Yesterday, LG showed Sin City what it’s calling the world’s first curved OLED TV (though others would dispute that claim). The television has a gentle inward flex, meant to ensure that a user facing it directly is equidistant from the entire viewing surface. The curved design also supports full CINEMA 3D, and steps up the immersion factor on standard 2D programming. The goal is to create the illusion that you’re being enveloped by your entertainment, as the screen seems to reach around you in effort to draw you in.
In addition to the screen flex, LG’s TV utilizes a four-color WRGB pixel system, which adds a white sub-pixel to help optimize the traditional RGB setup. Like other OLEDs, this unit is said to shine in terms of contrast ratio, maintaining sharp, distinct colors, and deep black levels, regardless of ambient light. OLED TVs are also helping make displays thinner and thinner, as their ability to provide their own light eliminates the need for a separate backlight.
This is an interesting technology and one that many feel will revolutionize mobile phone displays before it revolutionizes your television. It could also prove a windfall for advertisers, who could use flexible screens to place video ads on curved surfaces.
LG’s curved OLEDs remain in prototype phase, so there’s no word on pricing or availability, but ultra-thin, bendable displays certainly fit in the flying-car-filled future promised by your favorite sci-fi films.
