NEC 5.5" LCD for the Pros

[Filip Norrgard]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_9453.html' target='_blank'>http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_9453.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Still in the world of the LCD's, but this time on a more professional level, here is the NL3224BC35-22 (I'm sure they can make it even more complicated next time) by NEC: a 5.5"QVGA screen with the ST-NLT (Super-Transmissive Natural Light TFT) technology. This technique has been devoloped by NEC a few months ago and this screen is 100% functional and visible in bright sunlight with temperatures ranging from -10 to +70 degrees Celcius."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/NEC5point5LCD.jpg" /><br /><br />So, for all you wanting to do a "Pimp My Ride" on your car, here is a suitable LCD to put in the dashboard, under the car, or wherever you see it fit. Still, I would have liked to see this screen be capable of colder temperatures than -10 degrees Celsius before putting it in my car, or have have to remove it in winter. The price of €300 / $390 for a QVGA resolution LCD screen is quite steep in my opinion but Boeing and Airbus might not agree when they start installing these in their airplanes.

[rlobrecht]

5.5" seems awfully large for a QVGA screen. How about a little more resolution for my $390.

[klinux]

Not touch screen though which I think is essential for a carputer display.

[Jason Dunn]

A cool start, but it will only be interesting 12 months from now when they have 15" LCD panels suitable for laptops...being able to see my laptop screen in bright sunlight would be SO cool. Of course, isn't that the OLED promise too? Where the heck IS oled now anyway?

[Filip Norrgard]

A cool start, but it will only be interesting 12 months from now when they have 15" LCD panels suitable for laptops...being able to see my laptop screen in bright sunlight would be SO cool. Of course, isn't that the OLED promise too? Where the heck IS oled now anyway?
I wondered that too and did a search. What I found was an article in Wikipedia on OLED (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED) which mentions:
The biggest technical problem left to overcome now is lifetime. Red and green OLED elements already have life-times of well over 20,000 hours but blue OLED life-times lag significantly behind at 1,000 hours.

The lifetime problems are not so significant in small molecule OLEDs, particularly as a result of doping of OLEDs has led to much better device performance both electrically and optically. Universal Display for example have produced a blue OLED that has a lifetime of 10,000 hours. There are still a number of problems to overcome though, and one of these is intrusion of water into displays which damages and destroys the organics, as well as outcoupling, which can result in the loss of much of the light in waveguided modes within the substrates.

In October 2004 Cambridge Display Technology announced a blue OLED with a lifetime of 30,000 hours.

Commercial development of the technology is also hampered by IP issues since even the basics of OLED technology is heavily patented by Kodak and other firms, requiring outside research teams to acquire a license.(my own emphasis added to the last paragraph)

That is a lot of problems to solve before we will start to see OLEDs replace LCD, and I'm afraid it will be a year or two before these issues will be sorted out. :(