Samsung announced two new phones, both of which will use Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) OS. Both of the will be launched soon by AT&T. The high-end Focus S has a 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus display, a 1.4Ghz processor, 4G-capable speed and a 8mp camera. The phone is 8.55mm thick.

Samsung Omnia W

The Focus Flash has a small 3.7" Super AMOLED display, the same processor and a 5mp camera. This same phone will be called Omnia W for other non-US networks.

Update: Sony announced that the Vita will ship in the US and the EU at February 22nd, 2012...

Sony announced that the PSP Vita, their next-gen mobile gaming console, will ship in Japan on December 17th. They say that outside Japan, the Vita will only ship in 2012 - although according to Amazon.com, the Vita will ship on 31 December, 2011 (and will cost $249 for the Wi-Fi version and $299 for the 3G one).

Sony also revealed that the original PSP shipped 71.4 million units as of June 2011. If the PSP Vita will be such a big success too, it may be the most popular OLED gadget ever.

Toray Industries is showing a Samsung-made 4.6" flexible OLED panel - which uses Toray's "component". We're not sure exactly what component Toray is talking about. We know that Toray is working towards Polyimide-based OLED encapsulation, but the company also develops blue OLED materials (at least the did back in 2008) - so perhaps Samsung are using their emitting materials? After all we know that Samsung are collaborating with Ube Kosan on Polimide development.

In any case, this OLED was showcased in Tokyo in a Toray's latest-technology exhibition. This OLED on show seems to be the same one unveiled back in November 2010 - a 4.6" WVGA panel (you can see this panel on video below).

Panasonic Electric Works announced that they developed a new highly efficient OLED device - featuring 128 lm/W efficiency. This was achieved using a semi-spherical highly-refractive lens to enhance light extraction. The OLED panel is small - only 2x2 mm, and according to Panasonic this is the world's most efficient white OLED.

PEW says that in order to achieve this high efficiency, they inserted a light extraction layer composed of a highly-refractive material between the emissive layer (EML) and the glass substrate. The back side uses a high-reflectivity metal material. Detailed calculations were performed to minimize the internal reflection - this doubled the light extraction efficiency to 40%. This panel uses all-phosphorescent materials, and PEW says that this technique is actually similar to the technique used by Universal Display when they developed the 102 lm/W device back in 2008.

OSRAM is introducing its first OLED module - the OLED Dance. The Dance includes one round OLED Orbeos panel in a round case and can be connected via its 2.6mm DC plug. The idea is this will can be used quickly (compared to just the bare Orbeos panel) - and so experimentation will be easier.

The module's diameter is 112 mm, and the OLED itself is 79 mm. The thickness of the module is 6.8mm. Here's our hands on review of the Orbeos panel.

Demand-LED is hosting a new international OLED summit in Beijing China (the China Internatioanl OLEDs Summit 2012) - in January 2012. The conference will include speakers from OLEDs manufacturing companies, end-users, organic material suppliers and professional organizations.

The organizers say that this conference "reflects the Chinese government’s OLED policies, especially on display and lighting, in the coming years, and will enable a thorough understanding of the Chinese market and the latest research achievements".

Sony revealed that the HMZ-T1 OLED HMD will arrive in the US in November 2011 - for around $799. The HMZ-T1 is a head mounted display featuring dual 1280x720 0.7" OLED microdisplays - offering the same experience as watching a 750" display from 20 meters. The unit comes with an external processor box offering HDMI intput and output (you cannot use the HMD without the processor box).

Update2: Sony announced that the Vita will ship in the US and the EU at February 22nd, 2012...

Update: The Vita will ship on December 17 in Japan, worldwide in 2012 only. So perhaps the Amazon.com date is a bit optimistic...

Sony's PSP Vita, their next-gen mobile gaming console is now available for pre-order over at Amazon.com. The Vita costs $249 for the Wi-Fi version for $299 for the 3G one, and they list the release date as 31 December, 2011.

The Vita features a 5" touch AMOLED display (960x544), a quad-core ARM Cortex A9 processor and a quad-core PowerVR (SGX543MP4+) GPU (Sony says that it is as powerful as a PS3), Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and 3G (AT&T, optional). Gaming controls include dual analog sticks, motion controls and a multi-touch pad on the rear side.

We just found this video on YouTube, showing Haier's LET-22TC - a 22" transparent "Organic" TV (yeah, that's how Haier calls it):

But this is rather strange, really. That panels has the same specifications (size and resolution) as Samsung's 22" transparent LCD panel - with its WSXGA+ resolution (1680x1050). And it's the first time we hear of any Haier OLED product, and they're already producing the largest transparent OLED we ever saw? (Samsung's largest one was 19").

Yesterday we reported that Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi have signed an agreement to establish a new small/medium display business. Today we read some updates regarding the OLED plans of this new company.

Sony hybrid printed OLED prototype

They certainly consider OLEDs to be the 'core technology' of the next generation small size and medium size displays, and will invest in OLED R&D. Interestingly Sony says that their current OLED program focuses on larger OLED panels (17", 24") and so this business will remain at Sony. However they will provide technical OLED support for the new company. Sony is also considering transferring OLED patents to the new company.