OLED Tablets - Introduction and Latest Industry News - Page 20

Samsung had a very big presence at SID 2012 - showing all sorts of OLED panels, from small ones to large 55" panels. Obviously the most interesting item on display was the 55" OLED TV. As I said before, these OLED TVs are simply stunning, beautiful colors and images and even the 3D effects were great.

Samsung was showing 3 TVs: one showing regular 2D images, the other 3D images (you needed to use active shutter glasses of course) and the final one showing dual-view images (you use the glasses but each user sees and hears a different Full-HD image altogether). I went to the booth several times (and was also invited for a one-on-one guided press tour) - but in all the excitement I forgot to actually shoot a video...

iSupply says that AMOLED display shipments were up 14% in the first quarter of 2012 compared to Q4 2011 - even though this is a traditionally slow season. Shipments are up 80% compared to Q1 2011. iSupply sees AMOLEDs gaining further traction as they are being adopted by tablets.

AMOLED average panel price actually increased 0.9% to $54 - but this is due to the introduction of higher specification displays. AMOLED still carry a price premium of 15 to 25 percent compared to LTPS LCDs. A 4.3" qHD (960x54) Super-AMOLED costs $51. A comparable LCD costs $42.

Toshiba officially launched 3 new tablets today, including the Excite 7.7. This is their 7.7" 1280x800 Super AMOLED Plus tablet that was shown a few times before (it was called the AT270 before). This tablet (which features a strong quad-core Tegra 3 CPU) is very slim (7.6 mm) and light (380 grams).

The Excite 7.7 will launch in June 2012. The 16GB model will cost $500.

Samsung announced that they have shipped over five million Galaxy Note phones. In the beginning of March it was reported that Samsung sold two million units. So either that earlier report wasn't correct, or else the US launch was very successful. Samsung hopes to sell 10 million galaxy notes in 2012, and they also announced today that Japan's NTT DoCoMo will soon offer the LTE version.

Samsung's Galaxy Note is a large Android v2.3 phone (or mini-tablet?) with a 5.3" Super AMOLED display with an HD resolution: 1280x800. Other specs include a dual-core 1.4Ghz processor, 8mp camera, touch display with pen input (it has a stylus). The phone is 9.65mm thick and weights 178 grams.

Last week we reported that Tianma is showing a 12" AMOLED prototype at FPD China 2012. It turns out that the company unveiled two panels (3.2" and 12") and they kindly sent us a couple of slides showing details about these panels.

The 12" panel features 1280x800 resolution, 400 cd/m2 brightness and a contrast that exceeds 10,000:1. It is aimed towards TV and tablet applications.

Apple announced the new iPad 3 (or the New iPad as they call it), and it's got a new display: a 2048x1536 LED-backlit IPS LCD. Apple brands it as a Retina Display, even though the PPI is lower than the iPhone display (264 in the new iPad vs 326 in the iPhone's display). The new iPad also has a new CPU (dual-core Apple A5X), a new quad-core GPU, a 5mp camera and LTE. it's a bit thicker and heavier than the iPad 2 (9.4 mm and 662 grams vs 8.8mm and 613 grams).

So, no Apple OLED yet. We keep waiting...

Samsung says that they have sold over 2 million Galaxy Note phones - 2 months after crossing over the 1 million mark. Just last week the Note started shipping in the US, for AT&T. The Note is selling great - and Samsung actually hopes to sell 10 million such phones in 2012. Samsung invented a new product category - a phone/tablet hybrid (or a phablet).

Samsung's Galaxy Note is a large Android v2.3 phone (or mini-tablet?) with a 5.3" Super AMOLED display with an HD resolution: 1280x800. Other specs include a dual-core 1.4Ghz processor, 8mp camera, touch display with pen input (it has a stylus). The phone is 9.65mm thick and weights 178 grams.

Verizon announced that it's going to launch the Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE on March 1st - for $499.99 with a contract. Amazon.com offers the tablet unlocked for $650, but without LTE (only 3G/Wi-Fi). The Galaxy Tab 7.7" got some great reviews - Engadget says it's the best 7" tablet and praises the "stunning and breathtaking" Super AMOLED Plus display.

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the world's first tablet with an OLED display, a 7.7" Super AMOLED Plus panel, offering 1280x800 resolution. Other specs include Android v3.2, Dual-core 1.4 Ghz processor, HSPA+ radio (LTE in some models), 16GB to 64GB internal storage and a microSD slot, Wi-Fi, GPS and two cameras (3MP and 2MP).

Remember Toshiba's 7.7" tablet with a 1280x800 Super AMOLED Plus display? It was shown first at CES 2012, and now Toshiba is showing it again at MWC 2012. Toshiba is naming it the AT270, and reveals that it has a 1.5Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 CPU.

Toshiba hasn't officially announced this tablet yet, so we're still waiting for more technical details and of course a release date and price.

Ignis Innovation announced today that they developed and verified the second generation of the MaxLife driver IC - suitable for OLED TVs, monitors and tablets. Ignis wouldn't reveal the changes since Gen 1 - so it may be that the real issue here is support for larger displays.

The MaxLife driver enables AMOLED displays on a-Si, LTPS and Oxide-TFT backplanes. For LTPS and Oxide-TFTs, it offers better yields. For a-Si backplanes, it enables stable and high frame-rate displays.