OLED Tablets - Introduction and Latest Industry News - Page 24

Update: A Samsung Executive (J.K. Shin, president of Samsung's mobile communications division) has confirmed that Samsung are working on a table, to be called Galaxy Tab, to be released no later than 3Q 2010.

We have some fresh rumors about Samsung's upcoming Tablet: according to a Vietnamese site, it will be named Galaxy Tape (and not tab), and indeed come with a 7" Super-AMOLED. Other features include a 1.2Ghz A8 processor, Android 2.2, 16GB of internal memory and a microSD slot. It'll weigh 370 grams. Galaxy Tape sounds weird to me, but if these are the true specs, this is one exciting gadget...

Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab

Samsung's upcoming tablet computer, the S-Pad is confirmed for the second half of 2010 (some report an August release). There are rumors that this tablet will run on Google's Android OS and have a 7" Super-AMOLED (touch) display. Other features include Wi-Fi, 3G (SK Telecom in Korea) and USB connectivity.

This is interesting news. Currently, the largest super-AMOLED display is the 4" used in the Galaxy S smartphone. We know that Samsung are working on 7" AMOLEDs (they'll use one in the 700Z photo frame).

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 iPad

So 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.

There are some new rumors that Apple's new device will actually be marketed primarily as an e-reader. It makes sense that Apple will want to enter the e-reader market now, when it's starting to take off.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of display will be chosen for such a device. Almost all e-readers use e-paper displays which are very efficient and great on the eye. But they are monochrome (although color ones are expected in 2010) and have slow refresh rate. If Apple wants this device to be used as an internet tablet too, they'll have to choose another display type. Obviously we're hoping for the first Apple OLED product...

WSJ reports that Apple will soon begin production of their tablet, and will release it at late March or April 2010. The display will be a 10.1" LCD - they say that there will not be an OLED display after all. But these are still just rumors, nothing official yet...

There are new Apple-OLED-tablet rumors, this time from Digitimes, which might make it true this time. Apple are said to postpone their tablet PC to 2H 2010. There will be two models - one with a 10.6" TFT LCD, and one with a 9.7" OLED. The OLED will be made by LG Display.

Digitimes also say that a 9.7" OLED panel will cost about $500 US today, which is very expensive for such a gadget. However OLED Prices are expected to fall rapidly, and so the final price of the tablet should be around $1,200 to $1,500, and could be lower if it's bundled with 3G services. The LCD tablet is expected to priced at about $800-$1,100.

Remember the MOTO group OLED Android tablet? They have released some new photos of their upcoming device:

It has a 5" OLED capacitive touchscreen, Wi-Fi, 8Mp camera, and an optional 3G model. There's also a version with an LCD.

Taiwan's Institute for Information Industry is showing off a concept computer that is both an XP netbook and a Android OS tablet - the display can be 'pulled' off for the tablet mode. TIII are using a 7.6" OLED (the one made by CMEL, most likely) in their concept computer.

It seems like the rumors about Apple and OLEDs will never die. It seems very likely that Apple will soon launch a new tablet computer, which will also double as a book-reader (which will compete with Amazon's new Kindle DX).

Smarthouse reports that the new tablet will have a 10.6" display, made by LG Display. It will either be an OLED, or a LED-based LCD. Smathouse seems to be running these rumors for a long time now, claiming Apple will have an OLED iPod, or monitor, or netbook... 

There will be an interesting battle here between Amazon and the E Ink based Kindles, vs Apple with their color LCDs or OLED. E Ink displays are much more power efficient, are readable in the sun, and are easy on the eye. But they are slow (cannot display video for example) and of course do not have color. So will people want a dedicated reading device, or will they prefer a general computer that can also be used for reading?