HD 7000-series graphics cards.

The Radeon HD 7850 is nothing to sneeze at. Indeed, if you're looking for a midrange video card, it's a stellar option. But it's still just a midrange card, not a graphical trail blazer—and yet it will form the backbone of the PlayStation 4's gaming chops for years to come.

Overall, if you compare its hardware to what's available in today's PC landscape, the PlayStation 4 is basically powered by a low-end CPU and a midrange GPU. It even packs a mechanical hard drive in an age when many PC gamers have moved on to lightning-quick solid-state drives.

Comparing apples to hula hoops

But wait! I'm not slamming the PlayStation 4. A gaming PC is not a gaming console. Unlike gaming PCs, which can be overclocked and water cooled and often cost north of $1000, consoles need to balance performance, cost, and thermals in order to appeal to the mainstream masses while simultaneously staying small and quiet enough for living room use. These constraints place inherent limits on what these next-gen consoles can accomplish.

"Given consumer pricing, and given the cost of production of a gamer PC and the amount of watts of power it needs—which is like a fridge—it's impossible [for next-gen consoles to match the power of gaming PCs]," Crytek's Yerli explained in his Eurogamer interview.

All that said, Sony's design decisions make a lot of sense. (Just ask Doom creator and programming prodigy John Carmack.) Assuming AMD's Jaguar cores follow the lead of their Bobcat predecessors, they'll sip power and run cool and quiet.

Sure, an entry-level mobile CPU may not match the raw power of a decent desktop processor, but the PlayStation 4's power will still blow the pants off the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in terms of sheer computing chops—and the GPU has always been the more important component for consoles in any case.

Simply focusing on nuts and bolts, however, ignores the biggest trick the PlayStation 4 has up its sleeve.

"Hardware-only, the PS4’s 2TFLOP capabilities put them on the same bar as AMD’s 7870 when you factor in GPU and CPU," Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, told us via email. Important note: Moorhead was a longtime VP of Strategy at AMD prior to founding his firm.

"This is only one view, though—the other being software," Moorhead says. "Sony’s development kit and games operate closer to the actual metal of the hardware, meaning they can get it to do more for games than a traditional PC. The PS3 has seven-year-old graphics technology in it, yet it can deliver some very good graphical experiences. Imagine what the PS4 will be able to do with current high-end technology."

Better yet, don't imagine. The video below shows a live demo of the PlayStation 4 titleKillzone: Shadow Fall being played on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." (Jump ahead two minutes to cut straight to the gaming action.) Uncanny valley, here we come!

What does it all mean?

So what do the PlayStation 4's computer-esque specs portend for the games industry? By adopting the oh-so-familiar x86 CPU architecture used in PCs, Sony made it a lot easier for developers to build games that work on both computers and consoles with minimal fuss—especially if the Xbox 720 also utilizes a similar AMD APU with 8 Jaguar cores, as has been uttered in fairly credible rumors.

Even better, PC gamers should hopefully see the number of shoddy console ports drop precipitously once the next-gen consoles are here, because console developers will already pretty much be writing their games for PC hardware. The transition may also pay dividends for console gamers, since tapping into the familiar x86 architecture could mean console developers will be able to put the pedal to Moorhead's proverbial metal early in the PlayStation 4's lifecycle.

The PlayStation 4 is also a major win for AMD, and one that will be amplified if the next-gen Xbox indeed uses an AMD APU of its own. Not only does the PlayStation 4 ensure a steady revenue stream for years to come, but it also ensures that all games developed with an eye toward console conversion will be optimized to work on AMD's GPUs—a huge advantage for the (somewhat struggling) hardware giant. The appearance of APUs in mainstream consoles also advances AMD's "heterogeneous system architecture" initiative.

Finally, the PlayStation 4's APU-powered core only cements the fact that gaming is undergoing a convergence. Sorry, pitchfork-wielding fanboys, but the walls you've so vociferously defended on either side of the PC-versus-console debate are being torn down.

CRYTEK

Consoles, computers—they all play Crysis these days. But PCs do it better.

PC gaming is breaking away from the desktop, consoles are streaming games to smartphones and being controlled by Windows apps, the PlayStation 4 is nothing more than a computer in a console's clothing, and you can tweet from absolutely any gaming device you can get your grubby hands on. (If the ability to send 140-character messages from everywhere isn't the true meaning of convergence, I don't know what is.)

Yes, the future of gaming is shaping up to be an amorphous any-screen blob, but within that blob, consoles and PCs will continue to remain the commanders of their respective niches. The next generation of consoles will provide an easy-peasy plug-and-play gaming experience, complete with killer extra features and performance that far exceeds what's possible with the current console generation's hardware.

But if you're the type of gamer who lives and breathes on the bleeding edge of polygon-pumping power—one who will accept no less than the highest of details settings and the smoothest of frame rates—it appears as though PC gaming will remain the undisputed heavyweight champion for the foreseeable future. Just remember that great performance comes with a hefty price.

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How to make Ubuntu Linux look like Windows 7

Windows 8's tile-based interface puts a bold new spin on the familiar Windows interface—so bold that many long-time Windows users are threatening to jump ship to another operating system rather than learn Microsoft's "modern" UI. Of course, you'll still find yourself in foreign territory even if you actually follow through and make the jump. Installing a new operating system is easy, but wrapping your head around an alien environment can be more difficult, even if you're using a comparatively user-friendly OS like Ubuntu Linux.

Luckily, Linux is customizable—much, much more than Windows. In fact, if you're having trouble with the transition (or plopping Ubuntu on a parent's PC), you can tweak and tune the OS to feel pretty darned close to the Windows environment you've forsaken.

I’ll go through two methods here. One adapts Ubuntu’s default Unity desktop to make it feel slightly more like Windows, while the other entails a bit more work and a different desktop interface entirely to create a truly Microsoft-like experience.

Power through Gmail with 21 time-saving tricks

Gmail is the world's most popular email service, but some of its best features are hiding in plain sight, unknown to most users. Although Gmail provides unsurpassed search capabilities, great spam filtering, and loads of free storage (10GB at latest check), it also offers much more—and there's always room for improvement, too. With a little know-how and some key add-ons, you can make Google's webmail service jump through hoops in ways you never thought possible.

Tired of Gmail's threaded conversation view? Turn it off. Want to learn keyboard shortcuts? A pop-up cheat sheet is built right in. And wouldn’t it be nice if you could save attachments straight to your Dropbox account? Easy enough—with the right tool.

This guide will help Gmail novices and experts alike squeeze more from the service. Most of the tips are based on using Gmail in a Web browser, but be sure to see the "Gmail from the outside in" section to learn how to make the most of Gmail even when you’re not in your browser.

How to banish Metro from your Windows 8 PC forever

In a world exploding with tablets and touchscreens, Microsoft's decision to saddle Windows 8 with the finger-friendly Modern interface formerly known as Metro makes a lot of sense—for Microsoft. But if you're among the majority of Windows users who aren't using a tablet or a touchscreen, the focus on Live Tiles and mobile-centric apps is more of a frustration than a feature. Vexingly, Windows 8 is riddled with sneaky ways to drag you out of the desktop and dump you on that shifting, shiny Start screen.

Windows 8 and its controversial interface will come preinstalled on practically every computer sold over the next few years, but fear not! Die-hard desktop jockeys don't have to learn to stop worrying and love the Live Tiles.

Here's a step-by-step guide to banishing the Modern interface from your Windows 8 life. Once it's gone, you might just come to appreciate Windows 8 even more than you do Windows 7. I have.

Rumored Sony PS4 controller shows new thumbsticks

As the speculation on Sony's next game console is ramps up ahead of next week's press event, a pair of images have surfaced, purporting to show details on a new PlayStation controller.

The first image was posted by Destructoid, which noted that it may be one of several prototypes that Sony has tested. IGN and Kotaku have also confirmed the authenticityof the photo with their own sources, while pointing out that it is an early prototype. A second photo appeared on the GameTrailers forums Friday.

The most noticeable feature is what appears to be a touch pad at the center of the controller. The pad itself may be clickable, according to both Kotaku and IGN.

This means we could see some touch controls shoehorned into games, as we've seen on Sony's PlayStation Vita, but the pad also could come in handy for navigating on-screen menus or web sites. A speaker or microphone grille just underneath the touch pad could allow for voice commands.

The supposed prototype also shows a glowing strip along the top edge of the controller. This could be evidence of PlayStation Move motion-control integration, working in conjunction with a camera that tracks movement.

Thumbstick design is of interest

To be honest, though, none of those developments would interest me as much as the design of the thumbsticks seen on the prototype. Sony has been using convex-shaped surfaces ever since it started adding thumbsticks to its original PlayStation controllers. The surfaces of the prototype sticks are concave, similar to those of Microsoft's Xbox 360.

Granted, we're talking about a prototype—and an unconfirmed one at that—but redesign of the controller thumbsticks would be a big change for players of first- and third-person shooters.

GAMETRAILERS.COM

An image of a possible new Sony PlayStation controller

Sony's controllers have always felt a bit looser than Microsoft's, with a larger degree of throw to them. The difference is a matter of preference, of course. (Sony's controllers have been a little too unwieldy for me, as the convex shape allows my thumbs to shift around during play).

The use of concave sticks would help, even if the actual controls aren't any tighter. At the very least, it looks like Sony is thinking about shaking things up for once.

Sony will hold its press event in New York on February 20, at 6 p.m. ET. The company hasn't said what the event is about, but it seems obvious that new console hardware is the topic.

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Pirate Bay to sue antipiracy site for pirating its design

An antipiracy group may find itself in legal trouble after borrowing the look of the Pirate Bay Web site for a new campaign.

The Pirate Bay's Web site.

(Credit: Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

The folks behind Pirate Bay are upset over a new Web site from antipiracy group CIAPC that looks just like their own site.

To kick off its latest antipiracy campaign, the Finland-based CIAPC (Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Center) set up a new Web site urging people to find more legal means to download music, TV shows, and other digital content. To hammer home its point, the CIAPC site intentionally borrowed the exact design and style of the Pirate Bay site.

The group even duplicated the CSS stylesheet used by the Pirate Bay, ensuring that its site is a virtual duplicate, according to torrent news site TorrentFreak. The only difference is that the CIAPC's site shows an image of a sinking ship in contrast to the floating pirate ship that marks the Pirate Bay site.

But the move seems to have landed the CIAPC in hot water.

The CIAPC's antipiracy Web site.

(Credit: Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

"We are outraged by this behavior," a Pirate Bay spokesman told TorrentFreak. "People must understand what is right and wrong. Stealing material like this on the Internet is a threat to economies worldwide. We feel that we must make a statement and therefore we will sue them for copyright infringement."

The Pirate Bay's usage policy states that organizations can use the system only if they first get permission from the system operators, something the CIAPC obviously didn't do. As such, the site imposes a fine on any group that violates the terms.

"We reserve the rights to charge for usage of the site in case this policy is violated," the policy states. "The charge will consist of a basic fee of EUR 5,000 ($6,663) plus bandwidth and other costs that may arise due to the violation."

The Pirate Bay itself is no stranger to lawsuits. Its site provides links to torrents, allowing people to freely download music, TV shows, movies, and apps. As such, it's gotten intolegal skirmishes with copyright organizations. But the site has a way of staying alive.The CIAPC isn't likely to pay the fine, so the Pirate Bay seems determined to take the group to court.

In February 2012, the Pirate Bay stopped hosting torrents directly and instead became more of a search engine for people to download files from other torrent sites.

CNET contacted both the Pirate Bay and the CIAPC for comment and will update the story if we receive any information.

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Secure boot loader now available to allow Linux to work on Windows 8 PCs

Freeing the way for independent Linux distributions to be installed on Windows 8 computers, the Linux Foundation has released software that will allow Linux to work with computers running the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) firmware.

The Linux Foundation Secure Boot System solves a fundamental problem for many Linux distributions, by providing a way for a Linux-based OS to run on new hardware controlled by UEFI firmware, also known as "secure-boot" technology.

"The Linux Foundation wishes not only to enable Linux to keep booting in the face of the new wave of secure boot systems, but also to enable those technically savvy users who wish to do so to actually take control of the secure boot process by installing their own platform key," wrote Linux Foundation technical advisory board member James Bottomley,who led the development of the bootloader, in a statement.

As a potential replacement to the long-used BIOS firmware, UEFI is an industry initiative to secure computers against malware by designing the computer's firmware to require a trusted key before booting the operating system, or any hardware inside the computer, such as a graphics card.

UEFI would provide a foundation for a chain of trust that would connect all the way up to the software layer, which could thwart attempts to install illicit, and harmful, software on computers.

Windows 8

Microsoft requires UEFI on all machines running Windows 8. While OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have the option of providing a way to turn off UEFI so other OSes can run on the machine, many in the Linux community fear that OEMs will not provide a UEFI off-switch, thereby not allowing other OSes without a key to run on these machines.

A generic Linux distribution will not run on a Windows 8 computer without keys.

"In secure mode ... the platform will only execute EFI binaries signed with a key that is whitelisted in the UEFI secure boot signature database," Bottomley explained.

The latest releases of many major Linux distributions now include a bootloader or a shim of some sort to work with UEFI, including Ubuntu 12.10 and Fedora 18. This UEFI requirement, however, has been seen as a roadblock for those who like to create their own distributions of Linux. The Linux Foundation bootloader provides a hash code, certified by Microsoft, and support infrastructure to boot a generic Linux kernel.

"We have in place a protocol where Microsoft is happy for us to hand off from the initial Microsoft signed EFI binary load to a separately verified EFI binary chain, which the individual distributions control," Bottomley wrote.

Other efforts

This is not the first approach someone in the Linux camp has devised for working with UEFI. Security developer Matthew Garrett released his own shim last year.

A shim is different from a bootloader even though both override the UEFI security system to load Linux. Garrett's shim is hardcoded to work with a specific generic bootloader, called elilo, that boots the Linux kernel.

UEFI

The Linux Foundation bootloader, which Bottomley said technically is more of "a preloader," can work with any generic Linux bootloader. "We did this because our mission is to enable any bootloader in the Linux ecosystem to work with secure boot," Bottomley said.

Garrett and Bottomley are discussing the possibility of merging Garrett's shim with the Linux Foundation's bootloader. Garrett helped Bottomley create the bootloader, as did other developers from the Linux Foundation, Red Hat, and Canonical.

UEFI has proved to be a challenge to implement even for Microsoft Windows. Garrett also reported that certain Samsung laptops running Windows 8 could permanently stop working due to a bug in how the Samsung firmware stores system crash data in the UEFI storage space.

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LinkedIn shuts down would-be hook-up service

LinkedIn has shut off its API access to “Bang With Professionals,” a Web service that was intended to facilitate more, say, intimate connections among users of the business-oriented social networking site.

The service was designed to allow LinkedIn users to anonymously search for people in their LinkedIn network who would be interested in meeting up for casual sex.

“We all had a good laugh,” the founders of Bang With Professionals said Friday on the website, less than a month after its launch. “We all knew it was a matter of time before our API key was revoked.”

Here’s what was left of the Bang With Professionals website on Friday afternoon.

How to optimize Windows 8 on old hardware (2)

Disable unnecessary items

To further optimize Windows 8 on older hardware, we recommend disabling as many unnecessary startup items and services as possible, disabling any unused hardware, and turning off any nonessential Live Tiles.

Turning off Live Tiles couldn’t be any easier. On the Start Screen, simply right-click on any Live Tile and select the option to turn it off. By default, Windows 8 launches with the Sports, Travel, Finance, News, Mail, Bing and Weather live tiles all active. If there are any you can live without, disable them to prevent Windows 8 from constantly fetching data and updating them.

After a clean installation on an Asus Eee PC, Windows 8 would launch with 34 running processes and consume 30% (.6GB) of available memory.

How to optimize Windows 8 on old hardware (1)

Microsoft has made a point of advertising the performance enhancements and optimizations being made to Windows 8. Although Windows 7 was well received and typically offered better performance and stability than its much-maligned predecessor, Windows Vista, Microsoft had some loftier goals in mind for the jump to Windows 8.

Although it’s too early to confirm that Microsoft has achieved all of their goals, it appears they're on the right track. Windows 8 has generally been an improvement over Windows 7 on the few systems we've installed the RTM release on: they boot up and shut down quicker, for example, and overall performance seems faster. This makes sense, because the new OS is built to boot and shut down faster than previous editions, use less memory and disk space, consume fewer combined processor and GPU resources, and accommodate a wider range of devices and screen sizes.

The Windows 8 file manager, task manager, and even the setup process itself has been optimized; the ultimate goal for these improvements is to enhance performance and minimize resource consumption, which in turn would lower power consumption and potentially improve battery life on laptops, tablets and other mobile devices. So while it's not terribly expensive to build a new PC tuned for Windows 8 (check out our guide to building a speedy Windows 8 PC for under $500) you might want to try installing it on your old PC first and implementing a few of the tricks and tweaks we've learned from testing Microsoft's latest operating system.

Facebook Connect issue wreaks havoc on the Web

A temporary glitch in the social network's system rerouted people from other sites to a Facebook error message.

Facebook had a temporary glitch this afternoon that pulled people from different Web sites to a Facebook error message when they tried to access an account that was linked to the social-networking site.

TNW's Alex Wilhelm first tweeted about this at 4:15 p.m. after trying to read an article from a news site: "Reading article. Dragged from two diff sites to Facebook, which displays what appears to be a permissions error. Wa?"

The issue, which was related to Facebook Connect, was resolved around 4:40 p.m.

Ubuntu OS smartphones to hit stores in October

The open-source operating system for PCs and TVs is making its way to mobile. Look for the first phones to arrive in the fall.

It's been said that Ubuntu's open-source operating system would be available on smartphonesby the end of the year, and now it's confirmed that consumers can get their hands on such devices in October.

Ubuntu is made by Canonical, and according to the Wall Street Journal, the founder and CEO of Canonical Mark Shuttleworth said that Ubuntu OS smartphones will be available in October and app developers will get access to the OS later this month.

It's not yet clear which smartphones will run Ubuntu's OS, but app developers will be able to work with the OS on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus.

Apple wins design patents for slide-to-unlock, original iPhone

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants design patents for the contentious user interface asset.

Apple was granted design patents today for the contentious slide-to-unlock user interface asset and the design for the original iPhone.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office approved Apple application No. D675,639 for "ornamental design for a display screen or portion thereof with a graphical user interface," which includes illustrations of the familiar horizontal bars with rounded corners found at the bottom of locked iOS screens since the original iPhone's debut in 2007.

Slide-to-unlock functionality has become a major sticking point with handset makers. Apple, which was granted a patent for the feature in 2011, has charged both Motorola and Samsung with violating patents related to the functionality.

Latest jailbreak for iOS arrives, works with iPhone 5

A new software tool promises deep system access to the inner workings of the iPhone 5, as well as Apple's latest devices, running the newest iOS.

Despite Apple's best efforts to keep users from gaining deep access to its iOS software, it's proven to be a cat-and-mouse game that just won't quit.

The latest -- from the mouse front -- is a tool calledevasi0n, which was released this morning. The software jailbreaks the most recent version of Apple'siOS 6 software, something that's already been accomplished. However this new, much-awaited tool continues to work even if you restart your iPhone oriPad, and also works with the iPhone 5.

The software itself runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux and can be used on "all iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and iPad mini models running iOS 6.0 through 6.1," its creators say. Once installed, users can install applications on their phone outside of Apple's App Store using tools like Cydia. Some of those same software tweaks can also be used to make major changes, like reskinning the operating system, or adding extra functionality.

The effort comes just a few days after Redsn0w, a similar jailbreak solution that worked on iOS 6.1, but was not compatible with Apple's newer chip architecture found on the iPhone 5, as well as the latest iPads and iPod Touch. 

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Samsung Galaxy S4 a no-show at Mobile World Congress

Samsung Electronics wants the spotlight all to itself for the Galaxy S4.

The Korean electronics giant will be holding off on any major announcements at Mobile World Congress later this month, according to a person familiar with its launch plans. As with last year, Samsung will likely hold its own separate event to launch the latest iteration of its flagship Galaxy S franchise.

A Samsung representative declined to comment to CNET.

The move is a continuation of the broader trend of larger technology companies utilizing their own events for major product announcements. Rather than battle through the noise of competing news, a solo event allows the product to get the full attention of consumers and media. Over the past year or so, Microsoft and Samsung have dramatically reduced their presence at trade shows, following in the footsteps of Apple.

BlackBerry just launched its next-generation smartphone at its own event this week, andHTC will hold an event a week before Mobile World Congress.

Last year, Samsung launched the Galaxy S3 at its own event in May, just days before the CTIAWireless conference. The move made for a relatively quiet trade show.

What it really takes to make a flexible phone (Smartphones Unlocked) Read more: http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-57567014-85/what-it-really-takes-to-make-a-flexible-phone-smartphones-unlocked/#ixzz2JqPL5i4n

A bendable screen is nice in the lab, but it will take more than flexi-glass to get your phone to touch its toes.

Had Dr. Dipak Chowdhury known just how accident-prone I really am, he never would have handed over the 0.1-millimeter sheet of glass for me to bend between my fingers.

Luckily for me, the vice president and director of Corning's Willow Glass division is a trusting soul and gave CNET the world's very first public demo of this glass so thin it can bend without breaking.

Flexible glass and flexible screens have been a hot topic for some time, culminating with fanfare at Samsung's demo of its curvy Youm OLED display at CES.

Companies like Samsung, Nokia, and even Apple have been working on flexible smartphone displays for a years, but for the first time, there's enough real research and development in this area to, perhaps, start getting excited.

Just think of what a bendable smartphone could do: curve with your body's movement so it sits more comfortably in a pocket; drop from a height and flex on impact, rather than shatter; pack into any number of compartments without having to triple-swath it in bubble wrap.

But don't get too frothed up yet. Willow Glass isn't the hearty Gorilla Glass 3, Samsung's Youm screens have nothing to attach to yet, and smartphones that sway in the breeze are still years out.

There's more that needs to go with the flow than just the display and its glass.

The problems with flexible glass

One of the biggest challenges with a flexible phone is getting the cover glass to bend -- and it's a common misconception that bendable glass is unbreakable.

Corning's Dr. Chowdhury stresses that Willow Glass was designed as a substrate material -- glass that belongs on the inside of a smartphone -- but in its current form, it isn't strong enough to serve as the tough barrier guarding the internal materials from the elements. It wasn't designed to be.

However, even if a Willow Glass cousin does grow fortified enough to top a phone and maintain its bend, breakage is still a worry.Yes, a substance similar to the bowed Willow Glass could undergo a similar chemical strengthening process as Corning's more famous Gorilla Glass, the substance that makes up the outer layer protecting many of today's phones, tablets, and laptops.

When chemists and industrial designers talk about strength, they're not just talking about massive cracks and shattering. It is true that flexible glass can withstand drop tests with less damage than some rigid glass, thanks to its undulating ways, but it may not be able to rebuff the scratches, gouging, and long-term wear patterns that make screens vulnerable to breaks.

Though Corning's current Willow Glass formula can deeply arch, it can still also puncture and snap.

What about a plastic screen instead?

It's very possible that the first actively bending displays we see will be covered by plastic rather than glass. As always, resilience and durability are concerns.

"There will be a compromise there," said Mark Rolston, chief creative director of celebrated firm Frog Design. "It's a material reality that anything that conforms will be more susceptible to scratches."

Corning's Dr. Chowdhury notes that some companies have demoed an arching plastic display for several years, but that there's still a long road to commercialization, even for the polymer.

The fact that the smartphone industry has almost wholesale moved from plastic screens to glass is also telling -- you don't see a plastic Retina Display on the iPhone 5, after all. Images look sharper and clearer with a glass cover, and it's also more responsive and sensitive to touch. (I've reviewed touch-screen phones without glass covers, and the experience was pretty terrible.)

Glass is also better at being impermeable to oxygen and water, two compounds you want as far from a phone's electronic guts as possible, to keep them from damage and aging.

If we do see bendable designs with plastic screens, they'll likely top reference products and concept designs, or very early niche models, rather than mature, mass-market devices.

Batteries don't flex well

Even if you get the screen technology and the glass to flex, there's still the matter of the other internal components. What do you do about the battery, the processors, the camera module, and the NFC circuitry -- all currently static wafers, bricks, and chips?

Conventional lithium-ion batteries, which power today's smartphones, are very rigid, says Marc Juzkow, vice president of research and development for battery company Leyden Energy. They need to be stiff and unyielding in order to last the longest time possible.

New battery technology in early development is moving in the direction of the thin, flat cell, but these aren't the right solution for a bendable phone, either, Juzkow says. First, they use a solid state electrolyte to generate power-yielding reactions, and that takes longer to charge. Second, their energy output isn't enough to run a power-hungry phone for very long.

In case you're wondering, it would in fact be possible to place a thicker, shorter battery to one end of a device, Juzkow concedes, so that the phone flexes while the battery does not. Makers of small flexible products, like smartphones, could also insert a series of smaller batteries along the length, leaving room for the device to bend between these static slugs. There's just one major problem with the latter: smaller batteries generate less charge and die off faster than larger batteries.

That doesn't mean a flexible phone is out of the question. Mechanical and design engineers have worked with shaped batteries and flexible printed circuit boards before, even though both are generally rigid.

Flexible printed circuit boards for example, were at one time ubiquitous in the humble flip phone, connecting both halves of the clamshell as it folded.

As for shapely batteries, one only need to look to Nike's FuelBand for a hint of recently broken ground. In making the device, Nike placed two curved batteries on either side of the band, covered by a piece of metal goes that restricts that portion of the band from bending.

It may be that the flexible phone of the future comes with some premolded elements.

Seeking the Lycra of phone chassis

When thinking about a bendable phone, there's also the problem of the phone material itself. From a design perspective, you don't want the body to be too lax or too rigid, says Rolston, Frog Design's creative lead.

"You have to build in limits. You can use a flexible plastic, but can [the body materials] also stop the movement at the end of the flex?"

In other words, if the phone bends, will it snap back to its original shape. There is such a thing, it turns out, as a phone that is too flexible.

One good example of what's possible and what might actually come, is Nokia's "kinetic device," a working prototype of a lightly twistable handheld computing device that CNET reporter Stephen Shankland saw in London in 2011.

Beyond its screen, you can manipulate the entire device, adjusting the sides in order to scroll through content like music and photos.

Shankland reported that some of the devices Nokia demoed that day contain carbon nanotubes in an elastomer material, a specific type of rubbery polymer. Stressing one side of the device while compressing the other created the physical interaction to make images advance and music to forward.

The ideal material for a flexible smartphone or other device bends slightly without losing its original upright form over time, a sort of Lycra for the personal electronics world.

"The question is the memory of the material," says Robert Curtis, Frog Design's executive director of product development. "How much does it hold if it's bent or unbent?" Memory, in this case, refers to the material's ability to return to its original shape, the antithesis of memory foam.

The good news is, all the materials to make this possible already exist. The difficulty is in assembling all the pieces into a functional design.

Then there's the price

Ask Corning's Dr. Dipak Chowdhury one of the main benefits of Willow Glass and he'll tell you that because it can be made it in a roll, it's cheaper to manufacture.

Yet the cost of making a single component less expensively doesn't add up to a product that's cheaper overall. The research, development, sourcing, and manufacturing process for new materials doesn't happen overnight, and can wind up being pretty pricey for a new technology.

How much would the average consumer pay for a bendable phone? Sure, it's a neat idea, but after the novelty wears off, how practical would a bendable phone really be compared to a traditional stick-straight device? Put another way, how much extra would you pay for your phone to conform to the shape of your pocket?

Forget the phone rollup, "bent" will triumph over "bending"

There's one shape we can cross off the list when drafting the flexible smartphone of our dreams: a device that rolls up into a circle or a scroll.

A rolled-up handset is "a really stupid idea," says Mark Rolston, Frog Design's creative director.

"Rolling and unrolling a phone defies the behavioral element of a phone," he added, stating that people want to pull their device out of your pocket and use it right away.Flexible phones and other devices may have a place in the world, but Rolston thinks they won't show up until the bending of glass and other components is "really mature."

Corning's Dr. Chowdhury agrees, partly because vendors haven't zeroed-in on what they want. "We're trying to commercialize our glass," he said, and when it comes to a fully-functioning device, "there's no agreed-upon term for what "flexible" means." Without that firm definition, there's also a foggy path to how vendors plan to profit from phone flex in their designs.

Instead of bending for the sake of it, both the glass and marketing executives see conformable displays finding much broader applications at first, before we start seeing commercial uses for those flexible bodies and screens. Premolded glass structures defy the straight, flat rectangle comprising so many panels in TVs, cell phones, and pretty much every programmable screen, and displays that take on organic shapes and configurations have any number of uses: perhaps futuristic computers that form the walls of your office, or a car windshield you can program to show you a map while you drive.

Between Rolston and Chowdhury, there are plenty of other examples that we can expect in the near future across a variety of industries, some of which we already see budding today:

• Wrap-around screens for devices and trade-show booths
• Curved displays for sports accessories, like watches and home appliances

• Formed displays for car dashboards
• Toys, thermostats, and tools that read out measurements
• Flexible photovoltaic cells for solar paneling you can unroll on a roof
• 
  

These ideas may not be widely seen today, but they aren't new. In 2008, Rolston said, Frog Design created a prototype design for HP with a wrap-around screen. It was decorative, rather than for informative, he said, but it made the sides of this mystery device integral in the never-released project's shape.

Rolston, for one, keeps coming back to the car dashboard, waxing poetic in the charming way that designers do about the aesthetically driven "humanistic" form of a sculpted car dash and the effort that designers put in to create luxury finishes using metal, wood, and carbon fiber.

"In the middle of all that," Rolston laments, "we increasingly cut an 8-inch rectangular hole to put a screen. If we can have that screen instead be part of the material, part of the car's visual language...that would be a beautiful thing."

"God, that'd be cool."

And perhaps that's the major lesson that bendable screens can teach us at this stage in their development. To be cool, you've got to be flexible.

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