OLED TV

LG announces a 2.6mm thick LED LCD TV

oled — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:31:31 -0500

LG has announced a new LED LCD TV, that's only 2.6mm thick. That's even thinner than Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV! The new TV is 42", weights only 4Kg (!) and has a 120Hz refresh rate. A few years ago, one of the advantages of OLEDs were being thin and light, but LCD has advanced very quickly in that respect - although OLEDs can be made much thinner, it doesn't seem to really matter any more, at least for TVs. Unless of course they'll start making rollable, flexible OLED TVs...

LG 2.6mm thick LED LCD

Via Gizmodo

LG creates a new company to handle all OLED patents and technologies

oled — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:12:02 -0500

LG Group has decided to create a new company that will handle all OLED patents and technology. It will be financed by LG Electronics, LG Display and LG Chem. The company will be created soon (hopefully before the end of 2009), and will probably be called LG OLED.

LG 15-inch OLED TVs

The new company will acquire all of Kodak's OLED patents, and will manage license contracts owned by Kodak.

LG Display is producing OLED panels (currently small/medium ones, up to 15", and has plans to start making large-sized OLED TV soon). LG Electronics is already selling OLED phones, and also the 15" OLED TV in Korea. LG Chem are working towards OLED Lighting, with plans to start producing panels in 2010.

Via KoreaTimes

Sumitomo and Idemitsu Kotsan say that 2012 will be the year when OLED finally takes off

oled — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:40:19 -0500

In an interesting article by the Financial Times, both Idemitsu Kotsan and Sumitomo executives estimate that "2012 will be the year when OLEDs hits the big times".

Idemitsu Kotsan also says that they are working on a new way to 'spray' small-molecule OLED materials. The new method should be ready by 2015. Spraying OLEDs (instead of using vapor-deposition) will mean less material loss, and thus cheaper displays. It will also make it easier to fabricate large panels.

Sumitomo is focusing on blue lifetime, and say that they will reach 50,000-60,000 hours by March 2010.

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

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.

LG plans to make 40,000 30" OLED TVs a month by 2012

oled — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:03:48 -0500

SmartHouse say that LG are set to make 40,000 30" OLED TVs a month by 2012. We're not sure what's the source of this information, but we do know that LG plans to start making 30" OLED TV panels in 2011.

LG 15-inch OLED TVs

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

Samsung is considering a new 5.5th-generation OLED line for 30" TVs

oled — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:01:22 -0500

Samsung Mobile Display is considering a new OLED line in Tangjeong (South-Chungcheong Province, Korea). The new line will be using 5.5th-generation technology for 30" OLED TVs. Total investment will be 1.5 trillion Won ($1.3 billion), although SMD says that the investment size will be decided by demand from clients such Samsung Electronics, Sony and Sharp.

The 5.5th generation technology will make OLED panels sized 1320mm x 1500mm.

SMD are currently making 20,000 4th generation OLED panels, and have around 90% market share.

Via Korea Times

Universal Display reports 2Q financial results, expects growth in OLED TVs in 2010 and beyond

oled — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:54:03 -0500

Universal Display Corporation (UDC) announced their results for 3Q 2009. Revenue were $5.1M, out of which $1.6M came from chemical revenue, license and royalty payments and commercialization assistance.

UDC says they are seeing "increased advertising and marketing of our licensees' products that use AMOLED displays with their technology and materials", and an "increase of adoption" for these products. UDC expects growth in large-area OLED displays (OLED TVs) in 2010 and beyond.

UDC also reported that Kyocera has dissolved its OLED subsidiary.