SmartPaper" is a reusable display material that has many of the properties of regular paper: it stores an image, is viewed in reflective light, has a wide viewing angle, is flexible, and relatively inexpensive. Unlike conventional paper, however, it is electrically writeable and erasable.

Produced in a roll, like old-fashioned paper, SmartPaper" is actually two sheets of thin plastic with millions of tiny bichromal beads embedded in between. Each bead is smaller than a grain of sand and has a different color on each half or "side".

The hemispheres are also charged differently (i.e. positive or negative). SmartPaper" beads reside in their own cavities within the flexible sheet of material, so that under the influence of a voltage applied to the surface, they rotate to present one side or the other to the viewer. This image stays in place until a new voltage pattern is applied, which erases the previous image and generates a new one. The product will be initially available in black/white, red/white, blue/white and green/white combinations.