Archive for: OLED
When we gazed upon the slew of gigantor 50″+ OLED tvs at CES, we instantly found ourselves awash in emotion. The most obvious and strongest one was awe. Beautiful doesn’t even begin to describe them. But at the same time, we were also left with a feeling of sadness for even taking scale into account, there was no way we’d be able to afford one of the fancy new sets for at least a couple of years. Reminding us of this fact was Sony’s old 11″ OLED “TV” that they’ve had for a couple years now which sold for a staggering $2,500.
Thankfully we won’t have to weep at night. A “discussion” given by Samsung after CES said that their upcoming 55″ Super OLED TV, the KN55ES9600, should cost “well under” the rumored $8,000 price tag that was floated around at CES. According to Samsung, the aforementioned barely there TV should sell at prices “slightly” higher than current high-end LED TVs. For comparisons sake, such TVs are in the $3,000-$4,000 range (though can obviously go higher based on brand). $3-$4k is still a large chunk of change, though it is 50% less than the chunk we thought we’d have to part with.
TV junkies and pixel lovers are no doubt letting out a huge sigh of relief. No one likes to go broke gobbling up the latest tech but it’s something we as aficionados of technology must do.
We love pixels here at Gadgetsteria quite a bit. qHD, Reality, Retina — the list of names goes on. But only one will stand triumphant by the end of 2011/early 2012. A new display technology called QDEF by startup Nanosys claims that it produces the best, most accurate picture.
Compared to your standard LCD display whose NTSC color gamut chops register in the 20% range, Nanosys’ QDEF displays are other worldly with their 60+% color reproduction. Most surprising of all, however, is that there isn’t any complex or costly technology at work — it all revolves around quantum dots…
The joint venture between Toshiba and Panasonic, Toshiba Mobile Display, appears to have a $191.6 million failure on their hands. According to statements made by Toshiba Mobile Display spokesperson Masahiro Kume:
“The plan (for mass-production) is currently frozen. We’ll review the production plan again from scratch.”
The mass production he’s speaking of concerns the $191.6 million investment in OLED mass production the company was gearing up for. Looks like all of those videos we’ve seen of AMOLED displays not really being all that different (read: better) than LCD and Super LCD screens is starting to hurt interest in OLED technology. It’s quite a shame really, because in certain conditions AMOLED does provide a noticeable improvement over traditional LCD counterparts.
With that said, it’ll be some time before we see AMOLED jumping ahead of LCD in terms of usage numbers as Tohisba Mobile Display is redirecting resources to current higher demand LCD screens. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be…
“What color uses the most energy on a mobile display?” It’s something I’ve honestly never really thought about. Ok, I’ve actually thought about the differences between an all white/light and black/dark background, but never as deep as individual colors. One man by the name of Jeff Sharkey was curious enough however, to go and put individual colors to the test on OLED screens. The results were actually pretty revealing in the sense that there is a fair amount of difference from one color to the next in regards to power draw.
It’s a really good read, especially for the harder core nerds out there. Give it a look –> OLED Color and Power Consumption test
You know how it is — blending the old with the new. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. In the case of this Steampunk-ified time keeper complete with OLED display, I’d say yes, it did work quite well.
With a 128 x 128 display, temperature gauge, and range finder, not only is this a timeless accessory, it’s an actual usable piece of gadgetry as well. Don’t ya love it when you can actually use that stylish tech?
Gallery after the jump…
Look at all of your good, classic sci-fi movies. Besides the whole space thing, one glaring similarity is transparent displays. They’re everywhere. So for a gadget junkie such as me and you, living in a world devoid of such treasures is borderline depressing.
Current display technology only has one real viable solution to transparent displays in the near term — OLED. And wouldn’t you know it, Samsung is taking the floor at the Society for Information Display International Symposium as a chance to show off some of their latest tech — transparent AMOLED displays…
Any type of HD guru will tell you that OLED is the promising future. Granted, OLED still has some issues with direct light. But in a nice dark theater room, an OLED truly sings. The only limiting factor so far has been a sort of “chicken or the egg” conundrum.
For example, Sony’s 11″ OLED TV costs consumers $3,499. Who’s going to spend that much on such a small TV? And Sony likewise can’t lower the price simple because of the lack of mass production. So what do you do?
A recent breakthrough at Dupont appears to have paved the way for much cheaper and large OLED production…
- February 25, 2010 8:25 am
Wanting to stand out from the crowd is nothing to be ashamed of. Far from it actually. It is that striving for individuality that makes us unique. “Unique” is what it would take to rationalize a wall made out of hundreds of OLED screens that detect motion, and then shoot the image back to you. The concept sounds pretty cool with the only “gee, I think I’ll hold off for now” moment coming when you see the $16,000/sq. meter this setup commands. IF I had $16,000, it wouldn’t be going to a wall of OLED’s. There are plenty of other gadgets I’d add to my stable.
In case you were interested, Phillips is offering up this little OLED wonder for €10k – 12k/sq. meter (roughly $13.5k – $16k) or renting out to those who want to give it a test drive first. The test drive mind you, isn’t cheap either, clocking in at a still expensive €10,000 (again, €15k-ish). At that price you may as well just purchase a panel outright, no?
Oh well. When you do sell your soul, organs, or first born child for a few panels of this motion detecting OLED wall, you can at least bask in the ego-filled glory that no one else in your neighborhood country has such a toy. Bask away.
Gizmodo
- February 16, 2010 7:55 am
Whenever you have an emerging technology with a high entry fee tacked on as well as a rather niche market (read: low sales volume) of users to cater to, disappointment is lurking around every corner. Such is the sad and unfortunate tale that has developed this morning. Sony, one of the biggest pioneers of OLED TV’s, has announced that they are “pulling the plug” on OLED production and sales for the Japanese market. For once, Japan — one of the countries that often gets all of the new and exciting tech first — will be the first to lose out on an emerging technology that has so far, struggled to gain mass adoption.
For the entire world of visual geeks and videophiles reading this, there is some comfort. Sony is at this time only ceasing OLED production and sales within Japan, but will continue producing OLED panels and funding R&D projects for overseas markets such as Europe and North America. If you’re currently sitting at a computer within Japan, perhaps now’s the time to consider importing gadgets from elsewhere (kind of weird hun? Don’t hear that scenario very often do you?).
What a better reason than high cost and low sales? According to Sony, the “OLED experiment” in Japan has impressed upon them that mainstream and profitable OLED production is still some time off with the current trends being 3D TV and LED-backlit LCD’s.
As an end user, this is a sad thing to hear especially considering LED backlit LCD’s aren’t really that much of a departure from normal LCD’s and 3D TV’s future still undecided. (I’m still seeing it as more of a novelty/gimmick). It looks likes for the near future anyway, we’ll have to return to glorious dreams filled with grand OLED displays the size of mountains, because that certainly won’t be happening anytime soon.
At the end of the day, I’m not the one in charge of Sony’s finances. Whatever balances the check books I guess…
Pocket-Lint > Reuters
