There's a leaked Samsung document describing a new camera opto-electronic viewfinder (E-OVF) system that uses a transparent AMOLED panel. The AMOLED has a 800x533 resolution and supports 240Hz. The idea is to combine the AMOLED with an optical viewfinder - so you'll actually see the camera information (metering, battery level, etc.) while enjoying the good image in the viewfinder.

Back in February, we learned that Samsung is strongly into transparent AMOLEDs, and want to introduce several new products that use this technology. People often wonder what's the use of transparent displays, and an optical-viewfinder-with-an-AMOLED is a great example!

There are some reports that LG plans to show a new 31" OLED TV at IFA 2010 (September 3rd). We know that LG want to introduce larger OLED TVs, but it's highly unlikely that it'll happen so soon - not until their Gen-5.5 plant goes online in 2012, anyway.

LGE 15EL9500

LG is selling the EL9500 15" OLED TV in Europe and in Korea - still not in the US though.

eMagin has announced that they have been awarded a $15.2 million subcontract by ITT Corporation to supply them with OLED-XL microdisplays. These will go into ITT's Spiral Enhanced Night Vision Goggle (SENVG).

The SENVG incorporates the 18 mm image intensifier tube, utilizes several qualified ENVG subassemblies, including the DBCA from eMagin and is powered by 3 AA batteries.

Last month we heard some rumors that Apple is going to release smaller iPads, with 5.6" and 7" OLED displays. Back then we said it's highly unlikely that Apple will use OLEDs as supplies are so tight currently. Now we have some new rumors about a 7" iPad, but with an IPS LCD display (that has the same 1024x768 resolution as the iPad 9.7"). This makes more sense...

OSD has released a new 1.46" 65k-color PMOLED display. The panel features the SSD1355UR8R1 driver IC.

The OSD128128P0427-21 is now shipping. A sample unit will cost you $15. If you buy a 1,000, each will be $7.90. Buying 5,000 or more will bring it down to $7.

UDC is showing some new OLED lamp prototypes, some of these are very beautiful. The prototypes include a Christmas-tree decoration, flexible OLEDs and some 6" white-OLED panels. Here's my favorite one, a desk lamp that uses a thin (1/8" thick) panel. The head can rotate a full 360 degrees, and spins on thin carbon fiber. The lamp is dimmable:

OLEDNet reports the Konica-Minolta plans to start mass production of flexible OLED lighting panels in 2010. Konica-Minolta is cooperating with GE on manufacturing technology. According to the report, Konica Minolta is using polymer materials and printing technologies. The materials are made by Sumitomo. The lifetime of Konica-Minolta’s products is estimated to be 3,000 hours or more with the brightness of 1,000 cd/m2.

We think that this is a bit optimistic... according to KM's own plans, the first plant is scheduled for March 2011. Just last month they re-iterated their plans to start making the flexible OLEDs in 2011, and we do not think this will qualify as 'mass production'. We also know that KM is using UDC's Small-Molecule Phosphorescent materials, but maybe they are also working with Sumitomo on Polymer based OLEDs.

eMagin announced their 2Q financial results. They generated a $8.3 Million in revenues (a company's record) - a 41% increase compared to 2Q-2009 - primarily due to a significant increase in product revenue and the more than doubling of contract revenue. Net income for the period was $912,000.

Sprint's Epic 4G, will launch on August 31st for $299 with a contract. The Epic 4G is a 1Ghz Android (v2.1) Sprint's WiMax network.

It has a large (4") Super-AMOLED, 5mp camera (capable of 720p video recording), 802.11b/g/n WiFi and a six-axis accelerometer.

Texas Instruments introduced a new 200-mA dual output power supply that can improve the picture quality of AMOLED displays that require positive and negative supply rails. The TPS65137 uses a low dropout (LDO) post regulator for line and load transient response with minimum output voltage ripples to provide stable picture
quality. The input range is 2.3V to 5.5V and the size is 3mmx3mm.

The TPS65137 is available now and is priced at $0.85 in quantities of 1,000.