Samsung

Engadget posted a review of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7. They say that it's the best 7" tablet - with a stunning display, a long lasting battery, good performance and thin size. The only problem? it's quite expensive. And they sure love the 1200x800 Super AMOLED Plus display - "We could tell you it's vibrant, stunning and breathtaking, but even that wouldn't quite do it justice. The contrast here is so deep, and the viewing angles so wide, that other tablets' screens look washed-out in comparison". Amazon.com is now offering an unlocked model for $749.

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the world's first tablet with an OLED display, a 7.7" Super AMOLED Plus panel, offering 1280x800 resolution. Other specs include Android v3.2, Dual-core 1.4 Ghz processor, HSPA+ radio, 16GB to 64GB internal storage and a microSD slot, Wi-Fi, GPS and two cameras (3MP and 2MP).

In a filing to the Korean Stock Exchange, Samsung Electronics announced it is considering taking over Samsung Mobile Display. Currently Samsung Electronics holds 64.4% in SMD (the rest is held by Samsung SDI). SMD is Samsung's OLED unit, and they produce over 90% of the world's AMOLED displays.

Samsung Electronics says that this move will improve the synergy within the group. But this can be bad news for other companies who rely on SMD's AMOLED panels, as perhaps the will not want to keep the best displays for their own devices.

Cambrios announces a new CEO and a $5 million investment from Samsung Ventures. Cambrios reveals that they were in close discussions with Samsung for collaboration on "important and valuable" projects over the past several years. Cambrios' first product, ClearOhm is a coating material for plastic or glass that produces a transparent, conductive film by wet processing. Cambrios says that ClearOhm offers significantly higher optical and electrical performance than currently used materials (such as ITO).

ClearOhm can be used in OLED panels, LCDs, e-paper displays and solar panels. Perhaps Samsung wants to use this new material in upcoming OLED panel designs. Cambrios is also collaborating with Plextronics on OLED lighting electrodes.

Corning and Samsung Mobile Display are going to establish a new equity venture for the manufacture of specialty OLED glass substrates in Korea. The new venture will combine Corning's Lotus Glass substrate technology with SMD's OLED display expertise - and will provide product solutions for current and future OLED technologies.

The new venture will produce glasses for all OLED sizes: for small mobile panels to large OLED TV panels. It'll be interested to hear whether this new venture will also develop transparent and flexible glass displays, as envisioned in Corning's"Day made of glass" concept video:

MagnaChip reported their financial results for 2011, and they say that AMOLED display driver revenue grew 700% compared to 2010, but they wouldn't reveal exact numbers.

MagnaChip is providing 800x580 AMOLED drivers for Samsung's Galaxy SII LTE phone (it has a 4.65" Super AMOLED Plus display) and multiple Microsoft Windows-based smartphones.

There are already speculations about the Galaxy S III specifications, and now Samsung says they are indeed working on a successor to the Galaxy S2. They won't unveil it at the Mobile World Congress 2012 - but rather in a separate event during the first half of 2012, closer to the commercial availability.

It will be very interesting to see Samsung's new flagship phone, and obviously we're mostly interested in the display. Will it be a Super AMOLED HD, or will Samsung surprise us with some new technology? Maybe the S3 will be the first phone with a plastic based flexible AMOLED? We'll have to wait a few months to find out...

Verizon is now offering the Galaxy Nexus for only $99 $300 with a 2 year plan. The Galaxy Nexus is the first Android v4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) smartphone - made by Samsung. It features a 4.65" HD Super AMOLED display (1280x720, using PenTile technology) with a curved glass, a dual-core 1.2Ghz CPU, Full-HD video encoding, 5nmp camera, NFC, 1GB of RAM and 16/32GB of internal memory.