Cell phone buffs, listen up, because the long awaited arrival of the Samsung Behold II in the United States is coming on the order of soon.
The Behold II, which uses Google’s Android operating system along with Samsung’s own Touchwiz interface offers a 3.2 inch AMOLED touchscreen, a five megapixel camera, GPS and Bluetooth, plus a host of built-in Google services and a 3-D cube menu interface which is reportedly cooler than the other side of the pillow.
A lot more cell phones are working Android these days, and Google’s becoming almost ubiquitous in the cell phone arena. It’s a wonder not every cell phone includes this by now, and leaves me wondering just how long until the Justice Department wants a crack at Google.
I’m still not sold on the whole OLED experience, at least as far as home entertainment goes. Although, I do believe it’s a great piece of tech for the portable gadget market since it’s light on power consumption and boasts a stunning picture; laptops included.
So pardon mean when I don’t sound too excited about LG’s announcement to bring their 15-inch OLED screen to Korea this November with other markets following sometime in early 2010. While this set does trump the competition in terms of size, it does make me wonder how much it will cost since Sony’s 11-inch XEL-1 is currently listed at a whopping $2,500.
While it ain’t the Optimus Maximus keyboard, OCZ’s Sabre does strike a close resemblance thanks to the 9 programmable OLED keys located on the left most part of the keyboard. Touted as the ‘world’s most intelligent gaming keyboard’, the Sabre also includes amber backlighting and blue sidelighting for those that prefer to game in the complete dark. Additionally, the OLED keys can be programmed with a series of macros and using the included software display any text or image that your heart desires. I just wish they chose a more slender/hipper profile. Sorry, no word on price or release date.
Today Microsoft officially announced the Zune HD to thousands of screaming fans. While possibly too little too late, the Zune HD will attempt to steal some iPod Touch thunder with the inclusion of such features as: A built in HD radio receiver, HD video capabilities, OLED touch screen, and WiFi. What also will be of mass importance is the addition of Xbox Live’s MarketPlace, where you can go for movies and TV programs. No word on whether or not games or apps are on the horizon, but I’m sure someone somewhere in the Microsoft matrix is gargling on about it. E3 will have more to say about the Zune HD and will demonstrate the Xbox Live lovechild. Is this cool? Does anyone care? …Continue reading: Zune HD Gets Officialized: In Cahoots With Xbox Live
I can’t say I’ve been holding my breath waiting for Sony’s latest X Series Walkman (NWZ-X1000) with OLED screen to release here in the US. But today Amazon US officially received pricing info for the 16GB and 32GB MP3 player. It will set you back $299.95 and $399.95, respectively. Unfortunately, there is no mention of an actual ship date, but expect it any day now since Amazon rarely posts new products unless they’re a few days out from shipping.
Kyocera, which isn’t exactly known for their cell phones, apparently has a couple tricks up theirs sleeves and if they’re not applied correctly they might just remain that. What you’re looking at is the EOS, an ultra smart cell phone that features ‘a soft, semi-rigid polymer skin [which] surrounds a flexible OLED display’. When the keys aren’t in use ’shape memory’ allows them to morph into the phone’s surface. What’s wackier than that? The ability to charge itself through physical interaction using an array of nano-scale piezoelectric generators. It’s extremely unlikely that we’ll ever see this concept come to fruition, but Kyocera hopes to incorporate some the technologies into future phones…of this decade.
LG Korea “allegedly” claims that the new iPhone and iPod Touch will use LG OLED screens and that Apple has paid them $500 Million upfront to work on new screen technologies. LG themselves is throwing down $3 Billion over the next 18 months to these screen and monitor technologies. Part of this money and time will be devoted to a touch screen OLED that will be void of finger grease and smudges! That will be awesome as I’m constantly wiping down my iPhone as it is. LG will also increase R&D 25% towards Solar OLED’s and new battery tech. The Life is green.
Displaying your geekiness is as easy as purchasing one of these: the Video Watch. It’s a generic, no name device but sports a 128×128 OLED screen and 8GB of on board storage. Unfortunately, it might not serve as a practical watch, since it only achieves a 7 hour music playback time – 4 if video – and requires charging courtesy of USB. Well, at least in the first half of the day you’ll be able to record some voice notes, see what time it is and catch up on your favorite episode of ‘Chuck’.
January 28th, 2009 12:18 AM | by Christen da Costa
OLED screens are showing no signs of slowing down. Generally they’ve been reserved for ‘premier’ like devices, but one company, MyRacer, is changing that. The Lisse S10 is an MP3 player that measures 46×40x11mm, comes in 2GB and 4GB capacities, and includes, yes you called it, a 128×64 OLED screen that also doubles as a directional pad for traversing the player’s menus.
Don’t expect this ‘Shuffle meets OLED screen’ MP3 player to come State side any time soon, but if you hop a plane to Korea I’m confident you could pick one up.
