Sony has installed 20 XEL-1 OLED TVs in the press gallery of the Amsterdam ArenA stadium. It seems that the responses has been great, and people are very impressed with the performance of the OLED TV displays.
So 2010 is here, and we're still waiting for a real commercial OLED TV. While OLEDs are advancing quickly in smart phones and digital cameras, it seems that no one is willing to commit to large panels - OLEDs are still very expensive to make. Another problem facing OLED TVs is LCDs - in the past few years LCDs have gotten thinner, cheaper, more efficient and they look better.
One area in which LCDs do not shine, though is 3D. This was the hot topic at CES - many companies (including Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Toshiba and more) have shown their 3D Displays, and announced future models. However it seems that LCDs are not so good for 3D viewing. In fact Plasma (and OLED) TVs are much better. LCDs has problems with fast switching of photos, and there's "crossover" between the left and right image. OLEDs is even faster and better than Plasma, and is said to be the best way to view 3D. Both Sony and Samsung have unveiled new OLED 3D TV prototypes in CES.
AUO's CEO says that they they will start producing small to medium-size OLEDs again in 2011. They expect to complete equipment installation by the end of 2010 on their 3.5G LTPS line that will be used for OLEDs.
AUO 14-inch OLED prototype
AUO were actually the first company to make AMOLEDs, back in 2006. Their AMOLEDs were used in BenQ-Siemens S88, the first phone to have an AMOLED display. They since decided to stop making OLEDs. In January 2008, they resumed their OLED program, and now we hear that actual production will start next year.
Philips have lowered the price and improved the efficiency of their OLED Lighting panels. For example, the 44x47mm white rectangle, which used to cost â¬166 will now cost â¬72. The efficiency of their panels was between 10lm/W and 20lm/W. We can now expect over 20lm/W for the new panels.
Philips lumiblade blue squarePhilips will also put more emphasis on white rectangular panels - as these has been the most popular from all shapes and colors. Philips also said that there have been no complaints so far, and all feedback has been good.
A couple of days ago we reported the Lumiotec plans to start shipping sample OLED Lighting panels next month. Now we have some more information, and a photo, too. The sample kits will include one OLED panel, a controller and an AC adapter:
The OLEDs are 142mm by 142mm, 4.1mm thick. The brightness is 4,000cd/m2, and the lifetime is said to be 30,000 at 1,000cd/m2. The power consumption is 14.1W (the voltage is 9.4V).
So, yesterday Apple finally unveiled their new device, the iPad tablet, which basically seems to be an oversized iPhone. And it hasn't got an OLED display, but rather an LCD (an IPS LCD to be exact - which has a better image quality and viewing angle than normal LCDs, but requires more power).
Apple iPadSo it hasn't got an OLED - this was rather expected. It seems that we'll have to keep waiting for Apple's first OLED gadget.
Amazon UK has just added 4 new Samsung digital cameras, all with AMOLED displays. 3 Of them we already know about: The CL80 (ST5500 in the UK), the HZ35W (WB650 in the UK) and the NX10. There's another one called WB2000, which wasn't revealed before.
Samsung HZ35W
Dr J Devin McKenzie, Add-Vision's CTO was interviewed about Printed-Electronics today. He gave the following comment on their goals for 2010:
Add-Vision is supporting it's licensees as they scale up to pilot manufacturing and begin commercialization of printed flexible OLEDs. AVI R&D groups are focused on increasing efficiency of the manufacturing process and refining performance of printed devices towards product specifications.
As far as we know, Bayer AG is the only Add-Vision licensee (announced in June 2009). So he is probably talking about them. it's great news to hear they are gearing up towards pilot manufacturing, and perhaps even commercialization of printed flexible Polymer-OLEDs. These will probably be small and cheap displays, as Bayer said they want to address the active packaging and labels, gift cards, electronic toys and games, promotional products or point-of-sale signage markets.
Update: in another interesting interview with Add-Visions' CEO, he says that they actually have 4 licensees - Bayer, Toppan Forms, Alps Electric and CDT. So we're not sure now who's actually the one to start a pilot line in 2010...
Japan's Lumiotec plans to start shipping OLED Lighting panels next month. These will be sample kits that include one 145mm x 145mm OLED panel, a controller and an AC adapter. The kits will cost ¥80,000 each (about $880). Lumiotec plans to increase production capacity in July and reach about 40,000 panels annually.
Lumiotec prototype OLED panelsThese kits are actually more expensive than the ones offered by Philips or OSRAM (although the OLED panel itself is larger). But at any case these are just 'samples', with real commercial panels expected at around 2013.
Lenovo will launch their LePhone smartphone in China in May. The LePhone has a 3.7" 800x480 touch AMOLED and it runs Google's Android OS (a highly customized 2.1). It's a WCDMA phone with 2 cameras, Wi-Fi and GPS that only 12mm thick. The phone has no hardware keys at all, but it can be attached to a QWERTY keyboard.
Lenovo Lephone 
