According To LG Bendable, Flexible TVs Could Be On The Market By 2017

Earlier this week LG Display showcased two new 18-inch displays, one that is a flexible OLED panel that is flexible and rollable like a newspaper as well as one that a transparent OLED panel. LG says the displays shows that the company has already acquired fundamental technologies that will lead to the availability of large-sized flexible and transparent display reaching the market, potentially as soon as 2017.

Image: LG Display

The flexible OLED panel has a high-definition class resolution of 1200 X 810 with almost 1 million mega-pixels. The panel’s curvature radius is 30R. The panel can be rolled up to a radius of 3cm without affecting the function of the display. This proves that LG Display can bring rollable TVs of more than 50 inches to the market in the future.

As for the transparent OLED panel, it boasts 30 percent transmittance, which was achieved by adopting the company’s transparent pixel design technology. LG Display has successfully lowered the haze of the panel which is generated by using circuit devices and film components to a level of 2 percent. With this breakthrough development, the company has been able to improve greatly the technology level of the transparent display. Considering that the transmittance of existing transparent LCD panels is around 10 percent, this new panel offers significantly improved transmittance.

“LG Display pioneered the OLED TV market and is now leading the next-generation applied OLED technology. We are confident that by 2017, we will successfully develop an Ultra HD flexible and transparent OLED panel of more than 60 inches, which will have transmittance of more than 40 percent and a curvature radius of 100R, thereby leading the future display market.” said In-Byung Kang, Senior Vice President and Head of the R&D Center at LG Display.

However, head of corporate PR, Jean Lee told me that more work needs to be done before the product can be commercialised: “We expect that it should take time to see the products in market because all related components should also be fully ready.”

Flexible displays certainly aren't new. Samsung and LG both originally revealed a flexible smartphone style screen at CES 2013. Since the both companies have been working on curved displays for not just their phones but TVs as well. Apple has even been rumored to be looking into adding a rolled or curved display to the latest iPhone. This however, is one of the first times we've seen any flexible displays of any real decent size or quality.

It should be interesting to see where the tech leads us and how far it will evolve over the next few years. Flexible transparent tablets would be ideal. A smartphone you could roll-up and stuff in a pocket would also be cool! 

LG Electronics, Intel Collaborate on Future Mobile Internet Devices

LG's Focus on Data and Voice Devices Complements Existing Strong Relationship around Notebooks and Netbooks

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, Barcelona, Spain – Feb. 16, 2009 – LG Electronics (LG) and Intel Corporation today announced a collaboration around mobile Internet devices (MIDs) based on Intel's next-generation MID hardware platform, codenamed "Moorestown," and Linux-based Moblin v2.0 software platform. The LG device is expected to be one of the first Moorestown designs to market.

LG and Intel's common goal is to unleash rich Internet experiences across a range of mobile devices while delivering the functionality of today's high-end smart phones. The collaboration on the new design extends a close working relationship the two companies have enjoyed across their respective mobile product lines, which now spans the notebook, netbook and MID categories.

"The MID segment will drive growth at LG Electronics. We chose Intel's next-generation Moorestown platform and Moblin-based OS to pursue this segment because of the high performance and Internet compatibility this brings to our service provider customers," said Jung Jun Lee, executive vice president of LG Electronics and head of its Mobile Communications Business Division. "The collaboration with Intel on the MID platform has been valuable and further extends our longstanding relationship. Our efforts are well on track and we look forward to bringing the MID to market."

LG launched a netbook, based on the Intel Atom processor, in the fourth quarter of 2008, and has been supplying the mobile companion device to carriers and retailers worldwide. LG also continues to ship notebooks based on the Intel Core processor.

MIDs represent an emerging growth category in the industry and are designed to bring a rich, interactive, PC-like Internet experience in pocketable devices. The experience on a MID will help usher in the many new Internet trends performed predominantly on a PC to mobile devices.

"Moorestown" is the codename for Intel's second-generation MID platform, which consists of a System on Chip (codenamed "Lincroft") that integrates a 45nm Intel Atom processor core, graphics, video and memory controller. The platform also includes an input/output (I/O) hub, codenamed "Langwell," that includes a range of I/O blocks and supports wireless solutions.

Intel's "Moorestown"-based MIDs are expected to reduce idle power consumption by a factor of greater than 10 versus today's Intel Atom processor-based MIDs. Additionally, the Moorestown platform will be accompanied by a newer Moblin software version, Moblin v2.0, that is based on the Linux operating system. This software is designed specifically to deliver a great PC-like Internet experience while also supporting cell phone voice capabilities. The "Moorestown" platform is expected to come to market by 2010.

"LG Electronics makes some of the most innovative computers and smart phones in the world, and is known to be a leading-edge player in every market segment they serve," said Anand Chandrasekher, Intel Corporation senior vice president and general manager of the company's Ultra Mobility Group. "We look forward to providing them some fantastic Intel products that will deliver the best Internet experience while dramatically reducing power –contributing to the development of ultra sleek devices that offer superb battery life."

In order to offer a variety of network connections and Internet access, LG is also working with Ericsson to bring 3G network capability to its planned MID. This is an extension of the existing collaboration between the companies. LG has been supplying notebooks and netbooks with mobile broadband modules from Ericsson since the third quarter of 2008.

"We are glad that LG Electronics has chosen Ericsson to provide 3G capabilities in its Intel-based MID. We are working with LG and Intel to deliver industry-leading 3G capabilities on the Moorestown MID," said Mats Norin, vice president and head of Ericsson Mobile Broadband Modules. "Ericsson's unparalleled relationships with global service providers will be instrumental as we define plans with LG to take this MID to market across multiple geographies around the world."

Source: Intel Press Release

LG's New Arena KM900 Smartphone

LG Electronics announced this weekend that they will debut their new Arena KM900 smartphone at the Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona Spain. The original announcement came via blog post on LG's Official UK Blog on Friday, with little more than a high res picture of the new phone, and was then followed by a press released released to the Korean Press Release Network NewsWire.

LG Electronics, a worldwide technology and design leader in mobile communications, announced today the launch of its new flagship mobile phone for 2009, LG Arena (LG-KM900). This fully loaded multimedia phone with LG’s innovative and dynamic 3D S-Class User Interface will be on hand at the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona.

LG ARENA’s groundbreaking 3D S-Class UI was specifically designed to be a more fun and engaging gateway to an amazing multimedia environment. A cube-based layout provides four customizable home screens for direct access to all features. Music, movies, pictures and more are within reach, thanks to intuitive, touch-based 3D menus. The rich 3D graphics give S-Class a life-like look that makes it natural and easy to navigate.

“The direct, intuitive and dynamic S-Class UI will be unlike anything that has appeared on a mobile phone before. With rich 3D graphics, touch sensitivity and exciting multimedia capabilities, it will truly make ARENA a fully loaded multimedia phone,” said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. LG ARENA will feature audio and video technologies never before seen on a mobile phone. LG took great effort to ensure that its 2009 flagship delivers an exhilarating multimedia experience, including features aided by Dolby and DivX technologies. LG ARENA will also include enhanced internet connectivity with HSDPA 7.2 networks, Wi-Fi, A-GPS and far more. LG will announce more specifics about ARENA and its features a long with some surprises during a press conference at the Mobile World Congress.

The known LG Arena KM900 specs include:

• Tri-band GSM/UMTS/HSDPA 7.2 Mbps connectivity
• 3″ 800 x 480 WVGA 262K color touchscreen display
• 5 megapixel camera with DVD quality video recording
• FM Radio
• Mobile TV
• A-GPS support
• 1000 mAh battery with 300 hrs stand-by and 230 min talk time
• Wi-Fi
• “S-Class” 3D interface

Its unknown when and if the phone will be released to the American market but one thing is for sure LG has sparked some interest with the sleek phone.

Sony, Philips Unveil Flexible OLED Displays

Two of the world's biggest flat-panel display makers unveiled flexible full-color displays this week.




Two of the world's biggest flat-panel display makers, Sony Corp. and LG.Philips LCD Co. Ltd., unveiled flexible full-color displays at a display industry show in California this week.

Sony took the wraps off its prototype on Thursday and released an impressive video showing the display being bent to form a semi-circle while still displaying a moving video image. The 2.5-inch display has a resolution of 160 pixels by 120 pixels making it a little larger than the typical cell phone screen and a little lower resolution.

The screen from LG.Philips LCD is larger at 4 inches in diagonal width and has a higher resolution of 320 pixels by 240 pixels. In contrast to Sony's video, LG.Philips LCD released only a photo that showed the display curved at a slight angle.

Typically flat-panel displays are built onto thin sheets of glass but the Sony and LG.Philips screens are made on thin sheets of plastic and metal respectively. That allows them to be bent but also introduces a range of other problems such as keeping everything aligned and working while the panel is flexed. Indeed the video of Sony's prototype showed several bad pixels and other problems.

Neither company has said when it thinks the displays will be ready to go on sale but early customers might be attracted to them for reasons other than their flexibility, said Paul Semenza, an analyst with iSuppli Corp., who attended the Society for Information Display conference where they were announced.

"What tends to get forgotten is that these displays are also rugged and lightweight," he said. "Those are valuable properties."

Sony sees OLED technology as important for its future products and is putting a lot of research and development resources behind screens like that unveiled this week.

The screens are different from today's LCD (liquid crystal display) and PDP (plasma display panel) screens in that OLED pixels use an organic material that emits its own light, so no backlight is needed. That means the screens consume less power and can be made thinner. OLEDs also handle fast-moving images better and offer good color reproduction.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January the company showed off prototype televisions based on larger, non-flexible 11-inch and 27-inch OLED panels. Thanks to the lack of a backlight the 11-inch prototype was just 11 millimeters thick but displayed a vibrant, colorful image. Sony plans to have its first OLED TVs on sale in Japan this year.

Last week in Tokyo Sony unveiled its latest OLED TV prototypes, which appeared to be close to commercialization. The sets had an integrated digital TV tuner and could also accept a high-definition input via an HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) connector.