Ever thinner display screens

OLEDs offer rich palette
OLED, or Organic Light-Emitting Diode, is a more exotic variant of LED technology. Instead of an array of diodes providing backlight to a display, OLED displays employ thin layers of organic molecules which, when electricity is applied, emit light.

The biggest draws of OLEDs are very low power consumption (no backlight is required), razor-thin form and a rich, vibrant color palette.

However, such displays come at an even greater price premium than standard LED backlit displays.

Sony Electronics, the only company with an OLED product currently for sale, launched the 11-inch XEL-1 OLED HDTV ($2,500) earlier this year.

Sony Sony's 11-inch XEL-1 OLED HDTV costs $2,500, and is one of the newest display products to use Organic Light-Emitting Diode technology.

The tiny TV boasts a panel thickness of just 3mm and a stunning contrast ratio, a comparison between the brightest and darkest luminance of its picture, of 1 million-to-1. A traditional LCD PC monitor with a contrast ratio above 10,000-to-1 is considered exceptionally good.

Don't look for a range of OLED PC displays on the shelves any time soon.

“We do not expect to see OLEDs make an appearance in the notebook market until 2009 at the earliest, and these will be very high-end and small, 10- to 11-inch class displays,” said John Jacobs, director of notebook market research at industry analyst DisplaySearch.

“While there is a tremendous amount of R&D activity in the OLED industry, significant challenges remain to make these displays commercially competitive with LCD displays.”

Going flexible
The most radical shift in PC displays is the development of flexible displays. Picture a monitor the size of a sheet of stationery, only slightly thicker. Maybe you're reading The New York Times or watching a video clip; you finish and roll the display up and stuff it in your pocket.

The Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University in Tempe, established by the Army Research Laboratory, is designing and producing flexible display panels for both government and commercial partners, such as LG Display and HP.

A typical flexible display features Thin Film Transistors, also used in LCDs, on a flexible substrate like foil or plastic, as well as E Ink. E Ink is a thin film of electrically charged microcapsules with each capsule containing white or black particles. White or black microcapsules rise to the top of the film, displaying black text on a white background, depending on the electrical charge applied to the film. E Ink, made by the company of the same name, is also used by Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader e-books.

Expect to see mass-produced, monochrome, or grayscale, flexible display products by the end of this year, with color products still about three years away.

“We’re talking cell phones, PDAs, and notebook computers” for product uses, said Greg Raupp, director of the Flexible Display Center.

“Another significant opportunity is in hands-free info devices, perhaps for individual sports like running, hiking, climbing, or skiing where the device is worn on your wrist or incorporated in your clothing.”

The technology of PC display panels isn't the only thing that's evolving. The way we interact with a PC is also being redefined.

Touchscreens are becoming popular in phones, but have only gained limited use in niche computer products like tablet notebook PCs.

“For PCs it will boil down to ease of use,” said Xavier Lauwaert, Sony’s VAIO product marketing manager.

“If the interface and usage model is easy and simplifies interaction with the PC, then we expect end users to be more receptive to this technology.” But right now, he said, “we are still in the early days” of touchscreens.

HP's new TouchSmart line of computers (starting at $1,300) is an all-in-one PC with a 22-inch display that responds to touches and gestures. A wireless keyboard is included, but the TouchSmart's interface is designed for taps and swipes.

“Consider how today’s younger generation is growing up with touch interfaces on their PDAs, phones, portable music players,” said Ellis of HP. “These products are much more intuitive than most banks’ ATMs . . . these same interactions can be accomplished via the PC.”

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