Samsung demonstrates e-passport with flexible OLED display

It's been a tick since we've heard anything noteworthy on the e-passport front (that's probably a good thing, truth be told), but Samsung SDI and German security printer Bundesdruckerei are out to break the silence. The two have teamed up to demonstrate a passport that boasts a "slim and bendable" OLED color display within a "polycarbonate data page." Predictably, the aforementioned display can be used to "provide a raft of information including a video of the document holder." It's also noted that the units will be heat-resistant, enabling officials to laminate the cards and make them less susceptible to manipulation. Information about a potential release date wasn't divulged, but it sure sounds like this stuff is dangerously close to being ready for use.

[Colin Potter @ May 20th 2008 1:29AM]

would it just play video nonstop or would it be triggered by a remote to turn on and off?

[Jayden @ May 20th 2008 1:33AM]

What a waste of innovation, a picture is all that's needed.

[j_g_puff @ May 20th 2008 4:45AM]

It's not a waste! Just wait until someone makes a paper-thin DVB-H receiver and you can spend those happy hours in the departure lounge watching 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' on your passport. That's innovation that everyone can enjoy.

[Richard Lai @ May 20th 2008 1:51AM]

"The materials used for the display are heat-resistant, so that the passport card can be laminated and hence protected against manipulation."

Cool, I guess.

[mayq @ May 20th 2008 1:52AM]

the video as a photograph seems to remind me of pictures in harry potter

[ethana2 @ May 20th 2008 1:59AM]

Aww, engadget sounds scared..
If you can still lose the thing, it's not the Mark of the Beast yet.

..so how much are these things going to cost?

[Shinigami @ May 20th 2008 2:08AM]

Next-gen passport will contain GPS chip, heart rate monitor, medical data, bank accounts data and everything else it can contain.
The next thing they think of will be how to make you work 8 hours daily without thinking about anything than your "happy life", stop caring about elections, stop thinking in general, just let governments do everything for you.

That process will simply eliminate any kind of "intellectual elite of society" (which is good for governments - don't think, just re-elect the same people year after year, election after election). But that process will also eliminate any thinking highly motivated people as well, leading to nation degradation in general.

Say, did you even understand what I just wrote? :)

[Colin Potter @ May 20th 2008 2:16AM]

okay Mr. Orwell

[Ken @ May 20th 2008 2:19AM]

Though you're likely - and unfortunately - correct, it's interesting that you use the name of the Japanese god of death as your screen name. Here in Japan, the "intellectual elite of society" has not been exactly eliminated, but it hardly affects elections. People already don't think and just re-elect the same people, from the same party, election after election (one notable exception does not prove the opposite).

[Ian @ May 20th 2008 2:12AM]

"What a waste of innovation, a picture is all that's needed."

@Jayden: I agree. It's one thing for the technology to exist, but it's another to implement it just for the sake of doing so. This appears to be a case of implementing something for the sake of doing so, as electronic copies of digital things is probably far easier to do than creating a physical copy of secure documents such as a passport. Also, an OLED passport doesn't appear to offer any advantage when your passport is stolen.

[ajfarson @ May 20th 2008 2:18AM]

I could care less about the passport angle. I am more interested in how others will utilize this tech for oh, say tablets, PDA's, UMPC's etc... At the rate in which storage devices are shrinking, it could be a feasible thing to make a PC that thin & durable. Pretty cool stuff...

[Bob @ May 20th 2008 2:29AM]

I only have one question: Will it make customs easier when I fly internationally?

[Andrew @ May 20th 2008 3:16AM]

Nope it wont. It will make the wait 3 times longer while they verify that it is indeed your floating head in the picture and check that not only do you biometrics match those on file but that your dental records and heart beat rhythm also match those on record.

All hail the one day Customs wait Hoorah

[ITRanger @ May 20th 2008 3:34AM]

Video?
What's that for? A personal branding ego trip, porno, wife, kids, ...

What cost?

Aren't there more important things in life than collecting every humanly possible bit of information on citizens.

I am sure those involved in identity theft welcome the increasingly easier way to locate a single source of information. After all, it's available at no cost to themselves and paid for by governments with their ever invasive unquenchable demands for personal information.

[Wwhat @ May 20th 2008 4:24PM]

I'd hate to be the customs guy having to check britney's and paris's videos ( again?), sigh

[A.C.E.R. @ May 20th 2008 4:41AM]

I only want it if it plays Doom.

[Laughing Man @ May 20th 2008 6:01AM]

This is a pointless use of the technology. I like the technology behind this "innovation" but I am sure they can and will find some better uses for it very soon.

As if my passport didn't cost enough already, now you are sticking OLED displays in them. My plane tickets will be cheaper than my passport soon.

[BlackCoffeeNoSugar @ May 20th 2008 8:18AM]

Is the e-passport waterproof? Can it survive in the wash machine?

[eurobloke @ May 20th 2008 2:37PM]

Am I the only one to thing that this a good idea. The problem with a picture is a lack of depth in the picture, compared to a video.

Plus, it will try to solve the problem of counterfeit passports, which like all counterfeit documents are becoming a huge problem for the authorities. You have to remember because of Schengen, someone can travel from Finland to Portugal and from Iceland to Greece, without even a look in ID documents on the border.

//My plane tickets will be cheaper than my passport soon. //

A British passport costs £72 (€95), an Irish passport costs €75 and a French on costs €60, and a plane ticket to Spain or France costs about €50.

[Wwhat @ May 20th 2008 4:27PM]

I guess they can put in one of those rotating head vids they use in some scifi movies on passports perhaps?
Either way I hate them already.