Super AMOLED vs AMOLED vs LCD in direct sunlight… fight! (video)

By now you know that (one of) AMOLED’s Achilles’ heel is readability in direct sunlight. But Samsung’s been working hard to fix that with its new Super AMOLED technology. Techblog took the display to task by pitting the Samsung Galaxy S (4-inch, 480 x 800 pixel Super AMOLED) against the HTC Desire (3.7-inch 480 x 800 pixel AMOLED) and Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 (4-inch, 480 x 854 pixel TFT LCD). It’s clear from the video embedded after the break that the LCD still has the edge in the harsh Greek sun, but the Super AMOLED certainly makes a much stronger showing than its AMOLED sib. In fact, differences in visibility between the LCD and Super AMOLED are often indistinguishable, like the picture above. That’ll be good news for us just as soon as Samsung can start meeting demand… regardless of what Stevie J has to say. Check the video after the break and be sure to click the source for some more side-by-side pics, including a few taken indoors where that Super AMOLED display really shines.

Continue reading Super AMOLED vs AMOLED vs LCD in direct sunlight… fight! (video)

Super AMOLED vs AMOLED vs LCD in direct sunlight… fight! (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Colorware slings paint onto next logical object: your HDTV

Bet you never thought people would line up to pay absurd amounts of money to have their otherwise vanilla gizmos coated in some of the swankest paints known to man. Turns out, Colorware has made a living from doing just that for those with vivid imaginations, and the company is finally breaking away from handheld gadgets and heading straight for your den. Starting this week, fat-walleted consumers can ping the company with a custom television request, namely the TV model and desired hue. The outfit’s not publishing any sample prices due to the sheer quantity of available HDTVs out there, and sadly, the “send in” option ain’t available here — you buy new or paint yourself, bub. Anyone care to take a poke as to what that fire-engine red masterpiece up above would cost? Nah, we thought not.

Colorware slings paint onto next logical object: your HDTV originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba prototype display does 2D and 3D at the same time

One of Toshiba’s favorite hobbies is to tease the general public with prototype autostereoscopic technology, and that’s exactly what we have here today; demoed at SID 2010, this screen can display 2D and 3D images simultaneously on the same 12-inch screen, no glasses required. How it does that is rather complicated, especially when translated from the Japanese, but it sounds like Toshiba’s sandwiched a special panel with gradient-index lenses between a high-speed polarizer and the typical color LCD. We’d wager good money it’s not coming to a store near you, but we’ll keep an eye out for future developments. These days, they have a tendency to pop right out of the screen.

Toshiba prototype display does 2D and 3D at the same time originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PixelQi introduces tablet-ready screens, we go hands-on (video)

When we last caught up with PixelQi at CES, we were downright ecstatic about its dual-mode 3Qi LCDs with switchable backlights, though we had a few wants, including touchscreen support and better viewing angles. Well, the screen company took our criticism to heart, and brought along its new touch-capable and “wideview” panels to Computex. The new displays — which are readable indoors and out — are also 30 percent more power-efficent than the previous models, PixelQi founder Mary Lou Jepsen told us.

Much to our delight, we were able to handle a number of different tablets and netbooks infused with the new screens earlier today. The one pictured above is actually an Intel Atom Moorestown-powered 10-inch slate with a capactive touch 3Qi screen; there’s a button on the right edge that turns the backlight on and off. Another on display had a Wacom digitizer for taking notes in Windows 7 Home Premium. In the short time we spent with the tablets and mock-ups, we discovered pen and finger input to be very responsive in both LCD modes. We were similarly impressed with the wideview screen on the netbooks — a movie trailer was viewable when the screen was tilted off axis as well as from the sides. So, that’s the good news, but where the heck are the real devices? You know, the ones we can buy? We wanted to know the same thing, and CEO Mary Lou Jepsen assured us that they are currently working with major manufacturers. We hope so, Mary Lou. We hope so. Hit the gallery for tons of shots (the screen is a photographer’s dream!) and a video demo after the break.

Continue reading PixelQi introduces tablet-ready screens, we go hands-on (video)

PixelQi introduces tablet-ready screens, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 04:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee Tablet preview

Alright, stick with us here. For some reason, ASUS decided it best to name its freshest e-reader the Eee Tablet, while its downright magical tablet goes by Eee Pad. Got all that? Good. The Eee Tablet (again, not to be confused with the Eee Pad tablet) is half e-reader, half note taker, and it’s an interesting twist on a played product category. We took a few precious minutes to experiment with the device here on the Computex show floor, and overall, we like what we’re seeing. Gone is the painfully slow E-Ink page refresh that Kindle owners are so accustomed to, with this particular LCD proving deliciously quick at changing screens. The only hang-up comes when you attempt to flip through too many pages, too fast — we managed to harness a loading wheel on two occasions, both of which took around six or eight seconds to vanish and the next page to finally appear. We also confirmed that the screen only works with the included stylus, much like pen-enabled Wacom tablets. That said, the bundled stylus was perfectly weighted, and the Eee Tablet responded well to our doodling. Speaking of weight, the model shown here in Taipei was shockingly heavy (at least iPad-level heavy), while the 10-inch EP101TC was markedly less hefty. Enough chatter — have a look at our hands-on video just past the break.

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ASUS Eee Tablet preview originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 06:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee Tablet: a notepad with impressive 2450 dpi touchscreen sensitivity (updated)

Don’t call it the Eee Pad, this is ASUS’ Eee Tablet — a digital notebook with a 2,450 dpi touchscreen and lickity quick 0.1 second page turns on a backlight-less TFT-LCD offering 64-levels of grey. As such, ASUS is calling its Eee Tablet one of the world’s most accurate and sensitive note taking devices available. The other being paper and pencil of course. While the Eee Tablet will serve up texts and ebooks for reading just fine, ASUS is really pushing the note taking feature with built-in notepad templates and the ability to store, sort, tag, and annotate your notes on the fly. It comes packing a MicroSD slot and 2 megapixel camera for snapping lecture slides which students or professionals can then annotate and then sync back to a PC over USB. Battery life? 10 hours — so yeah, it’s not E-Ink… but then again it’s not E-Ink.

Update: Uh, ok, we’ve received clarification here at Computex. Apparently, when ASUS says “a 2450 dpi touch resolution screen” they actually mean a 2,450 dpi input sensitivity. In other words, annotations probably will feel like writing on paper, or an 8-inch 1024 x 768 pixel panel, anyway.

Update 2: We’ve just been told to expect the Eee Tablet to cost somewhere between $199 and $299 of the green stuff when it launches sometime in September.

Update 3
: Lookie here — we’ve got a hands-on preview up, video and all.

Continue reading ASUS Eee Tablet: a notepad with impressive 2450 dpi touchscreen sensitivity (updated)

ASUS Eee Tablet: a notepad with impressive 2450 dpi touchscreen sensitivity (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 03:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung develops USB-powered desktop PC monitor, plans 2011 street date

We’ve seen more than our fair share of USB displays as of late, and on the whole they’re usually tiny — say, around 7-inches. Sure, they’re well-suited for someone who wants to get that Tweetdeck or their IRC window off of their main desktop, but that’s about it. It looks like Samsung’s poised to take the whole affair to the next level with its new 18.5-inch LCD display. By “improving the transmittance of the panel and the luminance efficiency of the backlight,” Tech-on! notes, the company was able to keep power consumption down to 6.3W — low enough that a forked USB 2.0 cable is sufficient to power the thing as well as supply data. The only drawback? Apparently the device uses an edge-lit backlight that limits the device’s lifetime to 30,000 hours compared to 50,000 for existing LCD monitors). According to the company, you can look forward to seeing these things hit store shelves sometime in 2011.

Samsung develops USB-powered desktop PC monitor, plans 2011 street date originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 20:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP rolls out four new LCD monitors, three are 1080p

While we pine for the days of large 16:10 panels, we have to admit Hewlett-Packard knows how to craft a sleek-looking 16:9. This week, the electronics manufacturer launched four new no-nonsense LCD screens at the movie-friendly aspect ratio, the HP 2010i, 2210m, 2310m and 2710m. While the first two digits of each alphanumeric reflect its diagonal screen size (except for the 2210m, which is apparently 21.5 inches across), the ‘i’ designation apparently reflects the fact that you’re getting a sub-par 1600 x 900 resolution and DVI / VGA inputs, when the other three monitors also display HDMI content in full 1080p. All four panels have reasonably low response times, embedded 2W speakers and 1000:1 contrast ratios, and at their current prices ($180, $220, $260 and a likely $350-$400, respectively) all will likely make suitable choices if you’re in the market for an above-average computer screen. Us? We’ll make do with old Dell products while we wait for the company’s wallpaper model.

HP rolls out four new LCD monitors, three are 1080p originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 04:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mimo’s 720-F USB-driven touchscreen monitor gets down with VESA mounts

Ah, Mimo. It has been far, far too long since you’ve tossed out another product to appease our need for more pixels in every situation, and frankly, we couldn’t be happier to see that you’re back. Today, the aforesaid company is tossing out a variant of the 710-S that emerged last August, but this one’s tailor made to work on VESA mounts. The company claims that the 720-F was born from requests to have a 7-inch touchscreen that could be mounted on VESA brackets, enabling easy installs in cars, server rooms, dashboards, etc. You’ll still get an 800 x 480 resolution, 400:1 contrast ratio and a USB-driven design, though you’ll be asked to shed $199 from your savings account in order to bring one home. Betcha can’t buy just one.

Continue reading Mimo’s 720-F USB-driven touchscreen monitor gets down with VESA mounts

Mimo’s 720-F USB-driven touchscreen monitor gets down with VESA mounts originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 10:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HDTV tests pit fantasy land specs against real world performance — guess what happens

Good luck keeping up with the ever changing specs on the latest HDTVs, but as the numbers get more impressive, are the displays actually improving in any noticeable way? Dr. Raymond Soneira , president of DisplayMate, goes about breaking down many of the more often misused and misleading technical buzzwords in an article on MaximumPC. If you’re wondering how manufacturers have advanced contrast ratios from thousands, to millions, to unlimited over the space of just a few years, there’s a breakdown of what “dynamic contrast ratio” actually measures and why it’s worth ignoring — unless you watch your TV when it’s only displaying one color at a time. When it comes to colors colors, some of the most scathing words were pointed towards Sharp’s Quattron quad-pixel technology, which “can only decrease picture quality and accuracy!”

Whether you believe the good Dr., a glistening review or Cmdr. Sulu, the factual heat burned hottest during a test of motion blur compared on LCDs, LED LCDs, plasmas and even a pro CRT. While additional motion processing and upgraded internals on newer HDTVs can help in many other ways, viewers couldn’t detect any blur caused by a display even on an old 60Hz set, despite newer and faster 120Hz, 240Hz and 600Hz (plasma) sets claiming their technology helped them eliminate it. You’ll need a minute to read through for the full details but it’s a good, and unfortunately necessary, reminder to keep your eyes on the display and not just the spec sheet (just make sure you’re getting a proper look that represents the way you watch TV at home first.)

HDTV tests pit fantasy land specs against real world performance — guess what happens originally appeared on Engadget HD on Wed, 19 May 2010 01:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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