OLED screens are rising in popularity and being used more in smartphones. However, according to a report by iSuppli, it seems that manufacturers of the screens cannot keep up with demand.

Samsung is one manufacturer of OLED screens but is actively pushing the Samsung Galaxy S series of smartphones this year and is using the screens for it’s own products. The other big player is LG who is also attempting to push screens out.

Shipments of small-sized AMOLEDs used in cell phones and other applications are projected to reach 184.5 million units by 2014, up from 20.4 million units in 2009, for a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 55.1 percent during the period, according to a revised forecast from iSuppli. While such growth is impressive, the AMOLED shipments pale next to small-sized AMLCDs, which are forecasted to rise to 1.75 billion units by 2014 from 1.3 billion in 2009.

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Check out this Tetris style game that is being played on a screen made of water. The screen is separated in to three screens with the water streams lined up allowing a projector to project seamlessly on to each layer.

The result, although not amazing in terms of resolution and clarity, is still quite amazing. It allows a 3D effect to be given thanks to the depth of the water streams which are created by 50 stainless steel needles. 60 lines of image are created every second to make up the “floating image”.

Check out the video below to see it working and how it looks. [Read more…]

You might have heard recently about Google [GOOG] moving in to the TV business by launching Google TV. Google TV comes in two forms, the first is a set top companion box that sits in-between your cable/satellite providers box and your TV and the second is Google TV built in to new TV’s The system allows you to watch what you want, when you want.

Rather than going over all the details in a post and trying to explain in the best detail I can, I’ll let the video that Google uploaded to YouTube yesterday show you what it is. [Read more…]

One problem with 3D TV (other than the current high price of the screen) is that you need to wear glasses to get the 3D effect. Glasses are expensive (over $50 a pair), and there is no standard yet for glasses which means the specs used on one suppliers screen wont work on a screen from another company in some cases. A demo of that can be seen here.

One way around this is to use a 3D TV that requires no glasses. The problem with this at the moment is the way it works. The glasses-less 3D screens require that you sit in a specific place to get the 3D effect. When you move your head the effect disappears. There are actually a few points in a room where people might sit to get the effect. Either way, it’s awkward having to sit still for so long and not a very friendly to watch the TV with friends. [Read more…]

LuminAR is a robot that has a small pico-projector attached. The device is capable of moving automatically around your desk space and can project images on to your desk, wall or augment information on to magazines or books if desired (or programmed to do so).

The project comes out of MIT and is described in that it… “reinvents the traditional incandescent bulb and desk lamp, evolving them into a new category of robotic, digital information devices”.

The pico-projector part of the robot functions just like a regular lamp in that you can put it in a regular lamp holder. The only difference with doing that is that you don’t get automated robotic movement which might suit some people. [Read more…]

Sony has released several new 3D TV’s. The new TVs use shutter glasses to bring the 3D effect in to the living room. Sony has opted to use proprietary high frame rate screens which can provide full HD 3D images.

As with all things 3D at the moment, Sony isn’t letting the 3D TV’s go for cheap. On top of the high price tag you also need to purchase 3D glasses which cost $150 a pair and a 3D sync transmitter that costs $50. The $50 transmitter will be required on all but the high-end TV which has the feature built in.

The big screen of them all is the Sony Bravia XBR-LX900 series which comes with the mentioned transmitter along with two pairs of active shutter glasses. This particular series comes in two sizes starting with the 52 inch model costing $4000 and the 60 inch version costing $5000. [Read more…]

Amazon currently have a deal on the Proscan 32 inch 1080p HDTV that gives a 33% saving from the original $449.99 price tag bringing it down to $299.99. As well as the 32 inch model having a discount, the larger 40 inch model also has a saving of 26% knocking $161.99 off the price dropping it to $468.

Both TV’s are fairly standard in what they offer. Each has 2 HDMI inputs, each can display full HD at 1080p (1920 x 1080) and has a contrast ratio of 1300:1 although the larger is rated a little higher at 2000:1. [Read more…]

Sony is launching a new advert to promote their new 3D TV’s. The advert features the Brazilian footballer Kaka and the ad is designed to be watched on both 3D and 2D TV sets. When watched in 3D you get the full 3D effect whilst watching in 2D you get double images that make you want to grab a pair of 3D glasses and watch it correctly.

The advert can be viewed online (embedded below), or if you want to watch it in full HD, selected Sony Style stores will have the advert running starting June 12.

The advert was directed by Jonathan Glazer (Blur, Radiohead). We have an additional making of documentary available if you’d like to see it.

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Toshiba has created an LCD panel that is flexible. When bending the screen the program running on the screen can be zoomed in and out of. Google Earth has been used in this case as an example of how to zoom in and out of the planet. When bending backwards the planet zooms in and when bending inwards, the planet zooms out.

The screen is an LCD panel that measures 8.4 inches. It has an SVGA resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. The substrate used for the panel makes it just 0.1mm thick allowing it to be flexible. The bend sensor is also placed on the back of the screen.

Custom software was created to track the bend of the screen. The screen it’s self can be bent with a curvature of up to 50mm. [Read more…]

NEC Display Technologies has announced a new 3D enabled DLP projector. It is called the NP216J-3D and has a resolution of 1024×768 pixels.

Brightness is rated at 2500 lumens and a contrast ratio of 2000:1 is achieved. The 2500 lumens brightness is provided by a 180W lamp. A single mono speaker can also be found inside.

The new 3D projector is due to launch on July 20 over in Japan where it will be sold for $1100 which includes a pair of glasses. [Read more…]

Sony has created an amazing looking rollable colour OLED display. The ultra thin screen measures 80μm in thickness and measures 4.1 inches diagonal.

The impressive part of the screen is that it can roll around a pen (demonstrated below in video) while the video is moving. Although the video isn’t of the highest quality, it certainly isn’t bad by any means and certainly shows where technology could be heading in the future.

The 80μm screen sits on a flexible 20μm thick substrate that has no rigid driver chips. This allows it to be as flexible as seen in the video. The screen can be rolled up on a 4mm radius. [Read more…]

LG has given details of a new 84 inch 3DTV that uses UHD (ultra high definition) to keep images looking crisp. The screen has an impressive 3,840 x 2,160 resolution and is the biggest of it’s kind. There is no price tag on it, but expect to pay easily in to 5 figures for a TV like this.

As well as showing off a huge 3DTV, LG also are working on something the company calls “liquid lens” that allows 3DTV to function without the use of glasses. No details of exactly what Liquid Lens is and how it will work are known just yet.

IPS technology is also being pushed at the SID 2010 event where a 47 inch HDTV was seen as well as a 32 inch pro monitor and a 9.7 inch smartbook each using IPS technology to give a crystal clear image. [Read more…]