OLED TVs sure offer phenomenal picture quality, but even now, 2 years after Sony launched its XEL-1, we still wait for large-screen versions. Samsung showcased a 40-inch OLED display last year (pictured). Now Panasonic might be onto something bigger. The company is planning to develop the world’s first OEL panel that’s sized at “40 inches or larger” by fiscal 2010.

Panasonic will team up with major chemical company Sumitomo Chemical to produce the OLED displays in a new LCD TV plant Panasonic will open in summer next year. The companies said by 2015, their 40-inch OLED TVs should boast a power consumption of 40W, a third of current LCD TVs and just 10% of what existing plasma TVs of that size use.

The TVs are also expected to be just 3mm thick and 20 times brighter than plasma displays that are on the market today. We can’t wait (for affordable OEL panels).

Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]

Sony took part at the 5th International FPD Expo that ended today in Tokyo, showcasing for the first time in their home market of Japan a 21-inch OLED that almost doubles the size of the XEL-1 (11 inches). Unlike the XEL-1, however, the 21-incher is still in prototype stage.

The new OLED boasts a resolution of 1,366×768 pixels and an incredible contrast ratio of 1 million to 1. Sony says the display isn’t even 1cm thick and did away with the navigation system style of the XEL-1 by integrating the stand and the bezel. While the screen itself produces gorgeous images, the whole apparatus still isn’t quite as sexy.

Take a look at the OLED prototype in the video below.

Last year in August, Sony promised Europeans will get the world’s first commercialized OLED TV, the XEL-1, “sometime next year”. Now  the 11-inch screen is available in the UK, which is probably a good thing. But the problem is the price.

Sony UK’s site is already listing the device (but without price information) and it goes on sale today. Reportedly, the XEL-1 comes with a price tag of $5,000, which is significantly higher than the US price ($2,500) or what the Japanese have to pay ($2,000) [JP].

No idea who is responsible for Sony UK’s global pricing strategy but this price is unbelievable. Still, Sony claims they received hundreds of pre-orders already.

What’s even more noteworthy is that the price German customers have to pay is even higher. Sony Germany lists the device for $5,700…

Engadget via OLED Display Net

It’s the third of five days at CEATEC 2008, Asia’s biggest exhibition for consumer electronics (think Asia’s CES), and I must say it’s better than last year.

Here are my impressions of the exhibition:

1)
The level of internationalization at CEATEC stands at an estimated 5%. I am seriously wondering how foreign journalists are able to understand what is actually being showcased. 99% of all text-based information is Japanese-only (brochures, maps, booth displays, etc.).

Most of the staffers at the booths can hardly speak English, which is not really helpful either (I am fortunate to speak Japanese).

2)
The number of real innovations is too low: too many flat screens (yawn), a huge/deserted Blu-ray-only booth (seriously), obvious vaporware, etc. etc. Who cares if a flat screen is now 1.2cm thin instead of 1.3cm?

But this is probably an issue at most tech exhibitions.

3)
Tech powerhouses like Pioneer, Sharp and Hitachi totally disappoint this year. For example, Sony is displaying its 11-inch OLED TV XEL-1 again this year and in almost the same manner as 2007.

4)
Despite of the lack of innovations, Japan shows that it’s still a tech nation to be reckoned with. Some of the tech I saw at CEATEC 2008 is just amazing. Panasonic’s virtual wall for the living room, for example, is fantastic.

I will keep covering the highlights of the event in a series of posts over the next days.

Sony caused a worlwide sensation at last year’s CEATEC by introducing the XEL-1 during the event, its mini OLED TV, which boasts a thickness of just 3 mm (1.4 mm at its thinnest part).

This year, the general public gets to see a OLED display that is just 0.3 mm at its thinnest part (otherwise, the 11-inch screen is technically identical to the XEL-1).

In the US, Sony showcased the ultrathin OLED prototype (under heavier security arrangements) during the D6 conference in May. It was also displayed at the Sony Dealer Convention 2008 [JP], which was held earlier this month in Tokyo.

Sony wants to be the number one TV company by the year 2010.  To that end, they’ve announced three sexy new products today at IFA.

The Bravia EX-1 PictureFrame television is a wall-mountable LCD television that utilizes wireless HDMI to reduce cables going to your set.  It’s designed to look good on your wall, as though a piece of art.  The wireless HDMI has a range of about 30 meters, so you can tuck that little white box under the couch or in the closet.

The Bravia ZX-1 uses edge-mounted LEDs to get a display only 9.9 millimeters thick.  It also uses wireless HDMI and has a 200Hz display for even crisper motion presentation.

The Bravia XEL-1 is Sony’s OLED offering, boasting a 3 mm thick display and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.  It also measures response time in micro seconds, rather than milliseconds.

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According to information the Nikkei, Japan’s largest business daily, spread today, Sony will finally start selling its XEL-1 mini OLED TV in Europe “sometime next year”. The device made its debut in the US in January, while it hit Japanese stores December 2007.

Sony will become the first company offering OLED TVs in Europe. The price is unknown at this point.

The company is planning to invest over $200 million in the mass production of larger OEL screens by the end of this fiscal year. Sony is not alone: Matsushita (Panasonic) is expected to build prototype 40-inch OLED displays in early 2009, with plans of offering them to Japanese customers in 2011. Samsung plans to roll out 14-inch OLED TVs in 2010.

The American market research firm DisplaySearch recently said they expect about 2.8 million OLED to be shipped globally by 2012.

How often do you use your phone’s built-in camera? More often than not, the cameras are so terrible it’s not even worth the time it takes to remove it from your pocket. Samsung aims to change that mentality with its i8510 INOV8. The phone, which is Europe-only, runs on the latest version of Symbian, and comes with a 8-megapixel camera. Of course, as we all know, unless the image sensor is increased likewise, all those megapixels are worth much less.

Our amigos at Laptop Magazine even have a video of the phone in action, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Today Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization announced it wants to accelerate the commercialization of large-screen OLED-TVs with a $350 million investment to be spent over 5 years.

The public organization plans to cooperate with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and a total of 10 Japanese technology companies. These are:

- Hitachi Zosen
- Sony
- Sharp
- Shimadzu
- Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology
- Idemitsu Kosan
- Choshu Industry [JP]
- Sumitomo Chemical
- JSR
- Dainippon Screen

According to Japanese media, the initiative’s goal is to commercialize 40-inch OLED-TVs by 2018. This seems to be surprisingly late, as Samsung showcased a prototype of such a TV as early as 2005.

Sony plans to sell FED-TVs sized at 26 inches through an affiliate company starting next year. The company’s current OLED-TV, the XEL-1, comes with a screen size of 11 inches.

Field Emission Technologies, a Sony affiliate, is preparing to mass-produce a new kind of flat panel starting 2009. Sony owns 37.8 percent of the company.

The so-called FEDs (field emission displays) offer higher picture quality than LCDs. Backlighting FEDs is not necessary so that they are said to be twice as energy-efficient as LCDs. While Sony’s first OLED-TV, the XEL-1, measures 11 inches, Field Emission Technologies aims at producing FEDs sized 26 inches from the start. The company announced it will eventually produce 60-inch TV displays.

Field Emission Technologies will buy a Pioneer plant in Southern Japan, which is currently producing plasma TVs. Japanese media estimate the company is ready to invest between $190 and $280 million in the new technology, expecting to achieve $235 million in sales in the first two years of production.

Sony presented a self-developed 19-inch FED TV prototype in Japan last year.

Via Tech-On [JP]

No one can deny OLED displays are superior in quality to LCD or Plasma screens. One problem which has been constraining the commercialization of large-size OLED TVs, however, is the high level of power consumption.

On Monday however, Sony and Japanese chemical company Idemitsu announced they succeeded in increasing the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) in deep-blue fluorescent OLED devices to 28.5%. I know, right? Until today, 25% was believed to be the maximum level of luminous efficiency achievable. Among the RGB colors, blue OLED devices are the most energy-intensive.

The two companies have been jointly working on the improvement of OLED display technology since 2005. Sony Japan plans to mass-produce big-screen OLED TVs (20 inches and larger) at the end of 2009.

This is definitively good news since Sony’s current OLED TV XEL-1 is cool but simply too small (11 inches) and too expensive.

“The results demonstrate that the Sony display is significantly inferior in many ways to the current (OLED) designs,” DisplaySearch’s researchers wrote.

But that’s not even the best part. DisplaySearch says that a cell phone made by Samsung with an OLED screen would last longer than Sony’s TV. Yeah, you may want to rethink spending $2,500 on this gadget.

That 11-inch organic LED wonder from Sony will be hitting our shores this month for $2,500. As a refresher, it’s 3mm deep and has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio with rapid response time for crisp and blur-free picture. Did I mention that it’s $2,500?!

Sure, it’s slim. The world’s slimmest, actually, at 3 millimeters. And the contrast ratio, wow. It’s high. A million to one. That’s 1000000:1.

At $1800, though, is an 11-inch super bright, super slim TV with a 960×540 resolution and a digtial TV tuner worth it? I guess we’ll find out.

It’s currently only available via Sony Japan (for 200,000 Yen) but I betcha something like this will come our way someday.

Sony XEL-1 OLED TV – Available for pre-order [Newlaunches.com]

Looks like Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow hinted this morning that the OLED HDTVs that were announced a short time ago might make their way to US shores before the end of the year. Just in time for the holidays! Awesome. Not so fast, buckaroo. There’s a catch. There always is, isn’t there? The XEL-1 is going to have to tank in Japan for the US to have any chance at seeing them. That’s fine by me. That’s one sloppy second I’d gladly take.

Sony OLED HDTVs May Come to America This Year [Daily Tech]

Sony’s XEL-1 is pretty impressive. It’s only 27 inches wide and costs $1,500, so it’s not that impressive but if you want to be an early adopter and feel like your TV can get blown off the table with a strong gust of wind, this is your device.

OLEDs use less power and are more eco-friendly than plasma or LCD screens. Does this mean you’ll have an OLED in your home next year? Probably not. While it’s an amazing technology, they’ve been harping on this stuff for almost a decade and I can’t see them pumping these out any time soon. It’s nice to see Sony is experimenting and leading the OLED charge, but let’s not hold our collective breath.

Not to be confused with “beef curtains”

This isn’t at all what I expected from Sony. Truth be told, I didn’t really think anything of it at the time, but the teaser from Sony has been revealed. It’s a 3mm OLED TV with a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. The SonyDrive XEL-1 packs a quite a bit for an 11-incher. A 960×450 resolution, HDMI, USB, Ethernet, 45W power consumption, 2×1W speakers, a terrestrial digital tuner TV isn’t too bad when it weighs a smidgen over 3-pounds, but $1,700+ is too rich me blood. The OLED lands December 1 on Japanese store shelves.

Product Page [via Impress]

The new sensors will likely be built into ultra-slim cameras and possibly (based completely on my irrelevant assertion) cell phones. Sharp will begin shipping samples of the CCD to manufacturers next week, but it won’t be put into mass production until April.

And with that, I’m off to watch the Saints play the Bears in the frigid, freezing snow of Chicago. Anyone else watching the game today? Who are you cheering for? It better be the Saints!

Sharp unveils 8.28-megapixel 1/2.5-inch CCD sensor [Engadget]