Megapost: LG's World's Thinnest TV and Optimus 7 + Some Info About OLED and WP7 (Video)

LG is usually not the first name you think of when you talk about mobile phones and televisions. But that doesn't mean that they are not trying to be ahead of the curve. At the ongoing IFA Consumer's Electronics show in Berlin, they have unveiled some new products and technology, including a prototype Windows Phone 7 and the world's thinnest OLED TV.

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World's Thinnest OLED TV (2.9mm Thick)

When you talk about thin televisions now, Samsung's LED TV or Sony's Monolith TV are the few that will pop to mind. Technology in TV sets has always been improving, from Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), to Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), to Plasma. More recently, they have evolved to Light Emitting Diode Backlit (LED) to achieve thinner displays with a high contrast ratio, of which Samsung is the forerunner.

Samsung LED Backlit TV, it's already as thin as it can get

However, there was also another technology quietly sitting in the background. It's called Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED). It offers the very good colour reproduction, the best viewing angles and highest contrast ratios among all current technologies. It is also the thinnest and is very flexible, in the literal sense of the word. Check it out in the video below.

While OLED is already in widespread use in electronics nowadays, the main drawback of it is the high price when it comes to bigger screens. Thus it hasn't been heard of in current television sets, though there were some shown by Sony a couple years back at about 5mm thick but those were only about 11" wide and cost a few thousand (wow!).

Sony's 11" OLED Display at 5mm thickness

Now LG Electronics have revealed their newest TV that uses OLED technology. It is only a prototype, unfortunately. Regardless, it is an amazing TV set to behold. It is the world's thinnest at only 2.9mm thick! You can see it in the video below. The viewing angles are just wonderful, images can be seen the moment you can see the screen. And the colours are deep and rich. No price has been put on it or whether it will go into mass production soon, but it's such a beautiful TV.

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LG Optimus 7 - A Windows Phone 7

As mentioned above, LG is not one of the first companies that comes to mind when talking about smartphones. They did try, if you remembered, with the LG Cookie and LG Arena. Ultimately, LG can make a good phone but their user interface and OS just simply do not offer a nice experience. Today, almost every new smartphone has at least a 1Ghz processor, good graphics capabilities and multitouch screen. But what sets them apart are the interfaces and operating systems. There are currently iOS, Andriod, Symbian, Meego, Windows Mobile 6.5, Blackberry OS, WebOS, Bada OS, etc, each with their own design and features.

There is a new, highly anticipated operating system, due to release later this year. That is Windows Phone 7, not to be confused with Windows Mobile OS. It is an entirely new operating system developed by Microsoft and offers a fresh new way to integrate your lifestyle into a phone. The interface is totally unlike what we've seen in iOS or Andriod. Various demo videos have surfaced on YouTube and the OS is currently looking very sleek and professional and smooth running.

Windows Phone 7. It's homescreen features "Live Tiles" which shows you important information on the go.

Many big companies have already signed on with Microsoft to bring this WP7 into the market when it is released. Among them is LG. The Optimus 7 is a prototype Windows Phone 7 that they are showcasing in IFA 2010 right now. Interestingly, Dell is also joining the smartphone industry and came up with some cool looking phones, including a Windows Phone 7 phone. You can read about it in my earlier post here.

LG Optimus 7 Phone

I am not too sure but I think Microsoft do not allow Windows Phone 7 phone makers to skin their devices, unlike Andriod, so there is not way to distinguish one WP7 phone from another. The only way is to provide native apps to their phones to enhance the experience. What LG has done instead is to make their devices work with one another. For example, this LG Optimus 7 allows you to stream photos and videos from the phone to a pair LG TV via DLNA wireless technology. It is not really a new thing but LG has made it more fun by introducing "flicking" gestures. You can view the photos on the phone and if you like what you see and want to share with everyone in the room on a big screen TV, simply flick the photo off the screen to the TV and the TV will display the photo. Pretty neat huh? It can also be done with videos and looks really interesting. Check the two videos below to see it in action.





Technology-wise, LG Electronics has shown that they are not too far behind in the smartphones and television race. They have shown some innovative ideas and will not be overshadowed by the larger companies like Samsung.