OLED= Organic Light-Emitting Diodes
This technology is currently in prototype TV wise. Essentially its characteristics that define it from the norm of plasma and LCD is that it creates its own light, meaning it does not need a backlight like plasma tv's do. Which as a result increases its contrast ratio 100 fold from the best of LCD displays commercially available. It can be easily viewed from all angles and in bright sunlight, with greatly improved picture quality.
Another remarkable feature is its thickness, the display itself can be as thin as 3mm, paper thin to be more spefic. This brings brand new areas for TV production. TV"s can be part of your clothing, a wall decoration, a page in your book, as scroll, or essentially a TV itself (and a high picture quality one that is). People may think this is more fragile than a snowflake, however that is not the case. Protected by sturdy plastic, it can literally be bent to a 40* angle and yet produce a vibrant image. It can be viewed from all angles and has a framerate response of 0.01ms (1000 times faster than a normal plasma TV).
However there are certain drawbacks, the most notable is its lifespan. So far in prototypes lasting a mere 5,000 hours (or 20,000 in PHOLEDs), lower than plasma tv's. And moisture can damage the organic display which may lead manufactures in sealing, leading to less flexibility and longevity.
You may be thinking, 'my god, this will take a HUGE chunk out of my bank account!'. However this is not the case, they are cheap. Cheaper than LCD displays of iits size, as manufacturing costs are not that expensive. Keep an eye out for this technology in 2009, when its predictively available to the general market.
Video Examples:
Dimensions:
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-z_Kq_2aiI&NR=1[/MEDIA]
Flexibility:
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7QbQugXy1A[/MEDIA]
Linear Mode
