The folks at Huawei are promising to show off their Ascend D1 Q and a brand new 10-inch MediaPad at Mobile World Congress 2012. Apple supplier Pegatron is wondering when their inspection will be announced while iPad import and export has been axed in China via call from Proview. NASA have announced the end of their favorite and very last IBM Z9 mainframe. We took a peek at QuickShot for iPhone 4S.

We’ve finally got Angry Birds on Facebook – finally, finally at long last. There is now such a thing as an OLED inkjet printhead thanks to Konica Minolta. The folks at ACER will be busting their A510 tablet out in March in Europe. HP’s open webOS browser has been released with big downloads in the wings: 40k Enyo downloads to-date.

Konica Minolta has taken the first step towards that roll-to-roll printing of OLED screens by unveiling the world’s first inkjet printhead capable of printing the displays. The printhead is called the KM128SNG-MB, and it is a high-precision inkjet printhead for printed electronics and OLED displays. The drop size the printhead produces is one picoliter.

Konica Minolta uses silicon MEMS technology to manufacture the printhead. That same technology is we used in semiconductor processing and allows the development of a small printhead measuring 38mm wide with 128 nozzles a row capable of ejecting tiny drops of ink. Konica Minolta says that the MEMS technology will allow the printhead to be made even smaller in the future. The printhead is optimized for resistance to the inks used and for low viscosity inks that are used in industrial applications. The printhead will go on sale in sample quantities this spring.

[via OLED-display]

Currently, Samsung Mobile Display is jointly owned by Samsung Electroncs, with 64.4-percent, and Samsung SDI, holding the minority 35.6-percent. The joint-venture is unlisted on the stock exchange, but operates semi-independently, supplying not only Samsung Electronics but other companies with AMOLED displays.

That could change, at least partly, if Samsung Electronics decides to bring the display business in-house. Such a move with give the company even more choice for the first-pick of new panel technologies, and allow it to better control the access of rivals to the screens.

As the smartphone and tablet markets heat up, that advantage could see Samsung extend its lead in the Android segment, as well as better challenge high-profile rivals like the iPhone. Apple has already shown how tight control over the supply-chain can work to a firm’s advantage; now Samsung looks to be following in those footsteps.

[via OLED-Info]

Lotus Glass is an interesting product from Corning that is a glass substrate that goes over the top of an OLED display and can be flexed without breaking. That allows it using curved handsets and should make it last longer in the real world by being able to deform when dropped or hit rather than breaking. The joint venture will supply the OLED backplane glass substrates for Samsung Mobile Display along with the broader Korean market.

The OLED market is expected to grow rapidly with many smart phones moving to the screens for the superior color reproduction and image quality. At the same time, the screens tend to use less power than traditional LCDs making for longer battery life. Larger OLED screens are also being used in TVs, and we saw several sets of this sort during CES. It’s not clear exactly when Samsung Mobile Display and Corning screens will begin to hit the market.

[via Corning]

There’s also support for 1080/60p video recording, and up to 10fps full-resolution continuous shooting of stills. A speedy BIONZ processor is good for super-fast focussing, Sony reckons, as well as handling intelligent selection of which of the 36 difference scene modes is most suitable. That happens in just 1/30th of a second, Sony claims, with the TX200V automatically shooting two frames back-to-back in low-light or otherwise troublesome conditions, using difference settings for each, so that you can pick your favorite later.

Automatic background defocus, optical image stabilization and face detection, as well as a flash-pairing mode which uses two shots taken in rapid succession – one with flash, one without – to create a single frame that has the benefits of both, round out the key specs. Sony has also made the TX200V dustproof and waterproof to 16 feet.

As for the Cyber-shot DSC-WX70 and WX50, they each have a 16.2-megapixel sensor, 25mm 5x optical zoom and full HD video recording. They can also capture 12-megapixel frames while simultaneously recording video. Both have an XtraFine LCD touchscreen – 3-inches on the WX70 and 2.7-inches on the WX50 – and optical image stabilization.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX200V is up for pre-order now, priced at $499.99, and available in silver, violet or red from March 23. The Cyber-shot DSC-WX70 and WX50 are priced at $229.99 and $199.99 respectively.

Initially, though, production will be more conservative, ramping up from around 8,000 panels per month. LG Display will use the time to make a decision on investment into its 8G OLED production facilities, expecting to decide in Q3 this year whether to pump cash into large-scale production in 2013.

The panels will be slotted into high-end sets like the LG 55EM9600, launched at CES. Less than 4mm thick and weighing just 16 pounds, the TV supports passive 3D and Full HD resolution, though LG is yet to say exactly what it – or production variants – will cost. More details on the 55EM9600 in our eyes-on report.

LG Display announced another loss-making quarter, but at 6.25 billion won ($5.56m) it was an altogether more successful three month period than the previous year, when the company made a $239m loss. Panel production is expected to be low through 2012, the company has warned, though the market is expected to grow compared to 2011.

[via OLED-Display]

The organo-chemical materials like dye that are used in the lighting are made by BASF, and the OLEDs are manufactured by Philips. The transparent OLEDs can be turned into a solar panel by sandwiching them with transparent solar cells. The entire surface of the OLED light can produce a soft light with no harsh shadows.

That would make for nice illumination at night in a car when bright light can affect night vision. There is no indication of when this lighting might find its way into production automobiles. I could see this sort of thing being nice in EV and hybrid applications for gathering power for batteries.

“This combination allows the driver to enjoy a unique open-space feeling while it generates electricity during the day and pleasantly suffuses the interior with the warm light of the transparent, highly efficient OLEDs at night,” said Dr. Felix Görth, head of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes and Organic Photovoltaics at BASF Future Business GmbH.

[BASF via Electronics Weekly]

The device you see today has a 5-inch OLED display, physical controls, and plastic to allow for better signal reception. When they first set about designing the PS Vita, says Sogabe, they felt it deserved a bigger screen than the PSP had at 4.3 inches. When they first hit on the 5.5-inch display, they found that it and its on-screen controls lost a lot of operability, and the idea was abandoned entirely. The pads that were then added to the final design were, for a time, slide panels, but became the tilting controls you see today in the end.

Other iterations of the PS Vita included a sliding system, similar to what you see now on the PSP go, and a clamshell – that is, one that folds up into a shorter size. The Sony teams worked very closely with Worldwide Studios on the project, they having a big say in how the final product turned out – especially in that the device was not entirely flat, as Sogabe would have had it. Finally, Sogabe also was a fully metal device as the best way to present a gaming system such as this, but because of its internal Wi-fi, 3G, and GPRS antennae, plastic was needed. The more you know!

[via PlayStation Blog]

What we’ve got now is the Mini Three, it having three lonely keys, the Aux, it having 12 keys to keep you company, and now the Mini Six (with guess how many keys, 6), and the Optimus Popularis, a full-fledged keyboard with all the bells and whistles. The original Maximus cost you something like $10,000 when you picked it up in 2007, while the Popularis is made much more viable to the average person at closer to $1000 when it comes out soon. The big difference between the original model and these is that OLED per key situation.

*Indeed what we’re seeing with these new models is different solutions to the original OLED per key on the Maximus, with the Popularis having instead a single LCD display across the entirety of the board. Over at Anandtech, publisher Jason Inofuentes noted that he felt that the buttons weren’t as “clicky” and satisfying on these new models as they’d been on the original, the key presses more than likely activating a capacitive layer between them and the display rather than the press being as mechanical as it was in the Maximus.

Each of these new models goes for a glossy plastic look with a much thinner overall design than the Maxiumus, having a much more viable setup than the original so they can attain a lower price point above all else. They still appear to be quite high quality and ready to hit the market whenever the time is ripe. At the moment, it’s looking like November 1st is going to be the date. Lebedev’s current estimates on price are $1,290 for the Popularis, $600 for the Aux, and $450 for the Mini Six.

[via Anandtech]

The range of investments will span everything from building factories to R&D, as well as mergers & acquisitions and hiring new staff. Samsung expects to take on around 26,000 new team members in 2012, potentially bringing its global total to as many as 376,000.

80-percent of the investment will go through Samsung Electronics, particularly Samsung Semiconductor and Samsung Mobile Display. Analysts predict the company will boost processor spending by 1 trillion won over 2011, and OLED spending by 2 trillion won, with LEDs, LCDs and battery technology also sharing in a windfall.

“No other IT company can beat [Samsung] in terms of investment” NH Investment & Securities analyst Lee Sun-tae said of the company’s R&D plans. Samsung has said it will unveil a Google TV set later in 2012, while the company has revealed plans to merge its bada smartphone OS with open-source Tizen, with the first handsets also expected to go on sale this year.

Bumping OLED up to a much larger size hasn’t diminished its quality: the colors are brighter and more saturated than any other television I’ve seen… with the possible exception of LG’s 55-inch unit. Black levels are downright unbelievable – when the screen displays a centered image on a black background, it’s impossible to spot the bezel. Movement is fluid and graceful, even when the entire screen is filled with motion and eye-searing color.

Of course the picture isn’t the only thing that amazes about OLED, and Samsung hasn’t neglected the styling on their new flagship TV. We weren’t able to take measurements, but the bezel looks like about three quarters of an inch. The mirrored brushed aluminum back tapers to a point on the top of the unit, and manages to be shockingly thin right down to the AV connections and stand – look at it from the side and it’s honestly hard to spot.

Samsung hasn’t mentioned any pricing information for the 55-inch Super OLED TV, but assures us that it will be available at retail by the end of the year. Start saving your pennies now, videophiles.

The screen itself is produced from a single pane of glass, with each pixel having its own RGB sub-pixels. It’s apparently over 1,000 times faster than LED sets, but Super OLED actually uses less power than regular LCD sets.

You still get 3D functionality and dual core processor, with Samsung’s 1,400 smart TV apps offering everything from streaming access through Netflix, Hulu and other on-demand services, to weather updates, games, news and more. There’s social networking, too, along with AllShare Play to link – through cloud storage to remote smartphones, tablets, camera, computers and TVs.

Samsung isn’t saying how much the 55-inch OLED TV will cost – we’re guessing you’ll need a very well-padded bank account – but it’ll apparently go on sale later on this year.

Sony will continue to push OLED displays for its corporate clients, such as broadcast television and other niche uses. However, North American and European sales of OLED sets will cease, just as they did in Japan back in 2010, and new models on the roadmap have been cancelled.

The company was the first to commercialize an OLED TV, the XEL-1, all the way back in 2007. Measuring just 11-inches and a scant 3mm thick, the XEL-1 nonetheless carried a vast price tag: around $2,500.

Sony followed the XEL-1 with the promise of a $200m investment in an OLED production line, hoping to deliver medium and large scale panels. That cash injection seems to have been for naught, however, and Sony is scaling back on all its panel endeavors including selling up its share of the S-LCD joint-venture with Samsung. Sony will continue small-scale R&D into OLED, the company has said, but for now it seems the Japanese firm is content to let its Korean rivals own the OLED space.

[via OLED-Display]

A high-brightness OLED tablet with a supposedly thin profile is particularly interesting, given so far we’ve only really seen OLED commercially applied to small scale devices like smartphones. We can’t say we’re upset at the idea of the vivid colors and huge viewing angles OLED generally delivers being offered on a slate, however.

There’ll also be a waterproof wireless tablet and some new TV kit to demonstrate, including models with four times the usual Full HD resolution, and a 55-inch glasses-free 3D prototype. Finally, Toshiba wants to show off its progress in “smart home” technology, with a “Life Design Box” home gateway pulling together all of your gadgets.

We’ll know more at the show next week, so stay tuned for all the details from SlashGear!

Samsung had dropped support for the Japanese market back in 2007, over concerns it was unable to satisfactorily compete with homegrown firms like Toshiba, Sony and NEC. In the years since that decision, however, Japan’s native vendors have struggled to compete, with Sony recently selling up its stake in the S-LCD joint-venture with Samsung amid diving performance of its LCD unit.

Meanwhile, Samsung has gone from strength to strength. Its new controlling role in the S-LCD business is expected to allow the company “heightened flexibility, speed and efficiency in both panel production and business operations” according to the deal announcement.

A push for OLED TVs will see Samsung take on LG directly, its arch-rival already committed to bringing a 55-inch OLED set to CES 2012 next week and expected to launch it commercially late in the year. Samsung has also been tipped to bring a similarly-scaled OLED HDTV to the tech show; SlashGear will be there to bring back all the details.

[via Reuters]

That – along with OLED’s inherent display advantages – means LG can promise an infinite contrast ratio for the new 55-incher, with pictures LG says are simply impossible with existing LCD and LED panels. It’s faster, too: 1,000x faster, in fact, than LED and LCD, for smear-free movies and sports.

As the new press shots show, all that display technology will be wrapped in a super-slick design, with a 4mm thick bezel. The whole set will weigh a mere 7.5kg, making it ideal for wall-mounting. There’s 3D support, too.

What LG still isn’t confirming is price, and though this new display uses a cheaper production process based on Oxide TFT technology, we’re still expecting it to carry a premium tag. That – along with release dates – will presumably be shared at CES next month; we’ll be there to bask in LG’s glow.

A 100,000:1 contrast ratio and broader color gamut than similarly sized LCD panels add to a response time in excess of 1,000x faster than LCD, along with reduced power consumption from more intelligent backlighting. There’s also what LG is calling “White OLED (WOLED)” which vertically stacks red, green and blue diodes on a white diode base.

Where LG Display has been particularly clever is in the backplane, using an Oxide TFT tech rather than Low Temperature Poly Silicon (LTPS) as is currently common in OLED, for identical picture quality and performance but “significantly reduced investment levels.”

Those cheaper manufacturing costs will be essential if large-scale OLED is to take on LCD and plasma in the living room. Existing OLED TVs commercially released have generally been both small and expensive; LG has shown it can go big, but there’s no word on whether this particular OLED HDTV will see a retail launch or simply be used as a tech demo for WOLED and Oxide TFT processes.

[via Engadget]

That will include being both waterproof and dustproof, something many Japanese handsets offer but only rare “ruggedized” variants – usually lacking in specs and functionality – do in North America and Europe. The ultra-slim model shown here will be the reference design on which Panasonic bases a number of new models, targeting 1.5m European sales in 2012 alone.

That will be followed by a growing international release, spreading across Asia and into North America, with the eventual goal being 9m sales in 2016 across Europe, Asia, China, and the United States. The smartphone market – and particularly the Android segment – is hotly contested now, and the Panasonic will have to bring its best game if it wants to compete.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Sound like a great deal for you, all you retro flip-out lovers? How about those of you that loved your RAZR but are so very saddened by the fact that the newest edition doesn’t have any flips to speak of? Everyone should be able to appreciate this: the screen on this W999 unit not only flips up and out, it flips back so you can set it up like a tent! How strange is that? Set it up like an action figure seat, fold it closed for a fat-fat handheld with on-screen buttons, or have it folded all the way out for the tallest smartphone in the world!

Have a peek at this promo video to see how fabulous the experience is going to be if Samsung delivers the magic how they say they will. If you’re actually in China and want to pick this device up before it comes over to the states, you’ll be working with GSM and CDMA2000 network for China Telecom. Also if we do end up seeing this device hit the states, I’ll eat my hat. With a display that size and that processor under the hood (we must assume its the same Exynos as the Galaxy S II) we’re expecting some earth-shattering benchmarks across the board – maybe.

[via MICGadget]

Sony has a new tiny screen that will be used inside some of its cameras like the NEX series and possibly inside DSLR cameras. The tiny little OLED screen is only 0.7-inches wide and is called the ECX322A. The coolest part about the screen is the serious resolution it offers with 1280 x 720 allowing the viewfinder to offer 720p HD resolution.

The little screen offers 87% of the NSTC color gamut and has a 0.01ms response time and 200 cd/m2 brightness. The new display uses the same OLED and color filter architecture that Sony has been using in the older and lower res half-inch XGA ECX331A display already in its DSLR and NEX line.

[via OLED-info]

Samsung’s intention to use flexible screens in 2012 was first revealed back in June, when the company confirmed that it would begin mass production of the OLED panels next year. The actual displays themselves have been floating around in prototype form since 2010, with Samsung showing off a variety of concepts that could potentially benefit from the technology. More recently, the company revealed a foldable phone/MID prototype that squeezed an AMOLED panel into a clamshell casing.

It’s unclear, at this stage, what format Samsung’s devices will take. Clamshells are perhaps the most likely candidates, given that it would allow the Korean firm to pack a larger display into a smaller form-factor. Kyocera attempted to maximize Android screen real-estate with its dual-display Echo, but that was forced to use two solid panels: Samsung’s approach could mean a single, seamless screen ideal for video and browsing.

Nokia, meanwhile, demonstrated a flexible prototype phone of its own at Nokia World earlier this week. The concept, shown in our video below, pairs a twistable display with a rubberized case, allowing navigation by physically bending the handset. However, flexible battery, circuitboard and other components will have to come up to speed before the prototype could spawn a commercial design.

[via OLED-Info]

The Lotus Glass has a high annealing point, meaning that it’s heated to much higher temperatures and then allowed to slowly cool. This process removes internal stresses and makes for a much tougher product that can remain stable during high temperature production processes. In addition to being able to offer higher resolution image quality, the new glass is also said to increase response time and cut down battery usage.

The glass is currently in production, but the company has not revealed yet which manufacturers will be among the first to incorporate the glass. The recently launched Apple iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus both do not use Corning’s current Gorilla Glass, which may have something to do with display resolution requirements that the Lotus Glass will address.

[via ArsTechnica]

Thanks to FlatPanelsHD we have the image you see below showing the difference between Super AMOLED PLUS (on the left) with its single RGB structure and Super AMOLED without the PLUS (on the right) which shares sub-pixels, this in the most immediate sense making text and sharp edges appear slightly fuzzy when you get in close. The clear advantage is in the “PLUS” which has appeared on a few Samsung devices thus far but does not appear on the Galaxy Note nor does it appear on the Nexus.

Pixel density also counts for a lot when you’re considering sharpness, with the following approximate values being true without considering subpixels: Galaxy Nexus has 315 ppi, Galaxy Note has 300 ppi, iPhone 4 and 4S have 326 ppi. But given these numbers, also calculated by FlatPanelsHD, you’ll find some contrary results to all you know and hold dear:

Galaxy Note: 1280x800x2 = 2.048.000 subpixels
Galaxy S II: 800x480x3 = 1.152.000 subpixels
Galaxy Nexus: 1280x720x2 = 1.843.200 subpixels
iPhone 4/4S: 960x640x3 = 1.843.200 subpixels

That brings the Galaxy Nexus down to something more like 200 ppi, and it’s not called what some might classify as a Retina Display because in reality, not all of those pixels count towards a total. Of course none of this matters when you consider the fact that the Galaxy Nexus will be the first device to incorporate Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and will be Google’s device of choice for hero status on Ice Cream Sandwich as well, so toss it all out in the garbage! Or Samsung, keep going with RGB, it’s hotter!

NOTE: We definitely encourage you to take apart this math piece by piece and argue your point in the comments if you wish, but note also that the Galaxy Nexus is running a 720p display and looks MIGHTILY impressive in-hand. Bear that in mind.

Galaxy Nexus Hands-on:

Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on demo

Samsung Galaxy Note hands-on:

“That makes them predestined not only for augmented reality via interactive data eye glasses but also for applications in the optical inspection” Fraunhofer researcher Uwe Vogel suggests. The actual technical side gets pretty complex, however, even when boiled down by the project’s engineers. ”By inverse-confocal imaging approach a point-source sensor with purely electronic scanning allows extremely compact sensor modules,” Constanze Großmann explains.

Nonetheless, the potential for the OLED panels is unmistakable. “This opens completely new opportunities for machine integration” Großmann continues. Back in July, Fraunhofer announced a partnership to “produce a key component that integrates both the display and optics into a monolithic display engine, with a goal of finally enabling sunglass styled video glasses.”

However, as the panels get larger, the proximity measuring technology could potentially see PMPs, smartphones and tablets gain advanced hover-recognition. By tracking the distance of a finger from the display, such gadgets could respond to 3D gestures and swipes, as well as presumably measuring how fast your fingertip approached the touchscreen.

Previous bi-directional OLED demo:

[via OLED-Info]

That gets you the WiFi-only models; if you want integrated 3G, you’re looking at $299.99 in the US or £279.99 in the UK. In the US you’ll need to sign up to an AT&T data agreement in order to actually use that 3G connectivity, and Sony – or Amazon – is yet to confirm which carrier(s) the UK version of the handheld will be offered with.

Otherwise, it’s the same 5-inch 960 x 544 OLED touchscreen, capacitive rear touchpad, GPS, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, along with dual analog sticks, a pair of digital cameras and various motion sensors. The Vita will be able to play PSP titles, minis, PS one classics, video and comics from the PlayStation Store, which will be accessible from the console itself.

No UK release date is listed, but we’re guessing it’ll be similar to the end-of-December launch in the US market.

[via OLED-Info]

There’s also 5.1-channel virtual surround sound, and Sony says its clever 45-degree optical lens technology means there’s practically zero 3D crosstalk. The broad viewing area is actually wider than most peoples’ actual field of vision, which makes for a more immersive experience.

As well as the HMDI input there’s an HDMI pass-through output so you can hook up either a second headset or a regular display. Don’t get any clever ideas about portable use, however, since the processor unit is a 180mm x 36mm x 168mm box you’ll need to find room on your A/V rack for.

Pricing is expected to be around 60,000 yen ($784) when the HMZ-T1 lands in Japan come November 11. Availability outside of the country is currently unclear.

There are plans, you may have head, for LG Display to create some amazingly fabulous 55-inch OLED TV panels – bright, sharp, and fantastic in their final state. The production cost of large-sized OLED panels for use in devices like televisions is an amount higher than LCD TV panels that makes production of said panels prohibitive. Too low yield rates on large-sized OLED panels in TVs makes production of said panels for TVs not feasible for commercial use until 2014, or so says executive vice president Paul Peng of Taiwan-based TFT-LCD panel maker AU Optronics, or AUO.

On the other hand, we know that LG Display CEO Kwon Young-soo has said that instead of investing in OLED displays for mobile applications, they’ll be putting ALL their efforts into large screen sizes for TV and that they will, in fact, launch that 55-inch TV we just mentioned by the second half of 2012! Will LG be able to keep such a claim alive? We shall see

[via OLED Display]

The Cyber-shot TX55 records 1080/50i video in AVCHD format, as well as shooting 3D photos and 3D Sweep Panorama images. There’s ISO 3200 support, a 5x optical zoom, optical image stabilization and a memory card slot that can handle Memory Stick Micro (M2) and MicroSD/SDHC cards.

As for the Cyber-shot WX30, that has the same ISO and zoom as well as optical image stabilization. It will work with Sony’s Party-shot pan/tilt dock, and can grab 3D images as well. Both cameras have Sony’s new Picture Effect system, with options for HDR, toy camera, faux tilt-shift and other image mangling.

The Sony Cyber-shot TX55 and Cyber-shot WX30 will go on sale in September 2011, pricing tba.

Update: Sony tells us that the TX55 will be priced at “around $350.”

LG has announced that it will be tossing a 55-inch OLED TV onto the market in mid-2012. LG’s CEO noted that the company would not focus on small and medium size OLED screens for the tablet and smartphone. CEO Kwon Young-Soo thinks that the AH-IPS panels currently in use are best suited to those smaller screens. That leaves the OLED for TVs like the 32-inch set that surfaced back during CES from LG.

The initial production of the OLED sets will be in the tens of thousands due to the limited production faculties. LG makes the glass sheets that are used in the panels and plans to expand its production to 12,000 sheets in the second half of 2011 from the 4,000 sheets of glass produced now each month for OLED panels. LG competitor Samsung is set to test production for 32-inch panels for OLED sets in the second half of 2012.

[via OLED-Display]

Olympus reckons the PEN E-P3 has sub-60ms shutter response time, while there’s also 1080i HD video recording of AVCHD or AVI movies of up to 29 minutes and with a choice of CD-quality or AC3 Dolby Digital Audio sound recording. The new TruePic VI Image Processing Engine is onboard, and there’s in-camera image stabilization.

All three get various in-camera filters and effects, like Art Filters and in-camera editing, along with a special 3D Photo mode which, by shooting off two frames as you slightly pan the camera, puts together a 3D image despite only having one lens.

There are also two new lenses, a M.Zuiko Digital ED 12m f2.0 lens for landscape shots and M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm f1.8 lens with a particularly shallow depth of field, together with the FL-300R Compact Flash. Olympus will be offering all three new PEN models with a choice of the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-42mm II R f3.5/5.6 II R zoom lens (28mm-84mm equivalent) or the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 17mm f2.8 prime lens, though only the E-P3 has been priced so far: $899.99 for either kit.

“One of the reasons why current OLED displays are not as popular as LCD and LED displays is that the blue emitters have short lifetime and poor colour quality … With our breakthrough, OLED TVs could well be the next wave in consumer displays and may soon appear in your homes.” Dr Chen Zhikuan, IMRE Senior Scientist

OLED panels either use phosphorescent or fluorescent materials, each of which has traditionally had its advantages and drawbacks. Phosphorescent materials are more efficient but don’t last as long, and the blue color quality is reduced. In contrast, fluorescent materials last longer and are more stable, but have traditionally been less efficient.

This new research, however, shows fluorescent blue OLED can reach 9.4-percent efficiency, almost double the previously believed theoretical limit, 5-percent, for the technology. In addition, production should be straightforward as the new materials are solution-processable.

No word on when we could expect to see commercial products based on the new OLED technology reach the market.

However, Samsung also envisages the flexible AMOLED technology being applied to smaller devices, like watches, and larger ones, like tablets and MIDs; there’s also the potential for lighting and other applications around the home and office. The screens use a polyimide plastic substrate rather than the more traditional glass substrate, which allows them to be furled around a 2cm diameter cylinder.

Since they use AMOLED technology, power consumption is lower and there’s no tricky backlight to handle. Samsung is even going so far as to describe the displays as “unbreakable” though that seems like a promise almost guaranteed to backfire.

More recently, Samsung showed off a prototype foldable AMOLED display with no seam that could be used to make a reasonably-sized tablet that collapses down to something little larger than a phone. However, it’s unclear when this panel will go into production.

[via OLED-Display]

The LCD displays made by Sharp will feature a low-temperature poly-silicon technology, which will allow for a lighter and thinner display that will also consume less energy. These p-Si LCDs have thin film transistors (TFT) made of polycristalline silicon. Through this method, display drivers are mounted directly onto the glass substrate, thus reducing the TFT layer and making a thinner display. The p-Si display also has a higher aperture ratio that produces more vivid images, enhances durability, and reduces the amount of connecting pins.

This report is interesting because it suggests that Apple is not considering the organic LED displays such as the ones used by Samsung with their Super AMOLED technology. This news also comes just after Apple and Samsung’s legal battle began between their competing smartphone and tablet devices. Perhaps Apple is trying to shift away from Samsung as a main components suppler?

[via AppleInsider]

That could mean that replacements to the T-Mobile G2x and other recent LG handsets might switch to AMOLED panels. The displays used in Nokia’s recent Symbian smartphones have arguably been the best thing about the devices, with the so-called “Clear Black” technology on the E7 and other handsets providing excellent viewing angles and vividly-saturated colors.

LG Display will begin its 8-Gen OLED fab ramp-up – producing OLED TV panels – perhaps as early as mid-2013, having begun testing the technology later this year.

[via OLED-Info]

By combining the display and eye-tracking camera into a single component, the HMD as a whole can be smaller, lighter and use less power. Rigo Herold, one of the researchers behind the prototype, suggests that it could be used to show bio feedback during exercise, or even play videos, advancing through different screens or various clips in a library by looking between different controls presented in the field of view.

The demonstration model is a monochrome display with a 32-degree viewing angle and 1500 cd/m2 luminance. Unfortunately all we have so far is this tiny little image of it, but it certainly looks like it would be ideal for augmented reality applications involving overlaying graphics over a real-world view and then controlling a UI with eye-movements.

[via OLED-Display]

What’s a “Next Generation Portable”?

Right now, it’s a codename. NGP, Sony has said, is the temporary name which it will use for the console until its official launch later in 2011. There’s been plenty of speculation as to whether it will end up the PSP2 or something else, but right now the only people who know for sure – if, indeed, the name has been settled on at all – work at Sony HQ.

Name aside, Sony has been upfront with the NGP’s specifications, and it’s an ambitious play for the mobile gaming market. Inside is a quad-core processor – twice as many cores as the current breed of high-end smartphones – paired with a high-speed PowerVR graphics chip, a 5-inch touchscreen which uses OLED display technology for brighter colors and inkier blacks, and twin analog joysticks with a D-pad, face buttons and shoulder buttons.

On the back, meanwhile, there’s a trackpad just like you’ll probably find on your laptop, which can be used to navigate through the NGP’s menus and games without obscuring the screen with your finger. However, Sony also expects to integrated the touchpad into games, using “touch, grab, trace, push and pull” gestures.

As for connectivity, the NGP has the same sort of wireless options as you’d find on a cellphone: WiFi b/g/n along with 3G (on some versions) for getting online away from wireless hotspots, together with Bluetooth for wireless headsets. Sensors inside will allow the NGP to respond to movement, so gamers will be able to navigate through compatible games simply by tilting or shaking the console. Cameras on the front and the back will allow for interesting “augmented reality” type games.

However, it’s worth noting that Sony is reserving the right to change any or all of these specifications in the time between now and the NGP’s launch, so the console’s capabilities could well change.

Can I bin my PS3?

The NGP is certainly shaping up to be the most powerful portable games console we’ve seen so far, but the demands of balancing battery life and usability mean Sony can’t set it to run at quite the speeds the PS3 can manage. Still, if gaming is your main priority, the NGP may well offer a compelling combination of portability and power.

What Sony hasn’t confirmed is whether the NGP will be able to connect up to your TV. The original announcement made no mention of HDMI, the current standard, though there is what looks to be a proprietary connection on the bottom of the NGP. That might work with a video-out dongle, like on the iPad 2, but we don’t yet know for sure.

Meanwhile, the PS3 also works as a home entertainment system, with Blu-ray playback, streaming media like Netfix and other functionality, and the NGP won’t be ticking many of those boxes.

What about 3D?

Nintendo has made a push for mobile 3D gaming on the Nintendo 3DS, but Sony hasn’t followed suit. The NGP’s display is resolutely two-dimensional, though that shouldn’t be too much of a concern for most gamers. 3D is yet to conclusively prove its worth and, by sticking with a 2D display, Sony has been able to use a high-resolution panel that packs far more pixels than the 3DS’ glasses-free 3D panel.

Will there be any games?

A gaming platform lives and dies by the titles available for it, especially when – as the NGP does – you break backward compatibility with PSP owners’ games. The NGP uses a new memory card system for games, rather than the UMD discs of before. Sony is intending to use a combination of traditional games and downloaded titles that should cover a range of price points.

Modifying PS3 games so that they run on the NGP is apparently straightforward for developers to do, so that should hopefully mean a healthy catalog of titles familiar from gaming in your living room. Meanwhile, Sony is encouraging game developers to use their PlayStation Suite development tools – which allows them to create games for PlayStation-branded smartphones like the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Play – to produce titles which can also be run on the NGP, alongside ports of classic PS One titles that Sony itself will be adding in.

What we don’t yet know is game pricing. Regular NGP titles are likely to be the same as what you’d pay for a current PSP game, which means around $30 to $40 on release, though older content should be cheaper. Games downloaded from the PS Suit, however, will probably start cheaper again; on the XPERIA Play, for instance, PS One games are around $6, and developers will probably compete for the casual gaming market with games priced anything from $0.99 upwards.

Okay, I’m convinced, when and how much?

Sony has committed to launching the NGP in at least one region before 2011 is out, though it’s yet to say whether that will be the Americas, Europe or Asia-Pacific. Rumors suggest Europe may get the handheld first, but Sony is yet to confirm any specifics; the other two regions should get the NGP in early 2012.

As for pricing, that’s also being kept under wraps. The advanced spec sheet alone suggests a premium device, certainly higher than the $250 that Nintendo asks for the 3DS. Even in late 2011, the quad-core processor and other components will still be cutting edge, and have the prices to match. Sony’s WiFi-only NGP will be invariably cheaper than the 3G-equipped model, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see something around the $400 mark or potentially higher.

DigiTimes reports that large panel makers Samsung and LG are still working hard on developing larger screen OLED TVs for the market. Apparently, LG will have the capability to mass-produce 30-inch OLED TV panels at the end of 2011 and Samsung will start test production of its own 32-inch OLED TV panels by the second half of 2012.

That is a long way away and unless the panels are significantly cheaper they will continue to be niche products that consumers don’t buy. With the tiny OLED screens from Sony selling for huge prices, larger screens that cost even more are bound to fail. LG has also noted that it will have its 8G panel facility running this year.

[via OLED-info]

Update: Video after the cut

Both are monochrome, with the AMOLED delivering more than 15,000 cd/m2 brightness. Now, while those specs may not be much in the grand scheme of displays, the Fraunhofer panel can do something no Samsung Super AMOLED Plus screen can: interspersed between the AMOLED pixels are the CMOS photoreceptors, meaning – as in the image above – the panel can both see and display objects simultaneously.

Fraunhofer has previously suggested that the bi-directional OLED panels could be used in futuristic wearable displays, like in the mockup below. However, it could also mean your cellphone screen could scan business cards (the OLED panel acting momentarily as a scanner light source). VGA and higher resolution displays and smaller chip sizes are currently under development.

[via OLED-Info; video via OLED-Display]

Functionality ranges from previewing incoming messages, email and caller ID, to remotely controlling iTunes and PowerPoint presentations and even monitoring server ping times. inPulse also offers a free SDK for Windows, OS X and Linux, so that owners can write their own code.

As for the hardware, there’s a 1.3-inch 96 x 128 resolution color OLED display, Bluetooth 2.1, vibration motor, 52MHz ARM7 CPU and 32KB of storage for apps. The 150 mAh battery is good for up to four days use, and recharges by microUSB.

[via BerryReview]

The new offering is a tunable OLED light with a color that can be changed to suit the needs of the user. The OLED light panels are called VELVE and in addition to being color tunable, they are also dimmable. The lighting is claimed to be the first in the world to be color tunable and dimmable that are mass-produced.

The largest of the OLED panels are 14cm x 14cm making for a colorful cube. The color tunable nature allows the lighting to be changed in color and brightness as the day goes by. There is no word on how much the panels will cost and if they will be offered to consumers or are going to be for commercial use only.