What do you get when you take a Kindle, add connectivity features which easily compete with most modern cell phones, make it not look like an 80’s Soviet device, and then fold/roll the screen up? You get the newest (/only?) product of Polymer Vision, the Readius.

As they state, the Readius is the ideal travel companion:

‘The exclusive Readius® exploits the versatility of rollable displays to merge the ‘reading friendly’ strengths of ereaders with the ‘high mobility’ features of mobile phones. With a display larger than the device itself, and designed around ‘ease of use’ and mobility, Readius® is optimized for reading for 30 hours without battery charge.

The 3G/HSDPA/tri-band phone allows worldwide calls and high speed instant updates from personally selected news sources, special services and email. The Micro SD High Capacity storage ensures easy access to other favorite information and eBooks. Readius® also features phone as well as audio capabilities (such as MP3) for podcasts, audio books and music.‘

The specifications don’t look too bad either:
Weight: One third the average weight of e-readers (115g)
Display size: Twice the surface area of current largest phone display (5” diagonal, 16 greyscales)
Device size: Equal to an average mobile phone when closed (115 x 57 x 21mm)
Battery life: Up to six times longer than on mobile phones (30 hours continuous reading)
Connectivity: Greatest coverage of any e-reader (Tri Band/3G HSDPA). Supporting ActiveSync and USB mass storage (USB 2.0). Communication with accessories and other devices (Bluetooth 2.0)
Processor: Powerful processing engine (ARM11 400MHz)
Storage: Flexible, today commercially available up to 8GB (High Capacity Micro SD)
User Interface: Just 8 buttons (SimpleTouch Buttons)

I’ll be keeping my eyes open for the first reviews of this promising product.