Two of the world"s biggest flat-panel display makers, Sony Corporation and LG.Philips LCD Company Limited, unveiled flexible full-color displays at a display industry show in California this week. Sony took the wraps off its prototype and released an impressive video showing the display being bent to form a semi-circle while still displaying a moving video image. The 2.5-inch display has a mere resolution of 160 pixels by 120 pixels. The screen from LG.Philips LCD is larger at 4 inches in diagonal width and has a higher resolution of 320 pixels by 240 pixels. LG.Philips LCD released a photo that showed the display curved at a slight angle.
The Sony and LG.Philips screens are made on thin sheets of plastic and metal respectively which allows them to be bent but also introduces a range of other problems such as keeping everything aligned and working while the panel is flexed. Indeed the video of Sony"s prototype showed several bad pixels and other problems. Neither company has said when it thinks the displays will be ready to go on sale. Sony sees OLED technology as important for its future products and is putting a lot of research and development resources behind screens like that unveiled this week. The screens are different from today"s LCD and PDP screens in that OLED pixels use an organic material that emits its own light, so no backlight is needed meaning the screens can consume less power and can be made thinner. OLEDs also handle fast-moving images better and offer good color reproduction.