The evolution of the TV might be ongoing, but one thing that’s constant is the desire for as big an image as possible. Granted that we’re all spoiled with our flat panels and front projection systems, compared to the days of the 19-inch TV tube, but “bigger is better,” continues to dominate our minds. The biggest barrier between “bigger” TVs and us is having to buy a new display — you can’t “upgrade” from a 42-inch to a 55, 60 or larger. And if your recently purchased HDTV doesn’t do 3D and you want it — again you’re stuck with buying a new set or going without.

Okay, there’s a third alternative: the Sony Personal 3D Viewer. It’s a headset that brings any video being fed to it up close and personal, giving you the equivalent of a 750-inch screen from 65 feet away to glom at. And not just a high-definition image either because it also does 3D. Difficult to use? Nah.

Physically setting up the Viewer is simple: to start, you plug a video source (like a Blu-ray player) into the HDMI input on the back of the stand-alone box that houses all the electronics, with another HDMI cable going into an output to go back to your display (if you want). The box is about the size of one of those audio amps you place in a car’s trunk and only has a single light to verify that the power is active; there are no controls on it.

A 12 foot cable is permanently attached to the Viewer and goes into a connector on the front of the box; it’s a proprietary type, which explains the cable’s length since you can’t extend it. Then you insert the AC cord in to its corresponding socket and plug it into the wall outlet.

All the controls are on the right underside of the Viewer, consisting of a click wheel with a center button and two smaller buttons side-by-side for volume. The power button is farther away so as to avoid it being accidentally pressed. Because of its placement, I recommend you press it prior to putting on the Viewer (a red light on the box will change to green to indicate “On”).

Putting the Sony on for the first time is a bit involved because a correct fit is vital to seeing a uniform image. Place it on your head as if it was a catcher’s mitt or, for those less sports inclined, as if you were putting on a baseball cap starting from behind the crown of your head. Pull the Viewer forward and down until your nose meets the bridge at the front. Now you make two adjustments — one changing the distance between the two lenses and the front of your eyes using push-in tabs for forward/backward movement; then readjusting the clips attached to a plastic strap framework that grips the side of your head. Once this is done, look straight ahead at the “Welcome” screen that now consumes your view. Reach under each eye and move the protruding tab on the Viewer in/out until the text is in focus. Then press the wheel’s center button to move to the next screen and confirm another image, this one of horizontal and vertical lines. Continue on through a warning screen, disengage the menus and see whatever video is being received.

In my case, I’m using a switcher to start with HD television through a Dish Network satellite receiver. I’ll now adjust the Viewer’s settings to “average” and go from there. The menus include an information screen, which shows the controls the Sony uses and a “Lens-span adjustment” for physically readjusting the two lens panels you’re looking. The “3D” setting lets you set the 3D so that it kicks in automatically or not just when a signal is received, while the “Picture” menu lets you adjust brightness, contrast, color temperature and the like (leave the digital noise reduction off unless you are viewing standard-definition video, is my recommendation). The “Audio” setting lets you set the multichannel controls for surround, along with treble and bass levels. There’s also a general menu to do such things as turn off the Viewer if you remove it or activate/deactivate the HDMI pass-through.

Once all this is done, you’re ready to enjoy a humongously big picture. I don’t know how to measure it, but it’s certainly bigger in perception compared to my 100-inch projection screen when I stood before it and flipped the Viewer on/off my head.

That picture you’re seeing is really something too, especially when watching high-definition (you get an indicator of the resolution feed when it first appears at the screen’s upper left corner). It might be 720p, not 1080p,  as far as your eyes go — but does that matter? No. There’s no light fall off from the corners as the entire image is uniformly lit and, obviously, you’re always seated in the “sweet spot” in relationship to the lenses.

The Viewer uses OLED panels, rather than LCD, resulting in what is, to me, an obvious improvement in the clarity, color intensity and brightness (I’ve worn a lot of these LCD glasses over the years so I feel comfortable making this assessment). While the Viewer is fairly lightweight, there is some discernible strain on the bridge of the nose to get used to. This is especially true for those of us who wear eyeglasses, as there aren’t optical adjustments to eliminate the need for prescription lenses. Here’s a tip — patient adjustment of the two earphone cups can help in reducing the pressure on the nose.

Switching from the Dish to my PlayStation 3 (which does 3D), I brought up Netflix to see how a streaming video would look. I had expected to run a few minutes of “Iron Man 2,” but an hour went by before I put the brakes on. The image was rock-solid 2D and there wasn’t any smearing when the iron guys flew across the screen. To say streaming looks impressive through the Viewer, even though it’s not high-def, would be an understatement. I also ran a cartoon to check out whether solid panels of color were bleeding, but again had no complaints.

Keeping with the super hero thing, I popped in the 3D disc of Green Lantern and powered through some of the scenes that I’ve watched many times on my 3D TV. Besides having a much bigger view, the 3D effects were much more obvious to my eye; not to say that there was a lack of subtlety at times, just that tracking the 3D didn’t require any effort — it was just there “in my face.” I also found the 3D version of Toy Story 3 a good exercise in catching the 3D “moments” and for fans of the series, 3D is really a much better way to watch (“the claw, the claw!”).  Colors were outstanding too and I never ran across any noticeable image flickering either. Yes you should take it off every now and then to rest both your eyes and face, but once the viewing starts, you pretty much forget all of that.

The Bottom Line: It’s not hard to tout the obvious benefit of the Sony Personal 3D Viewer, even at a $800 price tag: you get your own movie theater screen without needing a “man-cave” or having to readjust your living room. For those without 3D in the home, this and a sub-$300 3D-capable Blu-ray player are all you need. Those already invested in 3D can up their viewing size without having to buy new equipment. And in both cases, the one wearing the Viewer will be enjoying themselves immensely. Plus the front of it has a cool blue glow to impress anyone looking your way.

  Editor’s Rating:

4 out of 5 stars

Great

Pros:

• OLED panels provide clear, bright and colorful video
• High-resolution view that is many times bigger than most home theaters
• 3D-capable

Cons:

• Expensive
• Proprietary cable permanently attached to the Viewer
• Headset weight will be uncomfortable to some

OLED displays have long been associated with the likes of myth and illusion.  Okay, we’re exaggerating, but hopefully you’re picking up what we’re laying down.  Said another way, OLED tech has long been relegated to the small screen, such as smartphones and monitors, which are anything but practical for home theater viewing. However, that is about to change thanks to LG.

Today, the company announced the world’s largest OLED TV.  The 55EM9600 measures 55-inches from corner to corner and boasts a 100,000,000:1, contrast ratio.  That’s 50 times greater than the next best LED TV on the market today.  It’s actually a pretty silly number in real world terms, but it does provide some perspective to just how powerful this set is.  Images are said to be beyond life like and it doesn’t hurt that it’s 3D capable as well, though you’ll still need to sport a pair of glasses to take advantage of the extra dimension.

LG has opted for White OLED (WOLED) as a light source and Oxide TFT is the panel text, which replaces Amorphous Silicon with Oxide, which is cheaper.  This is all packed into a 4mm, yes 4 millimeter thick body.

LG hasn’t announced a price or launch date, but hopefully we’ll see a production model emerge by the end of 2012.  It’s complete conjecture, but we expect the price to be well north of $10,000.

Newegg is offering a new discount on this Microsoft EHD-00001 Zune HD 16GB Portable Media Player for just $199.99 – $30 Instant Savings + Free Shipping = $169.99!

If you’re looking for the ideal Music/Video player to take with you anywhere then check this out! The Zune HD by Microsoft features a large 3.3-Inch OLED Touch screen for displaying all of your HD content with superior quality and performance. It has support for all of your favorite media formats for maximum compatibility and is very easy to use with the included software to get you started. To make it even better it has connectivity with HD radio to expand your musical horizons as well as full Wifi support for browsing the Internet and sharing music with others right on the device and with the large display it has never been easier to navigate around. It comes with 16GB of internal storage for all of your media needs and has HDMI output for connecting to an HDTV for showing videos and photos with ease.

Transparent LCDs will be hitting the market in mass very soon.  While the tech won’t apply to the standard consumer, they’ll be utilized largely for product displays since a physical object can sit behind the screen and still be visible while images and graphics are displayed in front of it.

Word is that Samsung’s 22-inch transparent display has gone into mass production, which uses 90% less energy than a standard LED display and boasts a 1680×150 resolution, 500:1 contrast ratio, USB and HDMI inputs.

Checkout the video below.

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The HD3 Slyde took a while to see the light of day, development on it having started even before the release of the iPod nano back in 2010.

Designed by the son of a well-known French watchmaker, you can see the imaginative workmanship brought by Jorg Hysek Jr even in the complex interface.

With a LED screen that could turn into OLED by the time it comes to market in September, and a sapphire crystal cover which is curved for comfort, it’s no surprise the Slyde has a fully titanium water resistant body. It will come in silver and black, without any physical buttons, and owners will be able to send it in for upgrades. Explained as follows:

“You can purchase special watch dials to put in the watch. HD3 will release just a few a year. They want to make sure each is good, and not over-load people with crap dials. But the dials won’t be cheap. Some of them will even be artificial limited editions – where HD3 will only sell a certain amount. Standard prices for dials will be $50-100 maybe, and more for the special ones.”

Yeah, does sound pricey. If a dial costs $100, what’s the Slyde itself going to sell for? A lot, like all Hysek watches.

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As we’ve seen, the Samsung Galaxy S phones are darned impressive, definitely some of the best phones out on the market today. Then the company announced to do something very similar to Apple and make a strictly media playing device, without telephony. Meet the Galaxy Player.

Of course, this isn’t the American, or even worldwide version. This is the Korean version which will ship later this month only in Korea. It’s big and fat, and feels bigger than the Fascinate. As you can see below, they’re about the same size.

That thickness, which is the exact opposite of what I expected, is for two reasons: first, the Galaxy Player uses an LCD display using Samsung’s SuperClear technology, not SuperAMOLED like the Galaxy S phones. This makes the glass thicker, and thus the device thicker. Secondly, the Korean model supports wireless TV, which is available in South Korea, so they can watch TV anywhere and anytime.

Why not SuperAMOLED? Low supply, one Samsung representative told me, which confirms growing suspicions that OLED in general is in short supply. A marketing person was quick to point out that the current display is significantly brighter than OLED screens, which would make viewing media easier in the sunlight, as good a reason as any if you live in Korea and want to watch TV outside.

I played around with the Galaxy Player, and it’s blazingly fast. It uses the same TouchWiz 3.0 software as the Galaxy S phones, and is essentially identical in every way, except that it doesn’t have the phone. That may be the best thing about the Galaxy Player, especially for iPhone owners, or for someone who wants Android but isn’t necessarily ready or willing to switch phones.

There’s no current set price or release date for the Galaxy Player in the US or worldwide outside of Korea.

LG, in a press conference about 3DTV, bored me. 3D is boring. What’s interesting is LG’s work on PPI (Pixels Per Inch), and how they view different display technologies, like IPS and OLED. So, for the sake of science, why not throw an OLED display…in an iPhone?

That’s exactly what LG did, and I was just inches and seconds from stealing it. If I worked for this company, I’d have it and be halfway through Mexico. Sure, it’s not as clear as the iPhone 4′s Retina display, just 100PPI, but who cares? Video quality is undoubtedly better. LG’s new IPS LCDs use less than half the power of OLED displays, but who cares? IT’S OLED!

PPI count is apparently very important to LG, as you can see in the images above. I can sympathize. We all want clear images…but as you can see from the 52″ TV above, it really doesn’t matter all that much. Just stand a few feet farther back. Get glasses if you can’t see far and quit whining. And LG, watch your back. I’m coming for that iPhone.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Pros:

• Amazing screen, great picture quality and sensitivity
• Touchwiz UI is the best to grace Android yet
• Camera great for shooting in well-lit areas

Cons:

• Connectivity can hang at times
• Camera suffers in low-light

Apple set a standard for smartphone makers to reach over three years ago. Since then, everyone and their mother has been playing catch-up, but it wasn’t until recently that anyone actually caught up. In some ways, that’s because of the OS, which Android has only recently bested iOS in a handful of ways in over the past six months. But now, it doesn’t matter what carrier you’re on, there’s a phone out there for you. That’s all thanks to one company, and one line of phones: Samsung, and their model Galaxy S.

The Galaxy S phones are nearly identical. Four models for four major US carriers. The Fascinate is Verizon’s baby, though with the exception of Sprint’s Epic 4G, the Fascinate is the cornerstone of all Galaxy S phones. And quite frankly, it’s a damn fine phone that is a serious step up from Motorola’s Droid 2.

From left: HTC Desire, Samsung Fascinate, and Droid 2

Samsung’s Fascinate doesn’t look all that special at a first glance. The front glass pane is dark tinted, and a metallic rim is visible all around. The high-gloss back is a polka-dot matrix, one which held at arm’s length looks grey instead of patchy. The only flashy portions are the front Verizon and Samsung logos, and the back Galaxy S logo. Everything else about the design whispers sleekness and poise, without the flashiness or girth many of today’s smartphones embellish.

The volume rocker and power/standby button are both very tight and very close to the phone, which makes both too hard to press easily. The volume rocker tends to stick, whereas the power button doesn’t read keypresses well. The USB connector has a sliding cover, which has led to a new bad habit carried over from slider phones: opening and closing the flap.

What’s really impressive about the Fascinate isn’t the outside, but rather the Android OS, with Samsung’s Touchwiz 3.0 software. Don’t get me wrong, the Fascinate is remarkably thin and light. At first, it even feels too light, but when you’re in the car looking for directions or on a plane watching a film, this featherweight feels like a champ. The Fascinate doesn’t feel or look cheap, but it lacks that solid feel many competing smartphones have. The sleekness of this handset is great for dropping into a pocket. It’s the best smartphone for that.

Touchwiz 3.0 is all about the little things. The pull-down bar has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and Airplane mode buttons right there for easy switching. Three of the four main applications (the ones which stay in place when moving between pages) are customizable, something many Android phones still don’t do. But most importantly, it’s fast. Battery life is on-par with today’s smartphones, lasting about a day (just over), so users will charge the Fascinate nightly.

Unlike Motorola’s slow tacked-on software, Samsung’s is quick and snappy. Other phones, like the Nexus One or Palm Pre or iPhone, are still faster and smoother, but for an Android device with many added benefits through additional software, the Fascinate is surprisingly fast. The only slowness is an almost abrupt stop-and-go twitch for onscreen graphics, though it’s hardly noticeable except when using the touchscreen exceptionally quickly. And that speed comes with significantly less RAM than the Droid 2 (384MB vs 512MB).

Color and light contrast is the big difference between the Fascinate’s SuperAMOLED and Apple’s Retina display.

In fact, every aspect of the Fascinate has proven to be profoundly excellent. The SuperAMOLED screen is perhaps the greatest contrast to that of the iPhone 4, pushing better light and color contrast above pixel count and density. It’s not as easy to read on, but viewing pictures or watching movies is better thanks to the difference in colors and lights and darks. And thanks to the design of OLED screens in general, there’s less eyestrain. One could watch an entire movie at maximum brightness without much bother. The screen does suffer in direct sunlight as all OLED screens do, and is barely visible in very bright conditions, an area where the iPhone 4’s LCD has remained ahead.

The screen itself is also very sensitive, and the best I’ve seen since the iPhone and Palm Pre. Typing on it is the best I’ve seen across any Android device, by far. It’s still not perfect, but I think that the hardware is mostly dead on, and that the software needs additional tweaking to reach perfection.

My cheeky photography assistant rushing me to finish up while showing off the SuperAMOLED display

As I mentioned before, it’s the little things. The phone book has an iPhone-esque scroll function, where letters sit on the right side and scrolling a finger down will go to the corresponding letter. The phone’s sleek design and light weight build, while at first awkward, remarkably comfortable in the pocket and hand. The Fascinate even works well as a replacement Wi-Fi hotspot for up to four hours (under heavy use). In fact, the more I use the Fascinate, the more I’m convinced that what’s really holding it back is Android. The leaps and bounds this phone jumps is just amazing.

Photography with the Fascinate is fairly good. Well-lit rooms and shooting outdoors had some very good shots (see below). On a trip to New York, I was able to test it out in the city, and was impressed with the quality of photos taken. Low-light images are poor, and the flash tends to wash colors out. Video quality is the same, with excellent 720p video in good lighting, but once again quality suffers as ambient light diminishes. Still, the video camera is good enough to fully replace any standalone 720p camera you may own.

Voice quality is excellent. Voices come in clear over Verizon’s network, and recipients said we sounded good in test calls. The speakerphone is tinny and slightly muffled, but clear enough to understand. Call quality was great, but I was surprised to see more dropped coverage than other Verizon phones, including the Droid 2 and older models. Verizon is usually better than AT&T on the iPhone, but the Fascinate had bad days where it couldn’t get a clear signal for up to 15 minutes, or couldn’t find a 3G network to connect to. Several times, in both LA and NY, I couldn’t use the 3G Wi-Fi hotspot feature because of this. I did not have any trouble with making phone calls nor did I drop any calls.

As far as Android-based phones go, Samsung has set itself apart from much of its competition with their Galaxy S phones, and the Fascinate is a prime example of that. It has everything an Android user could ever want: a great screen, quick and easy-to-use UI, and a wonderful design inside and out. Verizon customers ready to upgrade need not look farther than the Fascinate. Phones like this make Android great.

We’ve seen OLED display technology, and it’s super impressive – thin, high quality screens that are incredibly versatile. Now Sony has created a 4.1-inch OLED display that is so flexible, it wraps around a pencil. Offering 432×240 resolution, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, and 80 μm thickness, the display still works while being wrapped up. While the display is just a prototype, for now, it’s exciting to think what the future holds.

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In the last 10 years the military has adopted video games not only as a means of attracting young new blood, but as a way of training their recruits.  Taking that process another step further, a big step further in fact, is the Nation Guard’s recent investment in Cubic Corporation’s COMBATREDI training system to the tune of $4.8 million.  The system uses a hi-def helmet mounted OLED screen that provides a 60×45 degree view of the virtual combat range and is complemented by a 3D stereo headset.  A system on the back tracks the trainees position, even going as far as to detect if they’re prone or if they need to replace the included gun’s magazine for a fresh set of virtual bullets.

Looks cool.  Can I get one for my Natal?

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Word is that Samsung has plans to sell a laptop with a 14-inch transparent OLED screen.  Why?  I don’t know, but if you happen to be IMing on your laptop as you walk down the street at least you won’t walk into a pothole or someone carrying a hot cup of double macchiato latte with skim milk…yeah, it’s just that ridiculous.

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Amazon has the Microsoft Zune HD 32GB Platinum MP3 Player With $30 Gift Card, Wired Magazine And More for $289.99 – $22 instant savings + $0 S&H = $267.99 shipped! It has a 3.3-inch OLED screen, WiFi, plays HD movies, HD radio tuner and a whole bunch of applications including gaming.  This deal also includes a $30 gift card towards future Amazon purchases, a 1-year subscription to Wired magazine and $5 worth of MP3 credits.

Amazon has a great bundle deal that includes the Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum) With $30 Gift Card, Magazine Subscriptions And $5 Of MP3s.  It’s $289.99 – $22 instant savings + free shipping = $267.99 shipped! This MP3 player has 32GB of storage, 3.3-inch OLED 480 x 272 resolution, 720p HD movie support, HD radio and WiFi. 

Although it might be a bit far from reality the Murakami Chair is one slick design that has my head nodding with agreement.  The attached OLED lamp, which requires less energy than a standard light bulb to operate, draws energy from an on board battery pack that is powered by the kinetic energy found in the chair’s rocking movement.  Oh, and that lamp shade you see; that’s the actual lamp.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any production timeline, but we’re hopeful.

[via Inhabitat]

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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.

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Don’t forget Dell’s 15% off select electronics: 65G7RQ11J?M2LH (expires: 7/31)

Remember the OCZ Sabre keyboard, you know, the one with the OLED keypad?  Well, we now know it retails for $170.  Zipzoomfly had it on sale yesterday for $135 and it’s already sold out.  It’s no Optimus keyboard, but since it goes for about a 20th of the cost why the hell not?!

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Although it probably won’t ever hit US shores, the Vobis HIGHSCREEN PP5420 daul-touchscreen smartphone isn’t short on originality.  It runs the Android OS and features dualband 900/2100MHz HSPA, WiFi, GPS, 3-inch WQVGA panel, a 3 megapixel camera, microSD card slot, TV out and a second 1.5-inch OLED screen that doubles as a navigational pad.  It will hit Russian shores sometime next week and cost about $515.

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Ennova Direct just received a patent on what is probably going to be the world’s most advanced thumb drive. To be produced sometime in 2010, the flash drive features a retractable plug and built-in flip cover. Flip cover you ask? But of course, to protect the drives OLED screen that doubles as a fingerprint reader. The new drive, which has yet to be named or priced, will be launched under their ION Technologies brand.

[via Coated]

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