Lumiotec started shipping their OLED Lighting kits back in February 2010. We were finally able to get our hands on one, and here's our hands-on review. We have already reviewed the Philips Lumiblade and the OSRAM ORBEOS panels, and we'll compare them all in this review.
Nikon's S80 camera is now shipping for $329. The S80 is an update to the S70 (which was quite popular in its time, and is still available for 179$). It's got the same 3.5" touch OLED, 720p movies and 5X optical zoom. The S80 has a 14.1MP sensor, and new software.
Merck has opened their new material research center in Dramstadt, Germany. One of the activities performed in the MRC will be OLED material research and development. In fact, during the inauguration ceremony, Angela Merkel (the German Federal Chancellor) was informed about Merck's research areas, especially in the area of OLED Lighting.
Merck's OLED material development started in 2005 when they bought Covion. We know that Merck is focusing today on solution processable OLED materials, and hopes to have a solution-processable Green OLED ready soon.
STMicroelectronics has unveiled their latest power management chip aimed for AMOLED (and Super-AMOLED) display - the STOD03A. The new chip has an improved performance (compared to the STOD02). ST says that only six external components
are needed to complete the power-supply circuitry, making the STOD03A the most attractive for handset builders.
The STOD03A
uses highly efficient synchronous operation for both voltage outputs,
achieving up to 85% overall efficiency for longer overall battery life.
Other power-saving features include automatic pulse-skipping operation
for low power consumption at light loads, and a true shutdown mode
drawing less than one microamp activated through the enable pin (EN). ST
has achieved its high performance using its Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI)
technology as part of its latest-generation BCD fabrication process,
which enables analog, digital and closely spaced high-power circuitry to
be built on the same chip.
A few weeks ago Sony announced the new NW-A850 walkman that uses a 2.8" 240x400 OLED. They have released a new ad - with an emphasis on the OLED (that's the only feature that's actually mentioned...):
The Walkman NW-A850 series is an update to the NW-A840 series, with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions.
Samsung say that they have sold over a million Wave phones in Europe (four months after its release). Back in July, Samsung said they have sold over a million Wave phones globally. The Wave has a 3.3" Super-AMOLED, and runs the Bada OS. The Wave costs £264 in the UK (simfree). You can get it in the US, unlocked for $399.
Samsung Wave s8500
Samsung says that the NX100 will ship in October for $599 (with a 20-50mm lens). Interestingly, Amazon.co.uk is aleady shipping the NX100 the UK for £558 ($870), as we reported last week. The NX100 is an APS-C DSLR camera (the successor to the NX10) with a 14.6mp sensor, 3" AMOLED display, 720p movie recording and an optional GPS module.
Nokia announced they're delaying the N8 launch by a few weeks - "to do some final amends". They hope to launch it during October. They also say that the phone is seeing strong pre-order demand, in fact they claim its the strongest such demand for any Nokia phone ever. The N8 has a 3.5", 360x640 touch AMOLED and runs Symbian^3 on a 680Mhz CPU. It also has Wi-Fi, a microSD slot and a 12mp camera.
It turns out that Mitsubishi's Diamond Vision OLED displays (which go on sale today!) actually use PMOLED displays, and not AMOLEDs as we assumed. This is possible because each 'tile is only 128x128 in resolution. Using PMOLEDs allows Mitsubishi to make the displays cheaply (compared to AMOLEDs).
155-inch Diamond Vision OLEDThe OLED material used in the displays is small molecule, deposited by vacuum evaporation. The material was developed by Mitsubishi and Pioneer together. (the two companies are also collaborating on OLED lighting).
A few days ago Nokia has announced their ClearBlack-Display (or CBD) which is an AMOLED display that performs better outdoors. Today we learned that CBD means a polarized filter that sits on top of the display, and blocks light. This helps it perform better outdoors. So CBD is not the same as a Super-AMOLED display (which is an AMOLED with a touch-panel built-in).
In the photo above, you can see the Nokia's E7 (left) vs a Galaxy S with a Super-AMOLED.
