OLED Guide, review, news…

In what could be seen as a promotional move, Microsoft Corp. has quietly slashed prices of its popular Zune HD portable media players (PMPs) though it’s still not clear that whether the price-cut is temporary or permanent in nature.

The company has dropped the prices of its 16GB model to $190 on Amazon, while the 32GB model will now sport a price tag worth $249, a significant drop of around $30 and $40 on the models respectively.

However, it has been reported that other online stores, including Best Buy and Microsoft’s own store, have also slashed the prices of both the models by $20, but they are still selling them at the prices higher than Amazon.

It is believed that the stores would further drop prices to match the Amazon’s offering. Previously, the 16GB version Zune HD player was priced at $219, whereas the 32GB Zune HD model had a price tag of $289.

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Samsung created a whole bunch of fuss at January’s consumer electronics extravaganza with its prototype laptop that displayed stunning OLED images on a clear “see-though” screen. It all seemed a bit sci-fi-ish, but reports are that the Korean brand will bring Amoled (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) devices to market in the next year.

According to the site PlusPlastic Electronics, as a teaser to the laptop, in the next few months Samsung will offer a portable audio/video player, the IceTouch, that incorporates the technology, much as Sony has dipped a toe into the OLED pool with its $2,500, 11-inch desktop TV and its Walkman X series. OLED screens have also found their way into mobile phones, an advantage in that arena because they consume less battery power.

The 16-gigabyte IceTouch, also on display at C.E.S., has a 2-inch screen. Probable price: more than $300.

Although the laptop screen showed off fabulous color and detail, the sensation is a bit disconcerting, since one sees objects, lights and shadows right through it.

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New York, NY (PRWEB) February 9, 2010 — PureDepth™, Inc. (OTC:PDEP), the creator of Multi-Layer Display™ (MLD) technology and a leader in new visualization experiences, today announced that it has acquired a patent covering methods of assembling, displaying and controlling images on a layered Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display. U.S. Patent 6,720,961, which holds a priority date of November 6, 2000, further strengthens PureDepth’s leadership position in MLD technology by incorporating OLEDs, which are fast becoming standard in mobile devices and are expected to dominate the display market in the near future. This patent becomes part of PureDepth’s robust intellectual portfolio, consisting of more than 150 pending and allowed patents, including 82 granted.

PureDepth’s MLD displays contain two or more layers of display panels placed in front of one another in a single monitor allowing for 3-D effects. Its patented technologies provide brilliant alerts, high-contrast viewing, intense colors and real depth, revolutionizing the way people view data, images, video and other content. This latest patent offers broad protection for uses involving an unlimited number of OLED layers with or without depth between them, LCD/OLED combinations using MLD technology, the conversion of single-layer content into three-dimensional content across depth planes, and the manipulation of content across depth planes.

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Swedish and American researchers have just developed a fully recyclable lighting component with what Science Daily is terms a “new super material”: graphene. Graphene is both inexpensive to produce and is 100% recyclable, and could be used to create glowing wallpaper made out of plastic–much like )LEDs could. But graphene appears to improve on OLEDs in some very big ways . . .

As you know, we’ve been big fans of the very efficient, long-lasting Light Emitting Diodes and Organic LED technology. But as Science Daily notes, there are still problems:

Today’s OLEDs have two drawbacks — they are relatively expensive to produce, and the transparent electrode consists of the metal alloy indium tin oxide. The latter presents a problem because indium is both rare and expensive and moreover is complicated to recycle.

Researchers believe they’ve found a solution by creating an organic light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) with the transparent electrode made of the “carbon material graphene.” Graphene is used instead of conventional metal electrodes–and since everything in an LEC, including the graphene, can be created from liquid solutions, they will be able to be produced through a printing process. This makes them much more efficient–and much less expensive–to create en masse than OLEDs. Researchers involved in the project say that graphene paves the way for cheap production of plastic-based lighting, perhaps for the first time.

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We have seen curved plasmas, OLED TVs and LCDs in the past, both as prototypes and actual products. And while many people believe OLED screens and not LCDs or plasmas are the future, a Japanese consortium of 13 companies and institutions is working hard on developing super-thin, flexible LCDs. The companies claim they now have found a way to produce these LCDs by using plastic film instead of glass substrates.

Japan’s Technology Research Association for Advanced Display Materials, one of the members of the consortium (others include Sharp and Hitachi), says that theoretically, using multiple layers of plastic film for displaying colors can be an alternative to using glass substrates but that positioning the layers is a complicated process.

The association says its new high-precision production technique combines color filters with other types of thin film. Apparently, the production method requires fewer processes, meaning producers need less equipment. In addition, the association claims, carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by a whopping 75% and energy consumption can be slashed by 70% when switching to the new production technique.

The consortium presented a bendable 3.5-inch LCD that’s just 0.49mm thick and weighs 7g as a first milestone (my apologies for the small picture – it’s the only one available at this point). The prototype can display a color image whose quality drops when the screen is bent. But an advanced version is expected to be ready by 2012, with the consortium hoping to use the technology to mass-produce thin, curved LCD screens in the future.

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With all the buzz at the Consumer Electronics Show focused on 3D television—with companies like Sony, Samsung and Panasonic announcing plans to sell 3D TVs to consumers this year—news about another potential video breakthough, a full-size OLED TV, is so far a no-show at C.E.S. 2010. So far.

Expense is certainly a factor in weak economic times like now—Sony’s gorgeous 11-inch organic light-emitting diode set, the XEL, still retails for $2,500, its price two years ago. And 3D technology is a more dramatic hook for manufacturers than OLED quality, it seems.

There was one new twist on OLED shown by Samsung, which has been in the forefront of OLED development for the past few years (although the company is claiming that the technology still needs extensive tweaking to make it affordable). The 700Z digital photo frame employs a 7-inch AMOLED display, the largest size Samsung has yet brought to market. It uses Bluetooth to grab photos for storage in a 4-gigabyte drive.

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While the Nexus One is still the most advanced piece of smartphone hardware on the planet, competition is quickly rising up behind it. The HTC Supersonic is believed to be Sprint’s new WiMax Android smartphone. That alone is reason to be giddy, but there’s more!

For a few days now, folks have expected the Supersonic to be an Android-powered version of the HTC HD2. Unwired View has managed to come across an actual photo of the device in action. They’ve also got some new specs for us. While the Supersonic will have the HD2’s 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of internal space and 5 MP camera, the screen will be quite different.

The HD2 packs a 4.3″ LCD screen. The Supersonic takes that up one level with a 4.3″ OLED screen. That on its own should be enough to get you salivating. No pricing or availability info is out yet, but Sprint is expected to launch the Supersonic in March.

Mitsubishi Electric has confirmed it will show a 149in prototype OLED screen at ISE 2010 in Amsterdam. The screen was first revealed at last October’s CEATEC show in Tokyo.

Screens just keep getting better and better, as if they are no limits, helping us achieve better and better gaming experiences. This is why I’m sure Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) fans are just going to love these OLED-Screened Playing cards. Basically, this is how a board game could look like in the future:

And all this thanks to one new technology developed at the Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada that can allow that sometime in the near future we will be able to use OLED screens just like we deal with papers in the current day. They are basically trying (and somewhat managing) to put the bases of wireless OLED screens blowing your mind while at it. Check out a video below with the producers explaining more about the technology.

The buzz surrounding Apple’s Come See Our Latest Creation announcement on Wednesday is at a higher level than any other in recent memory.

It’s expected the long-awaited tablet will be unveiled to an invitation-only audience. For those who live in a cave, the Apple tablet has been a source of intense speculation for more than a year, as everyone waits to see what Apple’s response to netbooks, competitor tablets and E-Book readers will be.

The rumour mill has been churning since the announcement of this event, and here is some of the speculation:

- The tablet may or may not be called iPad or iSlate;

- The tablet may basically be a hybrid of sorts — somewhere between a MacBook and an iPhone. It’ll most likely have a metal unibody construction with a glass front that might make it look like a much larger, flatter iPhone. It might be around 25 centimetres in size, and the display will be very clear and high definition — but it probably won’t be an OLED (organic light-emitting diode) because of supply and price issues;

- The tablet will most likely have Wi-Fi connectivity, and will be an E-Book reader on steroids (watch out Kindle, Apple’s gunning for you). It’ll probably be a terrific gaming machine, plus have capabilities for web browsing, email and the ability to multi-task.

The only time in recent history where the hype and rumour-mongering approached the levels of this announcement was for the introduction of the iPhone several years ago. The big question is whether the new tablet will have the same type of response the original iPod and iPhones. Both were groundbreaking devices full of amazing innovations that have set the standard and totally dominated their respective markets. Certainly, manufacturers of E-Book readers are most likely waiting this announcement with a feeling of impending doom.

Almost lost in the hype about the tablet is what other announcements might be made at the event.

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