Sony

Top OLED gadgets for the 2009 holiday season

oled — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:13:50 -0500

So the 2009 holiday season is almost here - and obviously you'd like a new gadget with an OLED display. So what are your options?

OLED TVs

Sadly, there aren't that many OLED TVs around as we'd hope for. Sony is still selling the XEL-1 (at around $2,200) - but you should hurry, as they have stopped the production line, and will soon stop offering this TV. Your other option is LG's 15" OLED TV - but this is currently available in Korea only, for around $2600. It's probably best to wait a few years before actually buying an OLED TV...

Mobile phones

There are many OLED phones you can choose from... it seems that every week Samsung releases yet another smartphone with a large touch OLED. Samsung currently offers dozens of models - including the Impression, the Moment, the Behold II, the Omnia II and the Jet. Nokia is offering the N86 and even HP recently announced an OLED phone - the iPAQ Glisten.

Samsung Moment

Digital Cameras

Compared to mobile phones, there are very little OLED digital cameras around... There's the Samsung TL320 and the NV24HD, and also Nikon's new S70 - with a large touch AMOLED, 12Mp sensor and 5X optical zoo.

Nikon S70

Are Sony working on a new secret TV technology?

oled — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:23:09 -0500

Smarthouse (responsible for a lot of rumors lately) are claiming that Sony is working on a new 'secret' TV technology. This new tech is not OLED and not LED backed LCD, but rather a 'spin-off technology' that is reportedly easier and cheap to make than current display technology. It is also power efficient. Smarthouse say that this new technology is the reason that Sony decided not to release a new OLED TV.

Smarthouse says that they talked to a Sony insider who told them this. They also base this on an AP interview with a Sony executive a couple of days ago - but personally I think that they mis-read that interview. The executive indeed says that Sony needs their own technology, but he is talking about the ability to make their own TV panels and not buy them from Samsung like they do for LCDs.

It's possible that Sony are indeed upgrading their OLED TV technology, making it suitable for larger panels. They recently stopped their pilot production line, which was loss making, and are supposed to launch a new larger OLED TV soon (the KDL-ZK)

Sony releases a software update to the Walkman OLED X

oled — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:29:23 -0500

Sony has released a software update (v1.10) to the Walkman OLED X series. The update improves the web browser (faster page load times, better page rendering, etc.).

The OLED X walkman costs 350$ for the 32GB version, and 265$ for the 16GB version.

Via Engadget

Sony hints that they are planning a bigger OLED TV

oled — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:24:27 -0500

Sony is having financial problems in their TV business, and having to buy panels from Samsung was one of the reasons. Sony knows that having their own technology is key to future success. Now a Sony Executive hints that they are planning an upgrade to their OLED TV (the KDL-ZX?). He also admits that their engineers were encountering technological problems with making larger OLEDs.

Sony is also betting quite heavily on 3D TVs.

Via Associated Press

Problems at CMEL and Sony?

oled — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:51:26 -0500

OLEDNet reports that CMEL is now working at only 40% of its capacity, because of financial trouble at the parent company CMO. In addition, Sony has stopped its production line.

CMO has actually merged with Innolux this week, hopefully this means that the financial problems are over. It is true however that we haven't heard any news from CMEL for quite some time.

Sony are rumored to be releasing their new OLED TV soon (the KDL-ZX, which might be 21" or 27"). But they might have decided to stop making the loss-making XEL-1.

Sony's new OLED TV to be called the KDL-ZX, to be introduced in CES 2010

oled — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:01:21 -0500

There are rumors (coming from a leaked internal Sony document) that Sony's new OLED TV will be called the Sony KDL-ZX. No more information is available - although interestingly they say it's the KDL-ZX series, so maybe Sony will introduce several new OLEDs?

Sony 27-inch OLED prototype

Sony were planning a 27" OLED TV, and later on showed new 21" prototypes, so it could be either, or both.

Via HDTVLounge

Sony Ericsson rumored to work on a new 3.5" OLED Phone

oled — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:13:21 -0400

There are rumors that Sony Ericsson are working on a new Symbian mobile phone (the Kurara) with a 3.5" touch AMOLED display, to be released in the first half of 2010. It will also have a 8.1mp camera. We don't have any more details...

Via UnWiredView

Sony shows Flexible OLEDs and new concepts at CEATEC 2009

oled — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:16:56 -0400

Sony is showing some new concept designs at CEATEC 2009, including an OLED bracelet walkman and a flexible OLED laptop.

Also on display is a 0.2mm flexible OLED, which seems to be the same one Sony displayed at CES 2009.

Via Engadget

Interview with Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV group engineer

oled — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:05:28 -0400

Sony has posted an interesting interview with Tetsuo Urabe (Senior Vice President, Display Device Development Group, Sony), together with 3 other Sony engineers received the 55th Okochi Memorial Award.

Tutsuo tells us how they started with a 13-inch prototype in 2001, the challenges in establishing mass-production of OLED displays, and the difficult work they had to do in order to meet the December 2007 shipment deadline.

DisplaySearch released AMOLED roadmap chart - with news on Sony, LG and CMEL OLED TVs

oled — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:41:28 -0400

DisplaySearch has released a new report (small/medium TFT LCD and AMOLED product roadmap). They give an interesting chart showing AMOLED roadmap from all players:

There is a lot of interesting information in there: