Todays & Tomorrows Technology

After already committing to releasing a 15-inch OLED TV potentially as early as December 2009 in Korea, LG have now revealed their plans to have a 32-inch OLED display on the market in 2012. Suggesting that OLED would provide a new source of revenue, LG Display CEO Kwon Young-soo told press that the company’s focus is on larger panels rather than cellphone-sized versions.

This, the executive claimed, is because “the larger the display, the more efficient the OLED technology.” It’s certainly given the company’s HR department a boost: LG Display have apparently taken on 1,700 new staff in research and development this year.

“The commercial success of OLEDs hinges on how it shows its superiority compared to existing liquid crystal display (LCD) technologies. We will focus on TV panels rather than cell phone panels because the larger the display, the more efficient the OLED technology” Kwon Young-soo, CEO, LG Display

LG Display are still investing into LCD, however. After reporting a profit in Q2 2009 after panel prices rose and demand outstripped supply, the company is investing the equivalent of $2.59bn into an eighth-generation production line, which will be operational by the second half of 2010.

LG have unveiled two new ”full LED” HDTVs, each with 55-inch LCD panels and 240Hz refresh rates. The LG 55LH95 and LG 55LH93 both use 3,360 individual LEDs and boast a contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1; the company’s backlighting technology can individually control 240 sections of the display, dimming or brightening as suits the image on-screen.
Despite sliding in all those LEDs, the new HDTVs are still slimline. Depth is just 24.8mm, despite the company also fitting in wireless connectivity; it’s unclear from the press release exactly which format LG have selected, but considering they’re boasting zero degradation we’re assuming it’s some type of ultrawideband HDMI.

The two new sets will be released in July, priced at around $5,500 for the 55LH93 and around $5,900 for the 55LH95. Smaller 42-inch and 47-inch “full LED” sets will follow by the end of 2009, though they won’t be as slimline as these 24.8mm flagship models.

When your HDTV is a one-of-a-kind ultrawide 56-inch display with a £4,500 ($7,318) price tag, you’d better hope it rates well in reviews. Thankfully Philips’ indecently broad Cinema 21:9 56PFL9954H does just that; according to TechRadar, the 1080p high-def set delivers “the best aspects of the finest sets” they’ve ever seen.
Coming in for particular praise are the Ambilight Spectra 3 system, which backlights the HDTV with matched LED lighting, plus the straightforward installation and slickly designed UI. Sound is “well rounded, faithful and genuinely muscular” thanks to integrated subwoofers.

Most importantly, though, the image quality is excellent, as long as you’re feeding it a decent source. That needn’t just mean 1080p; the Cinema 21:9 copes admirably with standard definition DVDs, but Freeview is blocky and shows all the artifacts you’d expect. All in all, a stormer of an HDTV; it’s just a shame that the price will put it out of reach of most buyers.

Mio have released the first TV-enabled satnav units in the UK, the Mio Navman Spirit TV. First shown at the launch of the Spirit range back in May, the Spirit TV will be available in two versions – the 4.7-inch V505 and the 7-inch V735 – each with a touchscreen, Google search, TruMap and Junction views and of course Freeview digital TV with autotuning.

Each comes with a remote control, and can access the Freeview 7-day EPG for scheduling. The larger V735 also gets PMP functionality, including playback of videos and MP3s, together with a photo viewer and FM transmitter. All of the usual Spirit functionality is present, including NavPix geo-tagged photos, POIs and a pedestrian mode.

The Navman Spirit TV range will go on sale in the UK come July, priced at £299.99 ($493) for the V735 and £229 ($377) for the V505. More hands-on images of the new 7-inch Mio Navman Spirit V735 TV here. While Mio have not announced any plans to bring the Navman Spirit TV range to the US, the modular nature of the TV tuner would make a North America version technologically possible.

LG Display’s 15-inch OLED TV prototype will launch in Korea as early as December, according to Won Kim, the company’s VP of OLED sales and marketing. According to Kim the 15-inch TV, which was first shown back in January and tipped for a 2009 launch in April, will arrive in December or January, though it’s unclear which brand will be offering it.

A global launch will follow on from Korean availability, as LG Display’s manufacturing scales up. The company is already selling mobile-phone scale OLED panels to two unspecified brands in Korea; ironically, though, LG’s own cellphone arm have decided not to use OLED at present, citing high cost and sub-230ppi resolution as their main concerns.

Kim also revealed that the company has no current plans to move into OLED lighting, and that while their flexible-OLED project with UDC continues it’s targeted initially at military applications. As for the OLED TV, no confirmed specifications but the original prototype ran at 1366 x 768 resolution and offered 1,000,000:1 contrast; we’ll have to wait and see what price-tag it carries.

The ASUS Eee PC T91 has made its official debut on the company’s US website, and according to one dealer it’s apparently set to hit stores this week. The 8.9-inch convertible touchscreen netbook is already available in the UK, with Intel’s Z520 1.33GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM and a 16GB SSD.

There’s also ASUS’ Super Hybrid Engine, which can be used to boost battery life to up to 5hrs, and optional HSDPA cellular connectivity. Standard wireless includes WiFi draft-n and Bluetooth. Other options are a TV tuner and GPS receiver.

So far we’re unclear on how much the Eee PC T91 will cost in the US. UK pricing for the convertible netbook is around £449 ($684) but the company has not yet commented.