LG unveils paper-thin 55-inch OLED TV that sticks to the wall with magnets

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in hardware on (#9MT0)
story imageLG Display showed off the scintillating possibilities of OLED technology last year with a rollable 22-inch OLED display. Now, the company has unveiled a detachable 55-inch display that you can literally stick to a wall using nothing more than a magnet.

OLED displays differ from LED-lit LCD displays as they don't need a backlight to brighten up your living room, which not only allows the displays to offer unparalleled black levels, rich colors, and vivid contrast, but also allows OLED displays to be remarkably thin. The design gets even thinner when you remove the brains of the TV from the equation.

LG unveiled its first commercially viable OLED TV last year in the EC9300 HDTV ($3,500), and has continued to ramp up production, unveiling several new models for 2015, all of which will pack 4K UHD resolution. The company did say that it expects to sell 600,000 OLED panels this year, and 1.5 million next year. Just when (or if) the rest of us will get our hands on one of those futuristic, ultra-thin OLED displays that can be peeled off the wall with ease remains to be seen.
Reply 7 comments

Interesting, but... lifespan? (Score: 2, Informative)

by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2015-05-24 09:41 (#9N65)

Initially this was the biggest problem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED#Disadvantages

Seems to be solved, but in an article for an expensive product like this, I'd still like to read some numbers.

Re: Interesting, but... lifespan? (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-05-24 12:59 (#9NEC)

Plus, once devices start becoming so light and thin I'd start worrying that the tension and weight of the power cord might pull the damn thing off the wall.

Of course, if you ever look at the advertising of these ultra-light products, you'll notice they do everything they can to hide the fact that it even needs an unsightly power cord at all.

Re: Interesting, but... lifespan? (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-05-24 22:47 (#9P6Q)

Probably a duct in the wall directly behind it for the power, HDMI and other cables. Power cable weight isn't a problem - just hook it in when putting in the cabling kit.

Re: Interesting, but... lifespan? (Score: 1)

by reziac@pipedot.org on 2015-05-24 19:50 (#9P0J)

Doesn't look solved to me. Rather, looks like it's solved good enough for devices that are seen as more or less disposable, like cellphones and tablets.

Re: Interesting, but... lifespan? (Score: 4, Interesting)

by tanuki64@pipedot.org on 2015-05-24 23:20 (#9P7Y)

62,000 hrs for blue OLEDs. Means 7 years 24/7 running. Means solved for my use cases. My TVs don't come even close to 24/7 runtime. If the OLEDs don't degrade when switched off, I expect a lifespan of at least 20-30 years for my devices. I never had a TV that long.

Sounds easy to install (Score: 2, Interesting)

by bryan@pipedot.org on 2015-05-25 01:33 (#9PC2)

After installing a number of HDTVs to the wall with complex (and expensive) mounting brackets, a simple magnet mounting mechanism sounds like a dramatic improvement. Just mount an iron plate (or a few smaller plates) to the wall and then the TV just sticks in place.

Although the panel in the picture is certainly flexible, it doesn't look flexible enough to roll up into a tube. Imagine how much cheaper shipping would be if your new "giant" TV came in a slender tube instead of a large rectangular box that needed 2 people to pick up.

Reactive Camoflage Cloaking Devices (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-05-28 23:05 (#9Z7R)

Maybe not wearable cloaking devices, but certainly vehicle-mounted cloaking panels, and man-portable cloaking tents.

Even if the image display is one-sided, this enables all sorts of cool stuff.