How Far in the Future Before This Product Exists?

Question

For the longest time I've imagined a book with paper pages that displays digital print of anything in its storage.The ultimate device will have configurable pages for touch and feel; color; backlighting; and the ability be torn; folded; paperclipped; all self healing upon command. All pages so "configured" will belong to a particular book/article in storage and thus change depending upon what is being read (as will the number of pages in the book).The important thing is that the feel will be indistinguishable from hard cover (or soft cover) books we know and love today.I have no doubt such a device is coming (some day). I'm just curious what HN thinks how long the wait will be.

smoldesu · Accepted Answer

My guess is that it will be possible within the next decade, but not economical until the further future.A flexible e-ink display with decent color isn't too far-fetched, but anything with more than 5 pages could end up costing a small fortune. Since a lot of the tech in such a device is redundant, most people would probably choose to buy single-page e-readers instead.> and the ability be torn; folded; paperclipped; all self healing upon command.This is science-fiction material science that's probably 25-50 years out.