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.
There are reports that Samsung plans to introduce their Super-AMOLED 7" tablet computer (the S-Tab, or the Galaxy-Tab, we don't know yet) next month at IFA 2010, which will take begin on September 3rd, in Berlin.
Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab
The nice guys over at APUS have kindly sent me an OLED watch for review. This is their Alpha Dark Force, which uses a blue PMOLED (they have other watches that use red or white PMOLEDs). APUS are selling the phones on-line in their web shop. The watches are also available in Amazon.com. The Alpha Dark Force, shown above costs $129.
When you first take it out of the box, you notice something strange - the display is off. Then you realize that that's how it's supposed to be - the watch does not display anything until you press a button. Then it shows you the time for a few seconds, and turns off again. APUS say that this is to preserve the battery, which will drain in a couple of days if the display will be always on. More on this later.
Pantech is Korea's third handset makers, and now they say that they will not use AMOLED displays in their new smartphones because of supply problems. They are selling two AMOLED smartphones now (one of which is the IM-A600S which has a 3.7" display).
Pantech IM-A600S Sirius
According to Pantech, Samsung Mobile Display will not be able to supply enough AMOLEDs even for Samsung Electronics which is pushing AMOLED phones very aggressively (especially the Galaxy S phone).
Acer's Stream phone is set to launch on August 9th, and will be sold exclusively to Expansys in the UK (at least for now). The price will be £399. The Stream is an Android phone (running on a 1Ghz processor)
with a large touch AMOLED display. It features 720p video (playback and record), HDMI port, Wi-Fi and a DLNA/UPnP Streamer.
Acer Stream
There are reports that Samsung is set to release a new phone called Galaxy Q. This is an Android 2.2 QWERTY slider with a 3" Super-AMOLED. Other features will include a 1Ghz processor, 8mp camera that can record HD video, 16GB of internal memory (and a microSD slot), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and a mini HDMI port.
Samsung is doing some interested marketing activity: they are offering free Galaxy S phones to iPhone 4 users that has reception problems. Samsung's twitter account (@samsungukmobile) is contacting people who've tweeted about their difficulties with the iPhone 4.
Samsung Galaxy S
The Galaxy S is an Android phone with a 4" WVGA 800 X 480 Super-AMOLED display. Samsung has already sold more than a million such phones globally, in just 3 weeks. If Samsung didn't contact you for a freeby, you can buy the Galaxy S unlocked for $599.
A few days ago we we reported that AT&T is selling the Samsung Captivate phone now for $200, and now we hear (thanks Eric!) that T-Mobile is selling the same phone, only calling it Samsung Vibrant for $99 with a service plan. The Vibrant (Galaxy S) is an Android phone with a 4" WVGA 800 X 480 Super-AMOLED display. Samsung has already sold more than a million such phones globally, in just 3 weeks.
Samsung Vibrant
You can buy the Samsung Vibrant for $99 (with a new service plan), or you can buy the Galaxy S unlocked for $599.
Samsung says that they have sold over a million Galaxy S phones globally in 3 weeks. They have also sold over a million Wave phones so far. Samsung aims to sell 10 million Galaxy S phones globally. We hope that they'll have enough Super-AMOLED displays...
Samsung Wave s8500The Wave has a 3.3" Super-AMOLED, and runs the Bada OS. It's shipping in the US, unlocked for $399. The Galaxy-S has a larger (4") Super-AMOLED and runs Android. You can buy the Galaxy S unlocked for $599.
There are some new rumors about Apple's 2nd-Gen iPad, that will use 5.6" and 7" AMOLED displays. According to the rumors, the iPad 2 will be launched at 4Q 2010. A new 9.7" version will also be released, with some "minor" changes, and will still use an IPS-LCD. The smaller iPads will mainly target the e-reader market.
While it's true that OLED costs are expected to drop, it's still unlikely that Apple will find a supplier that can make enough OLED displays. Samsung can't keep up with current demand for smaller displays (4" or less), and their new plant will not be ready by the July 2011. There are other companies working on new OLED plants (LG, AUO, TPO) but these will also not be able to meet Apple's demand.
