You've probably read about the fantastically futuristic OLED TV's over the last few years, and wondered when they'd ever appear, even after they kept on pushing back release dates, in order not to damage LCD/Plasma profit margins.
Now SONY has the honour of being the first manufacturer to offer the first models on our sunny shores, with the XEL-1 due to hit stores in mid-April.
What is OLED and why should I care?
OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode, which means less power and better image reproduction for you at home. OLED delivers a mix of high contrast (1,000,000:1 ratio), high peak brightness with awesome colour reproduction, and rapid response time for fast motion images and high def gaming and playback. Gamers are going to love OLED screens....eventually. But for now, they're definitely not going to love the price.
The SONY XEL-1 OLED TV
Because there is no separate backlight source, OLEDs have the benefit of being much thinner and a heck of a lot less power hungry. But that's going to cost you some big bucks overall. The XEL-1 will debut in stores for $6,999 - and it won't even be a substitute for your big screen living room plasma's or LCDs. That's almost twice as much as the best 42" LCD.
The XEL-1 will feature a 'squint' worthy 11" screen, which takes us back to the bad old days in the early 1990's when such screen sizes were the norm.
The resolution on the XEL-1 isn't anything to crow about either: just 960 x 540. Most budget priced netbooks can show more pixels than that . But that isn't the point of such a small model. It's the elegance and the incredibly sleek form factor that will probably make you want one of these before you yask 'How much!?".
At just 3mm wide, the XEL-1 is supermodel thin by TV standards. Most current model LCD's or PLASMA's are at least 10mm thick at best. Sony's XEL-1 panel consists of an organic layer of material with two thin glass panels on either side, allowing them to achieve the 3mm form factor.
There's no doubt that if you're living room has been craving a mega dose of technological elegance, then the XEL-1 delivers on that front.
Save money on power
You have to admire the XEl-1 for its power saving abilities. The XEL-1 can run on as little as 45W, enough to save you quite a bit of money on electricity bills.
Because the XEL-1 can reproduce extremely bright light flows, it's perfect for displaying images such as fireworks, sunlight or camera flashes. But, that also makes it one expensive digital picture frame. OLED's are great at showing really deep shades of black, so regardless of the resolution, the contrast ratio (1 million to 1 ) is through the roof for a TV. The XEL-1 also features two HDMI ports for Blu-Ray connectivity and a built-in TV tuner.
Should I wait or should I buy?
Definitely Wait. The 11" screen is still too small to be useful outside of looking at photos. And Blu-Ray movies on a screen this small tend to render the whole viewing experience as vastly unrewarding.
Although the TV is beautifully designed, it's just too niche at almost $7,000 to be a serious threat to current LCD screens. Prices are bound to drop too, as LED TV's (particularly from Samsung) offer decent competition for your viewing dollar.
For now, we can't imagine the XEL-1 taking off in the mainstream because of its price and size. And, it will probably take a while before manufacturers decide it's time to leverage their LCD and plasma lines in order to offer OLEDs at more competitive prices.
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| Sleek and attractive won't come cheap at $6,999 |
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| It only features an 11" screen, so don't get too excited. |