Need a reason to pack your bags and head out west to Los Angeles for the Society of Information Display conference (affectionately called "SID") next week? How about a new circular or elliptical shaped LCD that finally breaks the right angle bounds of the world’s most versatile display?

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

LG said they developed a 6-inch oval-shaped LCD panel and a 1.4-inch circular shaped display for applications like in-dash car mounting, and the technology is going to challenge some long held concepts about LCDs.

For one, the industry is used to measuring display size in the diagonal. But one look at the LG specs on the device size and we’re not in Kansas anymore. The 6-inch oval LCD is 78.8mm in height, 131.4mm in central length, while the 1.4 inch circular LCD has a circumference of 35.5mm. Then there is the pesky display interface. Look at your monitor, everything is in right angles-so the whole UI is going to need a makeover if this kind of display is to catch on.

Passé you may retort, round LCDs were shown last year by Toshiba at FPD, demonstrating several possible usage scenarios including mobile phones that looked more like a cosmetic compact case.

OK, how about Samsung’s latest 15-inch Blue Phase Mode LC Display? This liquid crystal display is said to offer more naturally moving images with an image-driving speed of 240 Hertz reaching this "super high speed …without any additional circuits."

The company said the Blue Phase Mode does not require liquid crystal alignment layers, unlike today’s most widely used LCD modes such as in-plane switching or vertical alignment, while eliminating the need for any mechanical alignment and rubbing processes. It does have a self-lighting function so that the technology enables differentiating reflection angles when light passes through. Kim Yoo-chul of the Korea Times reported that Samsung would showcase a commercially viable prototype at SID.

The company is committed to the technology. "We will begin mass-producing the product in 2011," Souk Jun-hyung, the chief of Samsung Electronics’ Display R&D Center said Wednesday in the Korea Times article.

Finally, there’s the recently announced SID Display awards. Winners include the Display Component of the Year Gold Award going to Luminus Device’s PhlatLight LED Backlight Unit, which also won the Insight Media Best-Buzz award at CES in January. Other SID winners include the Display Device of the Year Gold Award going to Sony Corp. for the XEL-1 OLED TV and the Display Application of the Year Gold Award to Apple Inc. for the iPhone.

But beyond the unique and exotic, like the circular LCDs, we expect this to be a banner year for displays and display technology as details of manufacturing breakthroughs like the Samsung Blue Phase LCD are revealed in the conference sessions. For instance, the Sony OLED display device of the year, gold award winner is only an 11-inch display, not really even a viable monitor, selling for over $2400 as a TV. To get into the consumer’s living room they have a long way to go. And we expect to see progress from not just Sony and Samsung, but the entire OLED ecosystem including Kodak, DuPont, Universal Display, and even OLED roll printing announced by General Electric.

Worth the trip to LA? Absolutely, and I hope to see you there. -Steve Sechrist

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