via Engadget. LG Display press release:
The panel adopts an Oxide TFT technology for backplane which is different from a Low Temperature Poly Silicon (LTPS) type generally used in existing small-sized OLED panels. The Oxide TFT type that LG Display utilizes is similar to the existing TFT process, with the simple difference lying in replacing Amorphous Silicon with Oxide. Moreover, the Oxide TFT type produces identical image quality to high performance of LTPS base panels at significantly reduced investment levels.
Compared to a-Si electron mobility is improved by a factor of up to 30x on an oxide TFT backplane. This characteristic is required to precisely control current on a large OLED display. Cost is another factor. Even if it was possible to manufacture a 55-inch LTPS backplane it would be too expensive. Oxide TFT improves performance and lowers cost.
Additionally, LG Display uses White OLED (WOLED). WOLED vertically accumulates red, green, and blue diodes. With white color light emitting from the diode, it displays screen information through color layers below the TFT base panel, which leads to a lower error rate, higher productivity, and a clearer Ultra Definition screen via the benefits of small pixels. Further, it is possible to realize identical colors in diverse angles via color information displayed through a thin layer.
I wish I knew what vertically accumulating RGB diodes means. Maybe it means there are two transparent OLED diode layers with the three primary colors accumulating toward the front of the OLED display, kind of the reverse of what a Foveon X3 image sensor does. Vertical accumulation allows small pixels and “Ultra Definition” (or QuadHD or 4K2K) meaning a pixel format of 3840×2160 or higher. And viewing angles will probably be close to 180 degrees.
Although I’m excited about the possibility of a large OLED TV with deep blacks and an impossibly thin profile (to mount on the wall of course), I’m also concerned about how long it will last. As far as I know blue diode lifetimes are still limited and unlike smartphones we exchange every two or three years we tend to keep our TVs for quite a bit longer especially one that will most likely be very expensive.
Update: LG Electronics announced its 55-inch OLED TV based on LG Display’s panel mentioned above. I’m not terribly excited about the possibility of having to be forced to replace an expensive OLED TV every few years, but here’s another reason for my dampened enthusiasm:
The 4-Color Pixels feature allows for more accurate color depiction by using a set of four colors (red, green blue and white) in comparison to the RGB setup used by other OLED TV manufacturers.
I believe that’s code for RGBW PenTile Matrix. And that means the 3840×2160 or higher pixel format isn’t exactly that either.
I don’t know the why here, but if I had to guess I would say that Apple only wants users to have an iOS experience on an iOS device. And if that is the why, then licensing doesn’t solve a damned thing.
I think Brooks is right. But that also means Microsoft doesn’t care if there’s bits and pieces of Windows Phone in Android, as long as it’s getting paid.
A few weeks ago I decided to take a look at the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) technology. I noticed a few really bad design decisions which enable an efficient brute force attack, thus effectively breaking the security of pretty much all WPS-enabled Wi-Fi routers. As all of the more recent router models come with WPS enabled by default, this affects millions of devices worldwide.
Two hours and the WiFi network you thought was secure can be compromised. In addition to possible negative health effects from a router sitting right next to you transmitting WiFi signals at maximum power, the relatively high potential for security breaches make the inconvenience of hardwired Internet connectivity at our home worthwhile.
Update: Viehbock has released his tool to brute force crack WPS.
via Stephen Hackett. The Telegraph:
Charlie Le Quesne was trying out the iPhone 4S at a Tesco store in Coventry when it told him: “Shut the f*** up, you ugly t***.”
Hilarious.
The Siri system addresses the phone’s user by name – using information entered in its contact system.
Some smart aleck told Siri "shut the f*** up you ugly t***" was his name. You wanna hear something more funny? Tesco:
We have launched an investigation. The handset will be going back to Apple for diagnostic tests.
Can’t make this stuff up.
via Business Insider. comScore outed its MobiLens report comparing the three month average ending November 2011 versus the three month average ending August 2011.
Top U.S. Smartphone Platform
No surprises here. Android and iOS are it. A mere coincidence I’m sure, but it looks like Android’s +3.1 came from RIM’s -3.1.
Top U.S. Mobile OEMs
These numbers are for all mobile phones including non-smartphones. As of November 16 Samsung sold 134 models in the U.S. On average that’s about 0.2% per phone. What is amazing to me is Apple captured 11.2% with just three.
Throughout December, customers purchased well over 1 million Kindle devices per week.
December isn’t over yet, but assuming the one million per week rate continues throughout the last week of December we’re looking at four million Kindles sold. Marco Arment counts a total of 10 Kindle models. To be the best selling Kindle out of those 10 models the sales number for the Kindle Fire for the month of December will have to be at least 400,001. David Smith estimates that number at 780,000 per week or 3.12 million for the month. I wonder why Amazon doesn’t just come out and say how many Kindle Fires it sold.
I view the Kindle Fire and the iPad as different devices and so do many people. But as tablets, they’re inevitably going to be compared. And I think it’s fair to think that many people bought one instead of the other this holiday season. With that in mind, Amazon probably wouldn’t want to release concrete numbers that get blown away by a competitor. Especially when the competitor is selling their device for $300 more.
Smith:
Assuming the sales bump the iPad got last Christmas, where sales were 75% higher than the preceding quarter, Apple may be selling as many as 1,600,000/week right now.
Maybe that’s why Amazon isn’t saying.
Apple is set to unveil its next-generation iPad — which will come in two versions — at the iWorld scheduled for January 26, 2012, according to sources at its supply chain partners. The new models will join the existing iPad 2 to demonstrate Apple’s complete iPad series targeting the entry-level, mid-range and high-end market segments, the sources claimed.
These supply chain partner sources must have had their heads buried in the sand since December 2008, when Apple announced it will be pulling out after MacWorld 2009. But maybe they know something. Maybe Apple is returning.
I checked with a number of my sources today and an iPad 3 is not planned for release at Macworld. In case you’re wondering, an iPad 3 won’t be released at CES either.
Unsurprisingly the sources at DigiTimes know crap. Apple isn’t releasing the next iPad, or anything, at iWorld. The only ones that know for sure work at Apple, but if I were to guess it’d be a press-only event in Cupertino in March.
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