OLED? O-Wow!

[Jason Dunn]

Long-time Pocket PC Thoughts friend John Cody was at CES recently and saw an OLED screen first hand. We've been hearing about various forms of prototypes, but this is the first time I've seen anything quite like this, and I'm stunned at how GOOD this thing looks, even in these low-res photos. Here's what John had to say:<br /><br />"I was at the CES show and thought that you might find the attached pics very cool. Sharp electronics was showing off a 12" diag OLED display running a video (very fast response, very bright). As you can see from the side-profile pic, the display was only like 1/4" thick! I can just image the impact that this display technology will have on PDA's - brighter displays, thinner units (no backlight needed) and longer battery life (OLED displays use much less power then back lit TFT LCD's). They also had a cellular flip-phone running a demo that had two small (2" diag) OLED displays in it - one on each half of the cam-shell with a built in video CCD that was demoing a video-phone application - very cool."<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/oled-johncody1.jpg" /> <br /><br />The real shocker is this second picture - this makes LCD monitors look chunky!<!><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/oled-johncody2.jpg" /><br /><br />If OLED can be deployed as fast as I hope it can, we'll see monitors and TV sets using this technology at a fraction of the price we're paying for LCD monitors because OLED is supposed to be much cheaper to produce. OLED seems to be the future, and I'm excited about what I've seen so far. What do you think of OLED? Is it the future, or just hype?

[Foo Fighter]

Won't be long now and soon I'll be saying..."Transflective screens suck!". Or whenever a new PDA comes out, I'll be like..."Yeah...but does it have an OLED display?" :wink:

[GoldKey]

If OLED can be deployed as fast as I hope it can, we'll see monitors and TV sets using this technology at a fraction of the price we're paying for LCD monitors because OLED is supposed to be much cheaper to produce.

I hope so, cause I am itching for something along the lines of a 55 inch flat panel tv that I can actually afford!

[Janak Parekh]

Won't be long now and soon I'll be saying..."Transflective screens suck!". Or whenever a new PDA comes out, I'll be like..."Yeah...but does it have an OLED display?" :wink:
Which is why I still maintain that "Foo-compliance" is a useful term. It doesn't get outdated with age. :lol:

--janak

[TypeMRT]

So when manufacturers were making battery life claims they MUST of been using the special not-for-public-use OLED models :wink:

[CTSLICK]

Won't be long now and soon I'll be saying..."Transflective screens suck!". Or whenever a new PDA comes out, I'll be like..."Yeah...but does it have an OLED display?" :wink:
Which is why I still maintain that "Foo-compliance" is a useful term. It doesn't get outdated with age. :lol:

--janak

Excellent idea...perhaps we need a Foo-Compliance Standards forum. We could use his avatar to indicate Foo-Compliant devices when they are reviewed. :lol: :lol:

[Janak Parekh]

Excellent idea...perhaps we need a Foo-Compliance Standards forum. We could use his avatar to indicate Foo-Compliant devices when they are reviewed. :lol: :lol:
Brilliant. Foo, you listening? There's money in this. Get all the manufacturers to pay you an undisclosed sum to deem their display technology to be Foo-compliant(TM). ;)

--janak

[CTSLICK]

It makes all the sense in the world that this technology would make a bee-line for the PDA/Smartphone world. However...

Does it present a marketing problem? This is a situation where we have new technology that costs less and delivers a higher standard. Normally, you release something that incorporates new technology at a higher price. People buy it because they want the higher standard and are willing to fess up the extra money. This is the reverse. If you market better stuff that costs less how do get rid of all the old more expensive stuff that look worse than the new stuff? I'll bet the effort to preserve revenue stream delays the entry of OLED into mass production more than any technological delays.

[PJE]

It makes all the sense in the world that this technology would make a bee-line for the PDA/Smartphone world. However...

Does it present a marketing problem? This is a situation where we have new technology that costs less and delivers a higher standard. Normally, you release something that incorporates new technology at a higher price. People buy it because they want the higher standard and are willing to fess up the extra money. This is the reverse. If you market better stuff that costs less how do get rid of all the old more expensive stuff that look worse than the new stuff? I'll bet the effort to preserve revenue stream delays the entry of OLED into mass production more than any technological delays.

This all supposes a fixed number of manufacturers are producing these units. It only takes one reasnably large company to undercut them and the prices will tumble. If OLED does what it says Plasma will be history for most applications.

I was just about to buy a $3000 plamsa set, but will probably hold off to see when a 42"+ HDTV panel comes out...

PJE

[dazz]

It makes all the sense in the world that this technology would make a bee-line for the PDA/Smartphone world. However...

Does it present a marketing problem? This is a situation where we have new technology that costs less and delivers a higher standard. Normally, you release something that incorporates new technology at a higher price. People buy it because they want the higher standard and are willing to fess up the extra money. This is the reverse. If you market better stuff that costs less how do get rid of all the old more expensive stuff that look worse than the new stuff? I'll bet the effort to preserve revenue stream delays the entry of OLED into mass production more than any technological delays.

I don't think this will be the case for the OLED tech. There is just TOO MUCH demand for longer battery life, thinner display, easier/cheaper manufacturing, flexibility, etc.

Obviously, no prices are set yet and while the manufacturing costs *might* be less the cost to the end user might not be. Therefore (did I just type "therefore"?) the focus is on the power-savings and slim profile. Also, I think OLED has more possibilities for flexible displays.

If the products have enough other benefits and the manufacturing costs are low enough then there is a significant enough margin for a company that does not have a huge investment in the LCD marketplace.

I am REALLY looking forward to seeing adoption of this tech as there seems to be significant benefits to us mobile types. :D

[CTSLICK]

Excellent idea...perhaps we need a Foo-Compliance Standards forum. We could use his avatar to indicate Foo-Compliant devices when they are reviewed. :lol: :lol:
Brilliant. Foo, you listening? There's money in this. Get all the manufacturers to pay you an undisclosed sum to deem their display technology to be Foo-compliant(TM). ;)

--janak

The Zen of Palm

The Foo of PocketPC :lol:

[rbrome]

LCD's days are numbered - that much is certain.

OLEDs are great, but there are some problems left to work out...

For one, they really are organic, and they have this annoying tendency to actually die. They lose half their brightness in just a year or two. It's the green and blue materials they're having the most trouble with, which means many current prototypes have a tendency to turn pink, before they go dark. It's easy to make a beautiful prototype for a show like CES, but see what that Sharp display looks like in a couple years... it probably won't look so pretty. The first mainstream application for OLEDs is cell phones - which many people replace every 1-2 years anyway.

Another issue is size - just like LCDs, it's not so easy to make 'em big. That Sharp is about as big as most companies have been able to make them so far. They tend to produce uneven brightness over larger areas. I think Sony has some new technology that lets them make decent 17-inchers, but that's still a few years away from production.

But a lot of companies are spending a lot of money on solving these issues, and the good news is that everyone in the industry is very confident that solutions are on the way soon.

Samsung is already shipping phones in Korea with OLED external (small caller-ID) displays. Sanyo (working with Kodak) is trying to get a phone out by the end of the year with a large OLED main display.

Other promising LCD-replacements include E-Ink (http://www.e-ink.com/) and iMOD (http://www.iridigm.com/tech_overview.htm). No matter which techs win out in the end, LCD is definitely going the way of the Dodo before too long...

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

OLEDs are great, but there are some problems left to work out...
That's pretty good info. It's definitely encouraging to hear of so many manufacturers working on OLED technology. I can definitely see this technology explode in mobile phones before they make their way into PDAs, especially in Japan where their cellphones have been generations ahead of the rest of the world for quite a while.

Those pics Jason posted were STUNNING!!! Even if they have to sacrifice the slim-ness... shoot even if they don't result in much smaller PDAs, the display itself is worth the price of admission!!

[Janak Parekh]

That Sharp is about as big as most companies have been able to make them so far. They tend to produce uneven brightness over larger areas.
Good points. It's entirely possible that they rigged the demo to hide the uneven brightness, such as in this picture (as opposed to a solid-color Windows desktop, for example).

--janak

[nirav28]

Actually , what would really be revolutionary, would be flexible displays like what e-ink is developing. Similar to what was shown in the movie "red planet". The flexible disply that scroll out and are thin as cardboards.

Toshiba is doing some interesting work with printing circuits directly on LCD glass displays. Combine that circuit printing technology with OLED or ePaper, and we're going to see PDAs about as thin as credit cards.

I think Kodak was also doing some R&D on using standard inkjet printers to print Flexible illuminated displays and circuits on paper like surface.

[slugnut]

It makes all the sense in the world that this technology would make a bee-line for the PDA/Smartphone world. However...

Does it present a marketing problem? This is a situation where we have new technology that costs less and delivers a higher standard. Normally, you release something that incorporates new technology at a higher price. People buy it because they want the higher standard and are willing to fess up the extra money. This is the reverse. If you market better stuff that costs less how do get rid of all the old more expensive stuff that look worse than the new stuff? I'll bet the effort to preserve revenue stream delays the entry of OLED into mass production more than any technological delays.

One thing to note is that manufacturers won't necessarily be lowering the prices of their products if they use OLED technology. They can always say, "Hey, we're introducing this great new display technology in our PDAs and we're not going to raise the price!!" While at the same time they enjoy a greater profit margin resulting from the reduced costs of OLED displays. If this were the case, the sooner manufacturers could get OLED displays to market, the better for them. Just my two cents...

[JMountford]

Just beautiful.. We still are a ways off from seeing these in mass, but the future is looking bright.

[John Cody]

It's entirely possible that they rigged the demo to hide the uneven brightness, such as in this picture (as opposed to a solid-color Windows desktop, for example).

I took those pictures personally and the demo video was pretty diverse and had scenes that were mostly white/one color and I didn't notice any brightness uneveness. I was very impressed.

[malcolmsharp]

LCD's days are numbered - that much is certain.

OLEDs are great, but there are some problems left to work out...

For one, they really are organic, and they have this annoying tendency to actually die. They lose half their brightness in just a year or two. It's the green and blue materials they're having the most trouble with, which means many current prototypes have a tendency to turn pink, before they go dark. It's easy to make a beautiful prototype for a show like CES, but see what that Sharp display looks like in a couple years... it probably won't look so pretty. The first mainstream application for OLEDs is cell phones - which many people replace every 1-2 years anyway.

First of all, the size thing isn't a factor for our little part of the pie. Secondly, until they work out something about the lifespan, even if they do... why not make the screen user replacable? They are thin, right? Just make it a replacment part that requires a hex or something.

Every year or so, you get a new one... try to keep it to about $50 or so. And not only do you make the device better, you have an additional income stream.

Hell, if you can put the screen electronics on the screen, then you can even sell upgradible screens!

[malcolmsharp]

Toshiba is doing some interesting work with printing circuits directly on LCD glass displays. Combine that circuit printing technology with OLED or ePaper, and we're going to see PDAs about as thin as credit cards.

That would be nice for some uses, but not for me. I don't want it too thin! I want something to hold nicely. But yes, if they could make the actual guts that small, that would lead to some interesting devices... like an all in one gaget... PDA, phone, digital camera, voice recorder, portable drive, mp3 player, whatever.

[jschloer]

I like that idea. If they could essentially build the graphics chipset into the screen you could have 3D accelerated screens, or low power BW screens, or you cover all bases and have an Imod, e-ink, and oled screen that you can switch between, since they all have their own strengths. Exciting stuff for sure. Can't wait to see what the pda form factor is in 5 to 10 years. I bet Sony and Apple come up with some really cool ideas for this stuff....

[CTSLICK]

It makes all the sense in the world that this technology would make a bee-line for the PDA/Smartphone world. However...

Does it present a marketing problem? This is a situation where we have new technology that costs less and delivers a higher standard. Normally, you release something that incorporates new technology at a higher price. People buy it because they want the higher standard and are willing to fess up the extra money. This is the reverse. If you market better stuff that costs less how do get rid of all the old more expensive stuff that look worse than the new stuff? I'll bet the effort to preserve revenue stream delays the entry of OLED into mass production more than any technological delays.

One thing to note is that manufacturers won't necessarily be lowering the prices of their products if they use OLED technology. They can always say, "Hey, we're introducing this great new display technology in our PDAs and we're not going to raise the price!!" While at the same time they enjoy a greater profit margin resulting from the reduced costs of OLED displays. If this were the case, the sooner manufacturers could get OLED displays to market, the better for them. Just my two cents...

You're right, they might not want to pass on the savings. But then again there is a fairly sizable contingent of PocketPC users who are pretty well informed and would call them on this point. I am remembering the "how many colors are displayed" fiasco that stung both HP and Palm and more recently Viewsonic's "how much memory memory do you really have" problem. Sadly, there are probably enough uninformed folks to make it worth the aggrevation. Then again, they might initially bury OLED in the most advanced PPC's so that it would be impossible to discern where the costs really are. Who knows.

Still it seems to me that once OLED matures the company that is willing to cut their losses on their existing LCD based products and come to market with a cheaper PDA with a great display and long battery life has a chance to really carve out some market share. HP's 1910 seems to show that this is the case.

[Timothy Rapson]

This reminds me of the good old days. Most laptops, OK, it was about the time Laptops were leaving and Notebooks became di riquer, most Notebooks and Laptops were still monochrome. I went to CES or some such show in Chicago. There was a darkened room where Sharp was showing their latest tech. It was a TFT screen in a 1 inch thick notebook that was only 8.5 by 11 inches. And it was beautiful. It was as nice as the top of the line Zenith Flat Tension Mask desktop monitor. This was the first flat screen desktop and cost so much to make that Zenith went out of the monitor business even selling them for $1000+ each (hope I remember that right, whatever it was, it was a LOT).

-The old geezer-

[alan williams]

In a few years, sure. How long were we told about the amazing things Bluetooth would do for us before it become more of a consumer reality?

[malcolmsharp]

I like that idea. If they could essentially build the graphics chipset into the screen you could have 3D accelerated screens, or low power BW screens, or you cover all bases and have an Imod, e-ink, and oled screen that you can switch between, since they all have their own strengths. Exciting stuff for sure. Can't wait to see what the pda form factor is in 5 to 10 years. I bet Sony and Apple come up with some really cool ideas for this stuff....

Yes... a gaming/multimedia one that eats powers like candy, a low power low color one for long use (I doubt a black and white one would be useful... but one with just a few hundred or so colors would be), and maybe a a specialize on with controls built into the screen.

[JMountford]

In a few years, sure. How long were we told about the amazing things Bluetooth would do for us before it become more of a consumer reality?
Last time I looked BT still does not live up to it's hype. USB OTG looks much more promissing.

[Newsboy]

Uh, kids? I've had an OEL (organic electro-luminescent, same type of technology used in OLED displays) phone for over 18 months now. Motorola released one in 2000, the Timeport P8767. Looks like a StarTac, but silver, and with the most amazing display you have ever seen on a cell phone. It truly puts LCDs to shame.

I still get comments today from other cell phone users, asking me where I got it, and how much. The display is orders of magnitude brighter and clearer than any LCD I've ever seen. I for one cannot wait for full-color OLED displays.

The only problem I've seen is burn-in. The Sprint PCS logo is faintly visible when using the web browser, however, this is hardly noticable and doesn't detract from the display's effectiveness or brightness.

[nirav28]

Last time I looked BT still does not live up to it's hype. USB OTG looks much more promissing.[/quote]

Yeah but, USB OTG is still tethered technology. Means, you still need a wire or cable to connect various devices together. Bluetooth is wireless, and intended for PAN (personal area networks). Do you seriously want to be tangled up in wires?

I think USB ToGo is meant for something different, such as being able to connect existing USB peripheals to your portable devices. such as a pda to a printer or fax machine, cell phones to pds that don't have bluetooth.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

In a few years, sure. How long were we told about the amazing things Bluetooth would do for us before it become more of a consumer reality?
Apples to oranges comparison if you ask me. With BT there were a lot of fragile interdependencies, there's agreeement on specifications, supported devices, configuration headaches, worries about how each vendor implements, etc.

With OLED, all it takes is for one single vendor to get it right, and the consumer world will immediately feel its benefits.

[Jonathan1]

Secondly, until they work out something about the lifespan, even if they do... why not make the screen user replacable? They are thin, right? Just make it a replacment part that requires a hex or something.

Every year or so, you get a new one... try to keep it to about $50 or so. And not only do you make the device better, you have an additional income stream.

Hell, if you can put the screen electronics on the screen, then you can even sell upgradible screens!


Ummm no. Think it through. First off users shell out several hundred on PPC/Palm/PDA devices. Last thing they are going to want to do is need to go out every 1.5-2 years and get a new screen. Doesn’t matter if its only 10 bucks. The norm at present is that screens don’t go bad. You put out a device that have a half life and no PDA user will ever purchase another [insert device name here] ever again. Even for a tech head this won’t fly. The upgrade path for most techheads is once every year….two at most. So by the time the screen starts to faulter us technogeeks will be upgrading.
Also keep in mind we are talking average users here that wouldn’t know the diff between a hex and standard screwdriver. Just the fact that you mention hex bits would send an average PDA user into epileptic fits. PDA's are closed systems for a reason. It makes them simple. Plus there's that whole nasty void your warrantee thing.
Finally the reason these devices are as small as they are is because they design these devices to be totally closed systems. Look at the iPaq 1910. There is No way you can have a device that small while having easily replaceable parts. Sure it would be possible to have replaceable RAM, video cards, screens and whatnot but all that requires a large form factor and more onboard chips = higher expense. If you rip up the current crop of Pocket PC, and even the old ones, you will see that 90% of its components are built directly on the mainboard. This keeps the price down for manufacturing costs.
Remember this isn’t a PC. It’s a PDA. Unless you are looking for devices to creep up into PC ranges its better to have a closed system device.

*shrugs* Just my 2 cents.

[Janak Parekh]

Uh, kids? I've had an OEL (organic electro-luminescent, same type of technology used in OLED displays) phone for over 18 months now. Motorola released one in 2000, the Timeport P8767. Looks like a StarTac, but silver, and with the most amazing display you have ever seen on a cell phone. It truly puts LCDs to shame.
There are a lot of problems with that display, though. It's only 3-4 colors, and that's only because the colors are in their respective "zones". The display is also unviewable in sunlight. It's also extremely low-resolution.

Check the T68/T68i, or even better, some of the new Sprint Vision phones - their screens are incredible.

--janak

[wipeout]

Sweet... I think I'll stick with my 19" CRT until these become available instead of burning $$$ on an LCD display.

[Perry Reed]

Uh, kids? I've had an OEL (organic electro-luminescent, same type of technology used in OLED displays) phone for over 18 months now. Motorola released one in 2000, the Timeport P8767. Looks like a StarTac, but silver, and with the most amazing display you have ever seen on a cell phone. It truly puts LCDs to shame.


I had the monochrome version of that phone for quite a while (very good phone!) and when I saw the OEL 4-color version, I lusted after it for sometime. Couldn't justify buying a whole new practically identical phone just for the new display, though.

[Chris Pi]

Do OLED monitors have a single optimal resolution like LCD's or can they be used at any resolution like CRT's?

[Jonathon Watkins]

Won't be long now and soon I'll be saying..."Transflective screens suck!". Or whenever a new PDA comes out, I'll be like..."Yeah...but does it have an OLED display?" :wink:

The more things change - the more they stay the same. :wink:

[Newsboy]

Check the T68/T68i, or even better, some of the new Sprint Vision phones - their screens are incredible.

--janak

Thanks, but I'll stick with the timeport for now. I have friends who've bought those Sprint Vision phones, and they're getting less than a day of standby. Tech savvy folks too. In fact, one friend informed me today she and her boss are suing Sprint for fraud and misrepresentation as a result. They claim 7 days of standby. Of course, helps when you work for a lawyer. :wink:

[ctmagnus]

The only problem I've seen is burn-in. The Sprint PCS logo is faintly visible when using the web browser...

That's easy to fix... Just switch carriers :)

[Janak Parekh]

Thanks, but I'll stick with the timeport for now. I have friends who've bought those Sprint Vision phones, and they're getting less than a day of standby. Tech savvy folks too. In fact, one friend informed me today she and her boss are suing Sprint for fraud and misrepresentation as a result. They claim 7 days of standby. Of course, helps when you work for a lawyer. :wink:
I won't go into Sprint and its ups and downs, that's a discussion for another time. I do know I encouraged someone to get a Sanyo 4900 after doing a bunch of research. That phone has insane battery life - his old 7867 was dying, couldn't hold 1 day's charge; the new unit is still at full charge at the end of the 1st day.

By the way, all phone manufacturers do this. Check the specs on your 8167. You might be surprised. :) I'm not saying it's a bad phone, mind you; the Motorola StarTAC and its descendants were solid phones.

--janak

[Jason Dunn]

Do OLED monitors have a single optimal resolution like LCD's or can they be used at any resolution like CRT's?

That's a very, very good question - one of my frustrations with LCD screens...my wee GeForce 4 MX card can't run games at the 1280 x 1024 resolution the monitors want...if the game even offers that resolution as a choice in the first place. :?

OLED....OLED...my preeeeeeecioussss....... :vamp:

[Will T Smith]

Thanks, but I'll stick with the timeport for now. I have friends who've bought those Sprint Vision phones, and they're getting less than a day of standby. Tech savvy folks too. In fact, one friend informed me today she and her boss are suing Sprint for fraud and misrepresentation as a result. They claim 7 days of standby. Of course, helps when you work for a lawyer. :wink:
I won't go into Sprint and its ups and downs, that's a discussion for another time. I do know I encouraged someone to get a Sanyo 4900 after doing a bunch of research. That phone has insane battery life - his old 7867 was dying, couldn't hold 1 day's charge; the new unit is still at full charge at the end of the 1st day.

By the way, all phone manufacturers do this. Check the specs on your 8167. You might be surprised. :) I'm not saying it's a bad phone, mind you; the Motorola StarTAC and its descendants were solid phones.

--janak

YES, all LED displays have an optimal resolution. It will always be so.

[Janak Parekh]

Do OLED monitors have a single optimal resolution like LCD's or can they be used at any resolution like CRT's?
That's a very, very good question - one of my frustrations with LCD screens...
Most modern LCD's, though, do antialiasing, so the lower resolutions in games aren't anywhere near terrible. I still prefer my LCDs to regular CRTs even if I'm gaming at a lower resolution. However, we just got ATI Radeon 9700s. Mmm, native resolution. :D

--janak

[Newsboy]

By the way, all phone manufacturers do this. Check the specs on your 8167. You might be surprised. :) I'm not saying it's a bad phone, mind you; the Motorola StarTAC and its descendants were solid phones.

--janak

It's a P8767, but who's quibbling? :wink: And I would never say my phone gets anything close to the rated standy time. The rated times are usually with a fresh battery, at full signal strength, digital only, etc etc etc. Kind like PocketPCs and their battery ratings. LOL!

I'm still interested to see if they'd win the lawsuit though! Think of the precedent!

[Timothy Rapson]

Uh, kids? I've had an OEL (organic electro-luminescent, same type of technology used in OLED displays) phone for over 18 months now. .

I thought this was already out there in a Moto phone.

Tell me, can you use it in direct sunlight?

[mscdex]

Toshiba is doing some interesting work with printing circuits directly on LCD glass displays. Combine that circuit printing technology with OLED or ePaper, and we're going to see PDAs about as thin as credit cards.


This reminds me of those glass circuitry "information" cards from the movie "Minority Report." Now if we could displays and glass information cards like that, that would be awesome. On another note... having those special gloves that act as a means of computer interaction, also from the movie, would be neat too :wink:

[Pony99CA]

Another interesting display technology is ThinCRT from Candescent (http://www.candescent.com). My understanding is that each pixel gets its own electron gun, so the displays can be very thin.

Steve

[Newsboy]

Uh, kids? I've had an OEL (organic electro-luminescent, same type of technology used in OLED displays) phone for over 18 months now. .

I thought this was already out there in a Moto phone.

Tell me, can you use it in direct sunlight?

Works fine for me. In REALLY bright sunlight, with the sun shining directly at it, it can get a little low-contrast....but it rarely happens. And I'll give up a little direct-sunlight visibility for the search light brightness of the display at night! I've used it as an emergency light source before!

[st63z]

For one, they really are organic, and they have this annoying tendency to actually die.

Its... it's.. alive? (gulp)

j/k

[Jason Dunn]

Do OLED monitors have a single optimal resolution like LCD's or can they be used at any resolution like CRT's?
That's a very, very good question - one of my frustrations with LCD screens...
Most modern LCD's, though, do antialiasing, so the lower resolutions in games aren't anywhere near terrible. I still prefer my LCDs to regular CRTs even if I'm gaming at a lower resolution. However, we just got ATI Radeon 9700s. Mmm, native resolution. :D

--janak

Nah, I have to disagree - it's always painfully obvious when the monitor is doing the anti-aliasing (to me at least). Everything gets blurry and it generally looks like crap compared to the real deal. It's also a bit of an insult to the game designers - they work and work to get their engine looking great, they we go and blur it all to hell. :lol:

Nothing beats native resolution for gaming, and I forgot how GOOD games can look until I went back to my Sony G400 and saw the glory... 8)

[Jason Dunn]

This reminds me of those glass circuitry "information" cards from the movie "Minority Report." Now if we could displays and glass information cards like that, that would be awesome. On another note... having those special gloves that act as a means of computer interaction, also from the movie, would be neat too :wink:

You're gonna' laugh - I just did an interview where they asked me about this movie! I think you'll like my answer. :wink:

[Janak Parekh]

Nah, I have to disagree - it's always painfully obvious when the monitor is doing the anti-aliasing (to me at least). Everything gets blurry and it generally looks like crap compared to the real deal. It's also a bit of an insult to the game designers - they work and work to get their engine looking great, they we go and blur it all to hell. :lol:
Well, maybe it's because I play mostly first-person shooters. In those, the blurriness is not nearly as noticeable as you're whirling through the world. For good FPS players, framerate is king, quality is second.

In any case, if you can accomplish native resolution, LCD's rock. Bigtime. :)

--janak

[spikemike]

i saw a 13" oled from sony in may last year, they are really awesome, however right now one thing you have to realize is that each screen these companies make that have no flaws are probably worth in the several millions of dollars range. They are built essentially in a lab. They have spent large quantities of money on this technology. As far as native resolution OLEDs are just like an LCD it is a standard RGB stripe. The antialiasing done on the screens is usually taken care of by Windows now. However this native resolution problem can be fixed using a technology from Clairvoyante Laboratories www.clairvoyante.com, which has come up with a way to increase resolution without increasing cost. As far as EInk is concerned I have seen several working displays from them. For black and white they are outstanding very high contrast ratio 12:1 paper is around 15:1 i think monitors get around 8:1 for black and white. However they color monitor looked like pretty bad. There technology is all reflective so they have to use a color filter and this greatly reduces brightness. If ThinCRTs are the same as FEDs then this technology will probably never take off. ThinCRTs(FEDs) are currently very difficult to produce and don't have any really benefit that I can recall. OLEDs are most likely the next big thing but I think there will still be a bit of waiting.

[Jonathon Watkins]

You're gonna' laugh - I just did an interview where they asked me about this movie! I think you'll like my answer. :wink:

Where is this interview Jason?