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Oct 25

Sharp announces first TVs with Moth-Eye technology: the AQUOS XL series

Sharp may look like it’s in trouble, but that’s not stopping it bringing new displays to the market, including today’s announcement of the AQUOS Quattron 3D XL TV line. Behind the mouthful of acronyms, these LED-backlit LCD panels are the first to feature Sharp’s Moth-Eye technology, designed to reduce glare and pump out bright colors, as well as a deep black. The company’s ‘four primary color’ tech is partly responsible for the rich output, which squeezes a yellow sub-pixel in with the standard R, G and B. All the panels run at 1,920 x 1,080, as you’d expect, sport a 10 million to 1 contrast ratio and use five speakers to deliver audio. Prices aren’t fixed, but the 46-, 52- and 80-inch models will be released in Japan on December 15th, while the 60- and 70-inch variants will come slightly earlier, on November 30th. You’re going to have to be quick on launch day, though — only 10,000 units are expected to be available in the first month.

Filed under: Displays, HD

Sharp announces first TVs with Moth-Eye technology: the AQUOS XL series originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 04:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AV Watch | source Sharp (1), (2) | Email this | Comments

Oct 23

Dell announces its first multi-touch monitor, the S2340T, and a wireless trackpad for Windows 8

Posted in: Today's Chili

In addition to trotting out a new Windows 8 Ultrabook and putting its Windows RT tablet up for pre-order, Dell just announced its first multi-touch display along with a wireless trackpad optimized for Win 8. Starting with the 23-inch S2340T, it has 1080p resolution and a 90-degree articulating stand that allows the display to lie nearly face-up. At the base, you’ll find various inputs, including USB 3.0, HDMI, DisplayPort and Ethernet. There’s also a webcam up top for those of you who plan on giving the new version of Skype a try. Meanwhile, the TP713 (pictured) is a Magic Trackpad-style touchpad designed to support Windows 8 gestures, such as swiping in from the left to toggle through applications. Both are up on Dell’s site now, with the monitor priced at $650 and the trackpad going for $70. Both are expected to begin shipping this week.

Filed under: Displays, Peripherals, Dell

Dell announces its first multi-touch monitor, the S2340T, and a wireless trackpad for Windows 8 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source Dell (1), (2) | Email this | Comments

Oct 22

LG tricks elevator riders using its IPS displays

Posted in: Today's Chili

In what could be considered an awesome PR stunt for LG and to show how lifelike its displays can be, the company rigged nine of their IPS displays together into a 3×3 array and placed it on a random elevator floor. When people would enter the elevator, LG would play quite a mean prank them, especially those who have a fear of heights and falling.

The video consists of people getting into an elevator, and once they push the desired floor number, the elevator would have a brief moment of malfunctioning, and the fake floor shown on the IPS displays would all of sudden give and fall out from underneath the elevator riders. LG titled its little stunt “So real it’s scary,” and indeed a lot of the people probably thought they were going to meet their maker that day.

Of course, the whole point behind the stunt was for LG to show off the “lifelike colors” of its IPS displays, and what better way to do that then to put the displays to the test in real-life situations. Obviously, since this is an ad, we wouldn’t be surprised if these people were actors, but we’re really hoping they’re not.

The whole point of LG’s lifelike-colored IPS displays is to give users “consistency and less changes in colour temperature,” and the displays “offer a color impression identical to that of the original image.” This would essentially make calibration obsolete, but we’re simply just curious as to how lifelike the displays really are.

LG tricks elevator riders using its IPS displays is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 22

Samsung ending LCD display relationship with Apple

Posted in: Today's Chili

Starting next year, Samsung will be pulling out of its relationship with Apple where the company provided LCD panels for various Apple products. An anonymous “senior Samsung source” cited that less profit due to Apple’s new supply pricing strategy was the main cause, but we’re also suspecting that the past couple years of heated patent wars has probably also played a role in the decision.

Cutting Apple out of the company’s client list won’t have too much of a negative impact on sales. Samsung is expected to be getting more orders in from other companies like Amazon, which could make up for the loss of business with Apple, who was Samsung’s top customer according to NPD DisplaySearch. However, Apple started to cut back its LCD orders with Samsung last month, and was said to be going to LG and Sharp for their business.

In the recent past, Apple was already cutting back its business with Samsung on more than just LCD panels. Apple started to develop their own processors, as well as getting RAM and NAND chips from other manufacturers. Essentially, Samsung was already seing a decline in their relationship with Apple, and ending their LCD panel business with the company simply just puts the final nail in the coffin.

One of the only concerns for Apple during this transition, is if the company can find all-new reliable sources for LCD panels by the time Samsung cuts them off. We’re sure it’s definitely possible, but hopefully Apple will be able to start a new relationship with other manufacturers that will last, but it seems Apple has been preparing for the inevitable separation of its business with Samsung for a while, so we’re not too worried.

[via Korean Times]

Samsung ending LCD display relationship with Apple is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 22

Samsung To Cut The Cord, End LCD Panel Supply Relationship With Apple

Posted in: Today's Chili

Samsung told The Korea Times on Monday that it will end its LCD panel supply relationship with Apple as of next year. That’s according to a “senior Samsung source” who declined to be identified, citing insufficient margins owing to Apple’s supply pricing strategy. Samsung’s role in Apple’s LCD supply chain has dwindled, with the Korean company reportedly cut out of iPad mini production, but Samsung’s decision to pull the plug may have been a pre-emptive strike by the parts manufacturer owing to a declining relationship between the two.

Samsung is said to be fielding more orders from its consumer electronics division, as well as from Apple competitor Amazon, in volumes that could make up for the loss of Apple as an LCD component customer. Apple was Samsung’s top customer according to NPD DisplaySearch for the first half of the year, but Apple began cutting its LCD orders back in September and was reportedly shifting order volumes to LG and Sharp, as ongoing patent disputes worsened.

Pricing on Apple’s latest iPad display had caused Samsung to earn only half as much per pixel on its production compared to previous models, so narrowing margins clearly had an impact on the decision, but this also can’t help but look like a case of Samsung ending a relationship that was already on the rocks to begin with. Apple was already clearly trying to reduce its reliance on its rival’s component supplier arm, as indicated by changes to the way it designs its processor and sources RAM and NAND flash chips, but this may accelerate Apple’s intended timeline.

Apple is a massive customer of LCD panels, and is set to become an even more demanding customer with the impending probable launch of the iPad mini. Earlier, there were concerns about whether or not Samsung’s display supplier competition could produce adequate volumes to satisfy its needs, but Sharp seems to have recently gotten its act together, and others like Sony have reportedly joined Apple’s stable of potential supply sources.

The question will be whether or not the timeline Samsung gave of next year will give Apple enough time to stabilize its alternate source. Still, it looks like both have been preparing for this moment for a while, so we could see each walk away relatively unscathed.

Oct 22

Samsung delays flexible AMOLED until 2013

Posted in: Today's Chili

Samsung has reportedly pushed back its flexible AMOLED production plans, with the continued success of regular displays meaning it will be 2013 before such panels hit the market. Although Samsung had previously suggested screens under its flexible YOUM brand would show up by Q3 2012, the mass production schedule encountered problems, ETNews reports. Meanwhile, Samsung is selling traditional glass AMOLED panels with no signs of slowing.

The Galaxy S III, for instance, is a Samsung best-seller, and uses the company’s 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD display. The recently released Galaxy Note II also uses the technology, and Samsung has reportedly increased production of glass AMOLEDs to keep up with sales.

In fact, Samsung is hoping to increase its AMOLED substrate production from around 56,000 units per month to 64,000 units, and in the process is occupying lines that were previously earmarked for flexible displays. Unlike regular displays, which are based on glass substrates, the new flexible models will use plastic and thus open the door for more unusual form-factors.

Those form-factors might not actually include smartphones and tablets that fold in half, however. Instead, Samsung is believed to be experimenting with designs where the display continues around the edge of the device, such as adding a status screen to the top panel of a phone that could be glanced at without removing the handset from a pocket or bag.

There’s no exact indication of when flexible AMOLED production will begin in earnest, nor when we might see the first products using the screen technology.

[via OLED-Display]

Samsung delays flexible AMOLED until 2013 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Oct 19

1080p smartphone displays offer no visual difference over 720p

Posted in: Today's Chili

As smartphone screens get bigger, so do the resolutions. We’re already seeing “phablets” like Samsung’s new Galaxy Note II with a huge 5.5-inch display, and HTC’s recently-announced J Butterfly has a 5-inch display with a 1080p resolution. However, higher resolutions don’t always mean a clearer image. Clarity on a smartphone display can only get so good before the human eye doesn’t notice anything better.

Dr. Raymond Soneira, president and CEO of DisplayMate, a company that produces calibration software for various displays, says that most people won’t be able to notice the difference between a smartphone with a 720p display and one with 1080p. This is simply because photos and videos are spread over multiple pixels anyway, so they would still look a little blurred, in a way, no matter how high the resolution is.

Dr. Soneira says that the only way you would be able to tell a slight difference is if you had perfect 20/20 vision or have the screen up close to your eyes, and even then it’s still slightly hard to tell the difference. But obviously, most users hold their phones at least a foot or so away from their faces, which at that point, there’s no way users could tell the difference between clarity, and the human eye usually can’t process anything more than 229ppi in normal circumstances, which means even the iPhone 5‘s 326ppi resolution is a bit overkill.

However, Dr. Soneira does mention one advantage of a 1080p smartphone display that would have greater impact over a 720p screen, and that is more room for various user interface elements, especially for viewing websites on a mobile browser. More text would show up on the screen at once, and higher-resolution images show in full on a 1080p screen.

[via Ars Technica]

Oct 18

Expert says Microsoft Surface display isn’t sharper than the iPad

Posted in: Today's Chili

A display expert has refuted Microsoft’s claim that the Surface RT display is sharper than the iPad. This denouncement comes after Raymond Soneira, President of DisplayMate Technologies, compared the technology used by the two devices. According to him, it is “very unlikely that [the Surface] will turn out to be visually sharper than the new iPad 3.”

The comparison was made using an Asus netbook that uses a ClearType 768p display, which Soneira feels is comparable to the upcoming Surface’s display, and the iPad 2 and 3. The results? The Windows ClearType display in the netbook was “significantly sharper” than the iPad 2′s display, but “significantly less sharp” than the iPad 3′s.

The comparison was performed by displaying the New York Times website on the iPad 2, iPad 3, and Asus netbook. The text on each display was then compared and contrasted. Each display had the same height, reducing any edge one display may have had over another. Soneira acknowledged that the Surface’s display could end up being sharper than the Asus display used in the comparison.

Microsoft’s ClearType display utilizes sub-pixel rendering, while the iPad display uses standard pixel rendering. Says Soneira, red, green, and blue pixels are treated as independent image elements in sub-pixel rendering, rather than being smooshed together into specific pixels in standard rendering. Sub-pixel rendering can “make the screen appear to have up to 3 times the resolution” in comparison with standard rendering.

This comes after a claim by Microsoft engineer Steven Bathiche that the Surface RT’s display, which has a 148ppi 1366×768 display, is sharper than the iPad 3′s 264ppi 2048×1536 display. Said Bathiche, “Doing a side by side with the new iPad in a consistently lit room, we have had many people see more detail on Surface RT than on the iPad with more resolution.” While Soneira doubts that the Surface RT’s display will trump the iPad 3, he says that the Surface Pro, with a 208ppi 1920×1080 ClearType display, might have a shot.

[via Apple Insider]

Oct 16

NPD study finds average display sizes continuing to rise in all areas but laptops and tablets

Posted in: Today's Chili

Not exactly a huge surprise here, but a new study out from NPD DisplaySearch today has confirmed that the trend towards larger screens in continuing at a steady pace in all but a few key areas. The big exception is “mobile PCs,” which NPD defines as laptops and tablets for its purposes. That area dropped from a 13.6-inch average in 2010 to 12.1-inch in 2012 (with an ever so slight increase to 12.2-inches projected for 2013), a drop that represents a ten percent decrease overall and is largely attributed to the growth of tablets . All other areas have seen small to significant growth in recent years, with LCD TVs growing 9 percent, mobile phones increasing 38 percent, and portable media players jumping 29 percent. The biggest growth, by far, comes in OLED TVs, which have gone from a mere 15-inch average in 2010 to an average of 55-inches today — a growth of 267 percent.

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Laptops, Tablets, HD, Mobile

NPD study finds average display sizes continuing to rise in all areas but laptops and tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch | source NPD DisplaySearch | Email this | Comments

Oct 15

Acer Aspire 5600U and 7600U AIO PCs plus touch displays get Win8 finger-friendly

Posted in: Today's Chili

Acer has outed a pair of new all-in-one PCs, freshly tuned to handle Windows 8′s finger-friendly touchscreen interface, along with some touchscreen displays for those wanting to get in on the digit action. The Acer Aspire 5600U and 7600U desktops pack a 23-inch and 27-inch touchscreen respectively, each running at Full HD resolution, and are powered by up to Intel Core i5 3210M 3.1GHz processors with 8GB of memory and Blu-ray (optional on the smaller AIO).

The Aspire 7600U also has discrete NVIDIA GT640M graphics, while both machines will have Real Sound Lab CONEQ speakers and both HDMI outputs and inputs, allowing them to be used as displays for consoles and other sources. Connectivity includes WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth, plus a pair of USB 3.0 ports; the 7600U also packs four USB 2.0 ports, versus three on the smaller machine.

Storage consists of 1TB of HDD along with a multi-format memory card reader. Touch is actually optional – Acer will make non-touch versions too – but the touchscreen-equipped Aspire 7600U will kick off from $1,899 from late November. The Acer Aspire 5600U with 10-point touch will kick off from $1,149 from October 26 (non-touch from $999).

As for the displays, the Acer T232HL and T272HL, they’re basically the same touchscreen technology as the all-in-one PCs, only without the brains. The T232HL has a 23-inch panel, the T272HL a 27-inch panel, both recognizing up to 10-finger multitouch. Pricing begins from $499.99 for the 23-incher.