Sony has revealed a new OLED TV prototype - a 21" panel with 1366x768 resolution. The whole thickness is only 1.4mm, and the contrast ratio is 1,000,000:1 - similar to the XEL-1 TV.

Sony has actually announced it will release a new OLED TV (The XEL-2?) by May 2009. The original plan was to release a 27" model, but perhaps this is proving too difficult for Sony, and they will first go with a 21" panel?

Cowon has released a new version of the S9 Curve with 32GB. Currently only available in korea, it costs around 290$. The S9 Curve has a 3.3" (480x272) touch screen AMOLED display, FM radio, 500Mhz dual-core CPU, T-DMB, TV-Out and more.

Cowon s9 PMP

The 16GB version if available for just over 200$ at amazon today.

Novaled is showing their Defect Tolerant white OLEDs. Those displays maintain the appearance of a
homogeneously lighted-up surface even in the case of electrical shorts,
thanks to the use of its proprietary electrode design. One OLED element
consists of two comb-shaped interlocked electrodes, which give a uniform
light emission. If a short in one of the stripes appears, the resistance
of the stripe will limit the current flow and prevent a further rise of
current and temperature, which would otherwise destroy the OLED.

Novaled Ultra Stable OLED prototype

UDC reported data for a series of white PHOLEDs that span a range of white colors that were designed to satisfy the requirements of differing lighting applications. These research results range from warm to cool white with varied power efficacies of 54 to 102 lumens per watt (lm/W). Depending on the specific designs employed, the color rendering indices (CRI’s) varied from 70 to 88, and lifetimes varied from 4,000 to 17,000 hours (to 70% of initial luminance at 1,000 nits*).

UDC white light OLED prototype

White OLED performance characteristics can be tuned by manipulating the OLED materials and structures that are used. To show this effect, a series of white OLEDs, from approximately 2,700 to 4,000 Kelvin, were developed that exceed the Energy Star Category A Color Specification of color rendering index (CRI) of > 75 and the Efficiency Specification of > 35 lm/W. The Energy Star lifetime specification is ? 25,000 hours (to 70% of initial luminance at 1000 nits*), however, the lifetime results for this series may be sufficient for a variety of niche products while the Company continues to develop white OLEDs that meet the requirements for more demanding applications.

UDC says that they are moving closer to meeting the U.S. Department of Energy’s solid-state lighting targets and the requirements of Energy Star, a joint specification between DOE and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Kyocera has shown an interesting concept phone today. It's a folding phone, sporting a flexible OLED display. The phone was designed to feel like a 'living skin' with polymer, semi-rigid materials. The phone also sports a kinetic-energy based generator, making energy from movement. 

Kyocera EOS flexible phone concept

This is just a concept design, but in a few years, such flexible OLEDs might become a reality. Just a few days ago we learned that LG are considering future flexible OLED products.

A closeup of the Kyocera EOS when closed

There are rumors of a new Samsung phone - the S8000, which has a 3.1" AMOLED, 480×800. There are some reports that this phone will run Google's Android OS, and some say it will run Samsung's own OS (or maybe Samsung are planning several phones with similar hardware?).

Samsung S8000

The phone features, beside the large AMOLED:

• 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS with A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 and USB
• Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• 5 MP camera with flash
• FM radio
• 2GB internal memory/microSD slot
• DivX and XviD video capable

Sony has announced that the X series will start to sell in Japan at April 25th. It will cost 400$ for the 16GB version, and 500$ for 32GB.

Sony NWZ X1000 WalkmanThe X1000 sports a 3" Touchscreen OLED (432x240), Wi-Fi, and is the 'best sounding walkman ever'. 

Philips are now offering the "Lumiblade Experience Kit" - you can order OLED lighting panels of different sizes to sample. There are different shapes (circles, triangles, rectangles, hexagons and some 'free-shapes' as Philips calls them).

Philips Lumiblade sample circle

Philips say they see OLED lighting as a way to use OLEDs in clothing, furniture, vehicles, jewelry, works of art and more - it's a kind of a 'building block' for designers to play with. And that's who they think will order the new samples - designers who wish to start and play with these cool new OLED lights...

Philips Lumiblade sample hexagonPhilips Lumiblade sample tulip

Prices are obviously quite high - the driver costs 70euro, and the panels range from around 70euro to over 500euro.

Philips have been shipping samples for quite some time, but this is the first time they are actually available to the 'public'. Their plan is to have real commercial products by 2010.

There are rumors that Microsoft is planning a new Zune player - Zune HD. They say it will feature an OLED display. No info on size, but it will have 16:9 aspect ratio.

The Zune HD?

Other specs include 16/32GB of memory, HDMI slot (thus the HD part of the name). It will also support 3D Xbox games, whatever that means.

We're happy to announce that OLED-Info readers can now get a 5% discount on reports by Nanomarkets. These reports (about OLED displays, lighting and organic electronics in general) can now be found in our reports section.

We have got over 15 reports available now, most of them with a discount - from NanoMarkets and DisplaySearch.