We’ve been waiting for large-sized OLED TVs at least since Sony rolled out the cool (but too small) XEL-1 in 2007. Various bigger OLEDs and “breakthroughs” have made the news in the years after that, and now LG says it’s ready to showcase the world’s biggest OLED TV at CES 2012 (which kicks off on January 10).
Sized at 55 inches, the panel has a contrast ratio of 100,000:1 and has been developed by using the Oxide TFT technology, according to LG. The company has been working on bigger OLED devices for quite a while now, for example a super-thin 31-inch model (which was shown last year). → Read More
Small OLED screens are being used in millions of devices already (like in Samsung’s Galaxy S phones or Sony’s upcoming portable console Vita), but we’re still waiting for large-sized models to hit the mainstream. It’s been four years since Sony offered the XEL-1 (a mini OLED TV) in stores, but the industry has been innovating on LCD screens, for example with LED backlight or 3D, since.
One of the biggest problems is cost: producing big OLED screens has simply been too expensive so far. But now Japan-based Sumitomo Chemical has reportedly developed a technology that makes it possible to mass-produce large OLED TVs at reasonable prices. → Read More
The CEATEC 2011 exhibition started today in Chiba (just outside of Tokyo), and what I saw was either disappointing (like gear that’s already available in stores) or already widely covered, as most Japanese companies pre-announced almost all novelties (for example, Docomo’s awesome smartphone jackets).
One exception was Mitsubishi’s so-called “Diamond Vision OLED”, a semi-spherical display boasting a diameter of 2.7m. It’s very similar to their huge OLED globe that’s currently on display in Tokyo’s National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. → Read More
Earlier this year, during CES 2011, Sony showcased a prototype of a wearable 3D display that looked much like those virtual reality helmets we’ve been seeing since the 1990s. And today, the company announced that it’s actually ready to start selling the OLED device, dubbed “Personal 3D Viewer”/ HMZ-T1, on November 11 – in Japan. → Read More
One of the marquee features of Sony’s new Alpha and NEX cameras, which by the way look excellent, is the new electronic viewfinder. I’ve never been particularly attracted to these things, preferring the mirror-based optical viewfinder on DSLRs or simply the large, bright LCDs on the back of most cameras. But Fujifilm’s X100 (despite its flaws) changed my mind about the usefulness of the EVF, and I’m ready to accept a camera that’s all EVF, all the time. And it helps that Sony’s new screen is a miracle of miniaturization. → Read More
Remember those cool flexible screens Samsung was showing off early this year? Well, they weren’t just for show and tell. Samsung plans to mass-produce these suckers in 2012, and plans to put them in everything that isn’t flat. → Read More
The consolidation process in Japan’s electronics industry continues: Toshiba and Sony are in talks to combine their OLED and small LCD businesses, various Japanese news sources are reporting. The plan is to find synergies in the production for small LCD panels for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices in order to catch up with Sharp, which currently holds the biggest share in the world market in this segment. → Read More
Toshiba is distributing a little OLED lamp they designed to quake-stricken areas of Japan. The device is powered by either four AAA batteries or a rechargeable battery pack that can be powered up with solar or USB power. But there’s a catch (for us, anyway). → Read More
If you have a chance to go to the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo this month, do it: Mitsubishi Electric has just installed a 6-meter OLED globe, the world’s first of this size, in one of the halls in the museum. Visitors will be able to see the so-called Geo Cosmos with their own eyes from June 11. → Read More
The transparent display wars are yet to begin, since everyone is still prepping their devices, but that doesn’t stop the big guys like TDK and Samsung from throwing a little PR party every once in a while to let you know they’re still on the task. Today TDK released info on a new display, the UEL476, that’s a bit different from the rest. → Read More
It’s not the first flexible screen we have covered in recent years, but it’s the first one from Toshiba. The company has developed a 3-inch OLED panel that’s 0.1mm thin and weighs just 1g (pictured). Apart from the size and weight, the main selling point of the OLED is that it can retain picture quality over a long period of time, according to a recent report in The Nikkei (Japan’s biggest business daily). → Read More
It took Sony just two months to update its TRIMASTER series of (pretty expensive) OLED monitors, and the two new professional displays the company announced [JP] today (a 25-inch model for $7,400 and a 17-incher for $,4900) are more affordable than the first ones (which went for $16,000 and $29,000, respectively). → Read More
A while back there was a crazy company trying to sell space cameras that could take pictures right onto a CPU that also acted as a display. Those people were insane, but this concept device is far from it. Fraunhofer, creators of MP3 technology, have built an OLED chip with built-in video sensor. That means you can take pictures and show pictures at the same time. It basically overlays two matrices over each other, one for transmitting light and one for sensing light. → Read More
It has become a bit quiet about OLED lately (apart from the NGP announcement), but today Sony announced [JP] not one but two so-called TRIMASTER EL master monitors with an OLED display. There will be a 25-inch (BVM-E250) and a 17-inch model (BVM-E170), specifically aimed at TV and movie production companies. → Read More
One of the rumors we haven’t heard about the iPad 2 is an OLED screen. That’s because there’s pretty much no chance, and it would be incredibly expensive and difficult to manufacture by the million. But that doesn’t mean Apple isn’t at least thinking about the power-economizing, great-looking display tech. These patents show that they’re working on implementing it, but not any time soon. → Read More
We’ve seen some thin, flexible displays out there (TDK, Sony, LG, HP, and others are working on them), but I do believe this one is the thinnest yet. The others have gotten as thin as 0.3mm, but this one from Taiwanese research company ITRI is a microscopic 0.1mm.
Who knows, that last 0.2mm could be the difference that makes a breakthrough device possible. Hopefully not literally breakthrough, though. → Read More
One of the highlights of this year’s CEATEC (a technology exhibition that took place in Japan earlier this month and which we covered extensively) was TDK’s booth. The company showed two prototypes of passive matrix mini OLED panels, one of which is transparent and the other flexible (like the one Sony showed earlier this year). → Read More
A pleasant surprise at this year’s CEATEC: TDK’s two passive matrix mini OLED panels, one of which is transparent and the other bendable (like the one Sony showed earlier this year). What’s cool is that both prototypes are showcased as black-and-white and color models.
You can see both displays in action in the videos I took at the exhibition below. → Read More
Just when everyone thought OLED screens would constitute the third of innovation for flat panel TVs (following LED backlit TVs and 3D capability), Toshiba just made a surprise decision. According to Japanese business daily The Nikkei, Toshiba has entirely given up previous plans to mass-produce OLED screens. → Read More
Previously, if you wanted to use an OLED display, you had to use a power adapter. The problem was that OLEDs required low voltage to light up, instead of the standard (in Europe) 230v system. Now, scientists at Philips have announced that they have been able to design an OLED system that doesn’t require a step down transformer in order to work. This means that a device that uses an OLED lighting system won’t require the additional hardware components to change the voltage from whatever comes out of the wall to the low voltage previously needed. Of course, this development in lighting technology will take a while to come to market, but the future does look bright indeed. → Read More
