LAS VEGAS — Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. are showing off 55-inch TV sets that use organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, instead of plasma or liquid crystals.
The TVs were unveiled this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show, an annual showcase in Las Vegas for the latest smartphones, tablet computers and other consumer-electronic devices.
It’s the first time in years we’re seeing a new screen technology for TVs. OLED screens can be extremely thin. LG’s set is just 4 millimeters thick. That’s one-sixth of an inch. The picture quality is stunning too, because OLED TVs can present highly saturated colors and a nearly perfect black.
The screen technology is in use in high-end smartphones, but it has been very difficult to make larger screens with consistent results. In 2007, Sony Corp. started selling an 11-inch OLED TV for about $2,500, but it never followed it up with a bigger model. Since then, LG and Samsung have shown prototype OLED TVs at the annual CES show, but hadn’t revealed any marketing plans until this week. Samsung and LG expect the sets to cost more than $5,000 each. LG said fourth quarter of this year, tentatively. Samsung only said “this year.”
Other highlights:
Nintendo Co.’s upcoming Wii U game console will come with a controller that has a big, touch-enabled screen. At first glance, that seems like an obstacle to the kind of casual multiplayer gaming that made the first Wii console such a breakout hit.
But in demonstrations Tuesday, the company emphasized that the Wii U will work with the cheaper, stick-like Wii controllers as well, making family multiplayer games feasible.
AT&T on Monday said it will sell a Nokia smartphone running Microsoft’s Windows Phone software. The device represents Nokia and Microsoft’s best chance yet to break Apple and Google’s hold on the U.S. smartphone market, the world’s most lucrative.
Satellite broadcaster Dish Network Corp. on Monday said it’s launching a high-powered set-top box that can act as the central TV recorder for the whole home. The “Hopper” box can record six shows simultaneously, and its recordings can be accessed from smaller boxes, called “Joeys,” that can be distributed around the house.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.