Samsung's new OLED laptop

Samsung's new OLED laptop shows a thin body and odd, buttonless half-sized keyboard.

The picture of the newest Samsung OLED laptop concept suggests Samsung may actually be prepared to fight for a triple-spike in sales.

The 12.1" laptop is an ultra-thin AMOLED from Samsung's display devision. The 12.1" screen measures in at 1280 x 768 with infinite contrast.

While the display is definately on the mark, the keyboard may not be. A touch-sensitive keyboard seems less than ideal, not to mention only being half size. Notice the flap on the back? My guess is you fold that over the monitor to protect the screen where the halfling keyboard cannot.

Samsung OLED Laptop Coming in 2009?

It looks like Samsung might be bringing OLED to laptops, and they look pretty darn cool. Engadget is reporting that consumers could see the AMOLED (active matrix organic light-emitting diode) concept as soon as 2009. Which consumers, is always a question—Japan? U.S.? Anyone? The 12.1-inch prototype offers a 1280 x 768 resolution and self-illuminating screen. Plans for the super-thin package include 14- and 15.4-inch models. Aside from an improved picture quality, it has a mystery panel around the back that’s quite the buzz on the web.



-electronichouse

Sumitomo set to produce 40-inch OLED panels in 2009

Not that there was any doubt that OLED is on its way to larger sizes (hasn't it been since like 2005?), but Japanese firm Sumitomo Chemical announced its plans to produce 40-inch OLED panels for HDTVs some time in 2009, meaning Sumitomo-based TVs could hit the market in 2009 or 2010. Samsung's old-skool 40-inch OLED HDTV prototype shown above for scale.



-engadget

AM OLED Panel market in the first quarter is dominated by Korea

Korean companies are dominating AM OLED market that has just been growing. It's because Samsung SDI began mass-producing 4G AM OLED for the first time , preoccupying world market in the second half of last year.

Display Bank (CEO Kwon, Sang-se), a market research company for display, surveyed shipments of AM OLED in the first quarter. The result showed that SDI shipped about 2.56million units, accounting for over 90% of entire market. LG Display produced about 120,000 units. If combining two companies, they accounted for 95% of world AM OLED market in the first quarter.

Especially, the shipment of AM OLED panel for the first quarter already surpassed 2.2million units of total shipment in the last year to reach 2.7million units. That demonstrates AM OLED market has started to mature this year. Among AM OLED set products, mobile phone took 90% of total shipment. In the first quarter, shipment of AM OLED panel for mobile phone recorded 2.4million units. Display Bank predicted that the number will grow to over 3million units in the second quarter.

Samsung SDI supplied AM OLED panel for mobile phone and MP3 player to Samsung Electronics, Kyocera, Iriver, Nokia, Toshiba, Hitachi and Sony Ericson. From this year, it has started to supply panels for digital camera to Samsung Techwin. Among AM OLED panel companies, the company has most corporate clients. LG Display supplied the whole quantity of AM OLED panel for mobile phone to LG Electronics. It is expected that shipment will be monthly average 100,000 units from the second quarter.

Sony that produced AM OLED panel for 11 inch TV from last November remained about 1000 units of shipment. It will focus on panel for TV for the time being.

AM OLED panel for 2 inch mobile phone has been supplied at twice higher price than LCD panel due to low demand but the demand will grow steadily with high quality mobile phone leading the growth. Display Bank predicted that AM OLED panel shipment will reach as many as 4million units in the second quarter.

-korea IT news

Nokia 6600 Fold: Elegant and Functional

Nokia want to make a new trend well known – mobile phones which combine elegant shapes with modern technology. This trend has actually been around for a few years, but Nokia are coming up with new examples of how to develop it. With the 6600 they have designed a chic folder phone, which although it may not have the most features, looks good and can be used with UMTS.

The inside display is 5.4cm and has a 320 x 240 pixel resolution. OLED technology on the monochrome outer display is invisible until the user taps the outside of the phone. The alarm and incoming calls can be silenced in the same way. The 2 megapixel digicam with its double LED flash is also worth mentioning. The radio, stereo-Bluetooth, and an optional GPS adapter complete the package.

Although it all sounds good, features-wise it is nothing special. The main attraction of this phone is the design: the high quality display, the smooth back casing and the shiny front case were all made to impress. The planned launch is in the last quarter of the year, and Nokia expect it to cost around 327 euros.

-idealo.co.uk

Sony's New 2mm OLED Display

Sony is really pursuing this OLED thing to its biggest potential and put out a new display this week that measures just 2mm thick. We thought the original 3mm model was thin, but it seems Sony is still working on making the process even better.

The new display was recently shown off at the Display 2008 expo trade show in Japan, where Sony also debuted a new version of its $2500 11-inch XEL-1, the world's first mass-produced OLED TV. In this unit, the display panel "glass" measures just 0.3mm thick, about 1/4 the thickness of the prior model. We'll be terribly impressed when the pricing drops by about 1000% and sizes go up to 42-inches or more. Until then, it's fun to watch and wait.

A lot of Sony's technology is proof-of-concept and not slated for commercial release anytime soon - such as a thinner 3.5-inch prototype display which was shown off that measured a mere 0.2mm (0.008in) and featured a 320 x 220 pixel resolution. MP3 players and cell phones might be getting even thinner soon!

-audioholics

Sony Shows Razor-thin Prototype OLED Screen

Sony has managed to make an OLED (organic light emitting diode) screen that's just one-fifth of a millimeter thick. The prototype screen was on show at last week's Display 2008 exhibition in Tokyo and ranks as the thinnest yet developed.

The prototype 3.5-inch panel, which has QVGA resolution (320 pixels by 240 pixels), started out as a normal OLED screen, but Sony ground down the glass substrate on which it was made to reduce the thickness to just 0.2 millimeters.

Typically OLED screens are pretty thin -- about a millimeter or two thick. That's because OLED pixels emit their own light and so don't require additional illumination. It's this additional illumination, usually in the form of a backlight, that adds to the thickness of LCD (liquid crystal display) panels and means they can't compete with OLED on thickness, at least using current technology.

Due to their thinness, OLED panels consume less power than LCDs, handle fast-moving images better and offer good color reproduction. For these reasons many display makers are developing OLED technology with an eye to it replacing LCD in the future.

At the end of last year Sony began sales of the world's first OLED television. The XEL-1 is based on an 11-inch panel that's 1.4 millimeters thick. Sony has stashed most of the TV's electronics in its base, so the set thickens to only 3 millimeters with a plastic case around the screen.

Using the same glass-grinding trick it could be made even thinner. Sony also showed an 11-inch panel that was 0.3 millimeters thick -- more than a millimeter thinner than the commercial panel it's using in the XEL-1.

The panels aren't Sony's first thin OLED screens. Last year it developed a prototype OLED built onto a plastic substrate, which has the benefit of allowing the screen to be flexible. The screens shown in Tokyo last week, while thin, were brittle because they are glass-based.

There was no word on when or if the thin OLED screens on show might be commercially available.