No more Vizio plasma TVs: Vizio will be focusing only on LCD TVs from here on. Vizio’s co-founder Laynie Newsome stated that the company will be not be making any more plasma TVs. After Vizio’s plasma TVs are sold through the channel there will be no more. Newsome mentioned a couple of reasons for the company’s exit out of plasma TVs. He mentioned that plasma TVs “don’t show as well in big box stores” and the company wants to “devote all of its available shelf space to the technology that moves off the shelves fastest.” I’m sure the focus on just LCD TVs will enable Vizio to be even more aggressive in terms of product design, feature enhancements and, at the same time, rock-bottom prices that will further solidify Vizio as the value brand.

Source: The New York Times via Engadget

Pioneer is leaving the TV manufacturing business. Pioneer has been working hard to turn the ship around toward profitability. About 5900 employees were laid off from March 31, 2008 through the end of 2008. In the same period, Pioneer reduced the number of temporary employees by 4000. But even these measures weren’t good enough. The company’s factories based in the US and the UK will be shut down this year: UK factories will be closed in February and US factories in April. TV product development will cease as well. PDP (plasma display panel) production activities will cease in Japan by March 31, 2009. By March 2010 Pioneer plans to completely exit the display business. The good news is that Pioneer will continue service its TVs after completely exiting the display business.

Pioneer’s KURO plasma TVs have been hailed as one of the best TVs with insanely dark black levels, which are important when you want the best contrast. Even the best TVs from Sony and Panasonic fell just a bit short compared to the KURO. However, not all is lost. Panasonic has been downloading all KURO intelligence from Pioneer and I’m sure Sharp has benefited too. Hopefully Panasonic the KURO sub-brand will somehow continue to live along with the stunningly black technology.

Source: Pioneer (PDF) via Engadget

LG Xnote P510-UP98K Specifications

Display: 15.4″ TFT LCD with LED Backlight
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Pixel Format: 1440 x 900
GPU: 512MB NVIDIA GeForce GT130M
CPU: 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM: 4GB DDR3
HDD: 64GB SSD and 500GB
Weight: 2.29kg

LG’s Xnote P510-UP98K is the top-of-the-line P510 series notebook PC. The P510-UP98K packs a 15.4″ TFT LCD with a pixel format of 1440 x 900. Not quite the highest-end in terms of the number of pixels (that would be 1920 x 1200 and then 1680 x 1050) but the display is driven by NVIDIA’s latest GeForce GT130M GPU with 512MB.

In comparison, Dell’s Precision M4400 has a 15.4″ LCD option that gives you either a super-bright dual-CCFL 1920 x 1200 LCD or one with a RGB LED backlight and 1920 x 1200 that gives you great color. The 15.4″ in the P510-UP98K is just your average LED backlit LCD. LG states in the video (below) that the display performance was enhanced by 50%: I’m curious as to what performance LG is talking about. LG is pointing to the P510 as the company’s “strategic notebook” for 2009. Well, I’m sorry to say that LG needs to aim just a bit higher, at least when it comes to display technology. LG, how about an IPS panel in a notebook PC? Video after the break.

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Dell Latitude XT2 Specifications

Display: 12.1″ Capacitive Multitouch TFT LCD with LED Backlight
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Pixel Format: 1280 x 800
CPU: 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 ULV SU9400 (Centrino 2 “Montevina” chipset)
RAM: Max 5GB DDR3
OS: Windows Vista 
Price: Starting at US$2,399

Dell’s Latitude XT2 is version 2 of the original Latitude XT. According to Dell, the XT2 is the first tablet PC to feature multitouch capabilities. The XT2 has a bit more horsepower underneath: 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 ULV SU9400, a Centrino 2 chipset, a maximum RAM capacity of 5GB DDR3. The 12.1″ LED-backlit LCD is twice as bright as the previous version and sports a 1280 x 800 pixel format.

The multitouch capability is a first on a table PC and uses N-Trig’s DuoSense technology. Two finger gestures all work right out of the box: pinching (zooming), panning, scrolling, rotating, etc. Laptop Magazine expresses the capacitive LCD navigation as “smooth as butter” and “more responsive” than HP’s Touchsmart Tx2.

Multitouch is here to stay. It flattens the layers between human and machine interaction. We have a sense of direct control over not only the interface but the media itself: pictures, maps, etc. It is probably a good time to develop a brand new OS centered around multitouch capability and I hope many software developers will help us navigate, manipulate, and create new media by developing great multitouch applications.

Source: Laptop Magazine via Engadget

Amazon introduced its evolutionary Kindle 2.0 e-book reader on February 9, 2009. Kindle 2 is much prettier and easier to use. The rounded buttons are cuter (I’m not sure if they are easier to use) and the page-flipping buttons are much easier to use. Gone is the accidental page-flipping on the older Kindle when all you wanted to do was pick it up. One of the most interesting new feature of the Kindle 2 is its ability to read text outloud.

Amazon’s Kindle 2 has an updated E Ink display with 16 shades of gray; the first Kindle had just 4 shades. So, naturally, text will look even better. Take a look at the picture that Gizmodo took and you can see text as well as images look quite a bit better and much closer to what you see in an actual book. The E Ink-technology-based display is the same size at 6″ that sports a 600 x 800 pixel format. Page-flipping is said to be a bit quicker than before. One very important feature that is missing from the Kindle 2 is touch capability. With touch you can underline, annotate, etc. which I think would be great for electronic textbooks. Kindle 3? Maybe. The price for the prettier Kindle 2 is the same as the older Kindle: $359 at Amazon.com.

Source: Amazon.com, Gizmodo

Samsung Anycall SPH-W6050 Specifications

Display: 3″ TFT LCD with Touch and Haptic
Pixel Format: 800 x 480 (landscape) 
Number of Colors: 262K
Camera: 5MP CMOS with Autofocus, Antishake, Flash, etc.
Connectivity: CDMA, 3G, DMB
Storage: MicroSD, 306MB User Memory
Battery: 1000mAh, 200min voice communication, 120min video communication, 140 hours standby
Dimensions: 103.6 x 54.6 x 15.3mm
Weight: 120g
Availability: South Korea
Price: About US$700

Samsung’s SPH-W6050 is a high-end smartphone sporting a 3″ TFT LCD with touch and haptic feedback. The 3″ LCD features a 800 x 480 (landscape) pixel format and looks pretty nice. On the back is a huge lens coupled with a 5MP CMOS image sensor. The picture quality is very good but there is some shutter lag so you’ll need to hold steady. Yes, even with the anti-shake technology fast moving objects will probably be quite blurry. The DMB functionality is quite cool: you can watch pretty much wherever you are in Korea. The SPH-W6050 is a bit smaller than an iPhone 3G but is a bit thicker. At first I couldn’t figure out how to turn the SPH-W6050 on: there is a rubber “Hold” button the right side of the device. You have to press that button and then press it again to unlock. Notice also the front-facing camera: that’s for video communications and the SPH-W6050 will let you do that for 2 hours. Check the lightning review video after the jump. (more…)

FujiFilm FinePix F200EXR Specifications

Image Sensor: 12MP 1/1.6″ Super CCD EXR
Image Sensor Pixel Format: 4000 x 3000 (max) 
Display: 3″ TFT LCD
Lens: f/3.3-5.1, 28mm – 140mm 35mm-equivalent, CCD-Shift Image Stabilization
ISO: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800
Shutter Speed: 1/4 sec to 1/1500 sec (auto), 8 sec to 1/1500 (all other modes)
Pictures: JPEG (EXIF V.2.2), 5fps Burst Mode
Video: 640 x 480 AVI (Motion JPEG) with Sound
Audio: WAVE (Mono-aural)
Storage: About 48MB Internal, SD, SDHC, xD Picture Card 
Complete specifications at FujiFilm USA. 

FujiFilm USA, Wired: Back in 2002 when I had my first child, I was taking pictures with my Canon A85. It used 4x AA batteries and with rechargeable batteries lasted a good long while. Performance was very good but when there is sufficient light. When the sun goes down and I’m trying to take pictures indoors with dim lighting the A85 was not very good. That’s why, after many more compact cameras, I decided to invest in a Canon 20D and a fast 35mm f/1.4L lens. Most of the time I am able to shoot great pictures without the aid of flash with the 20D/35mm f/1.4L combo. Great investment but it was a hefty one: very heavy and a bit expensive. With the FinePix F200EXR you can shoot very decent pictures in low-light, without the heft and without the substantial investment: the F200EXR is $399.95 at Amazon.com and is available for pre-order.

FujiFilm’s FinePix F200EXR will most likely be welcomed by a lot of folks who want to take decent pictures regardless of where they are and when they take them. The F200EXR uses the company’s Super CCD EXR image sensor that is quite different than most other sensors in compact digital cameras.

Compared to typical CCD-based image sensors the Super CCD EXR image sensor has a unique sub-pixel arrangement that brings each color (Red, Green, Blue) next to one another. This, according to FujiFilm doubles the sensitivity as both sub-pixels can be treated as a single sub-pixel. There is also a “Dual Capture Technology” that pairs two sub-pixels with one set to high sensitivity and the other set to low sensitivity. What this does is improve the dynamic range of the images that are captured to prevent overblown highlights and to generally improve contrast. The overall result? Low-noise images even in low light settings.

FujiFilm posted up some sample images and they generally look pretty good, but there is some fuzzy grainy feel to them, especially Sample Image 3. Impress Watch took some photos as well but most of them were taken outside where most compact digital cameras will do quite well. The F200EXR is a bit expensive at $399.95 for a compact digital camera but a lot cheaper compared to what you’ll need to invest in to get much better pictures without using flash in low-light environments.

The House of Representatives voted 264-158 to delay the shutdown of analog television broadcasts by four months to June 12, 2009 after a month-long debate. The original plan was to end analog broadcasts on February 17. This will give more time for Americans to either upgrade their old analog TV sets or get a digital tuner box. President Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill. The current economic stimulus package includes up to US$650 million in financing for coupons to make the transition easier from analog to digital.

Millions of US households are still stuck with analog TVs and are not yet ready to receive digital-only broadcasts. Nielsen estimated the unprepared to be around 6.5 million households. In this economy, purchasing a brand new digital TV might be too much of a financial burden to many; a digital tuner box might be the cheaper and simpler option since all you have to do is connect it to your analog TV.

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Samsung Memoir SGH-t929 Specifications

Display: Touch
Camera: 8MP, 16x Digital Zoom, Xenon Flash
Connectivity: GPS, Bluetooth, 3G
Storage: microSD
Audio Support: MP3
Video Support: MPEG4
Availability: February 2009 

On February 5, 2009, Samsung and T-Mobile announced the upcoming availability of the Samsung Memoir smartphone. The model name is SGH-t929. The Memoir will be exclusively available from T-Mobile. The Memoir sports a full touch-screen LCD and incorporates an 8MP camera. The camera features a Xenon flash and a 16x digital zoom (used to not mean much but with the advent of NEC’s super resolution technology, digital zoom can be a powerful technology in the future). After taking 8MP pictures you can upload it directly to Flickr, Kodak Gallery, Photobucket and Snapfish using 3G connectivity.

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DisplaySearch just published its PriceWise report detailing LCD panel price trends. There were no changes for LCD panel prices geared for notebook PCs and LCD TVs. LCD monitor panels, on the other hand, experienced small increases. For instance:

• 19″ 1440 x 900 LCD panels increased $2 to $62 (typical) in February.
• 20″ 1680 x 1050 increased $2 to $70
• 22″ 1680 x 1050 increased $2 to $86

Why are LCD panel prices increasing? LCD manufacturers have significantly reduced production to minimize losses due to panel prices reaching or falling below the marginal cost of manufacturing LCDs. So supply is limited even though demand is still quite low. As long as LCD manufacturers continue to keep production levels low, LCD prices can continue to increase. And that means LCD monitor set prices might be on the rise. And… that means if you’re in the market for a LCD monitor or two, you should get them while they are still incredibly affordable.

Source: DisplaySearch

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