Samsung Develops a Transparent OLED Laptop Screen 148
Dyne09 writes "The Design blog has posted an entry on Samsung's new laptop with a transparent OLED screen. The photos show a dark-tinted and dimly-lit screen that is fully see-through. While the utility of a see-through laptop probably isn't that high for the average user, several medical and industrial industries could greatly augment design work or frame 3-D models over real life in real-time."
Transparent OLED isn't new (Score:3, Informative)
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Ian McKellen (Number 2) had a laptop with a see-through screen in AMC's version of The Prisoner.
I only remember it from one scene; I am unsure in which of the six episodes (no pun intended) it appeared.
It looked cool, and I've wanted one ever since.
Apparently, I can now get one.
However, I am sure that it won't be a slick as Number 2's.
HOLD IT! (Score:2)
You watch All My Children!?
Dude...
1995 calling... (Score:5, Informative)
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Tablet technology? (Score:3, Interesting)
Realistic Uses (Score:4, Interesting)
I had two ideas come to mind on ways to use this technology (laptop screens don't really seem like a killer feature).
- Glasses. It would be great to get a screen on the lenses of my sunglasses, most of the time they'd be clear like normal, but info could pop up throughout the day as needed. Or I could sit back and watch a video, and just turn it off if I needed to see something.
- 3D Displays. If one would take many layers of this together, it would be possible to create a 3D display a couple inches deep that would be able to be viewed without any need for glasses. It would be quite limited to the amount of depth available, but even a small amount could be revolutionary.
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Uh? Move your face next to your screen as close as you wear sunglasses. Do you see anything? Your eyes just can't focus on a screen this close. For this to work you need retinal projection, not a screen.
Re:Realistic Uses (Score:4, Funny)
Do I see anything? Yes, I'm THAT damned nearsighted, you insensitive clod!
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You noticed the depth of those head-mounted displays? Needed due to all the optics focussing the image into your eyeball (because you're eyes can't manage it due to aforementioned closeness).
Defeats the purpose (Score:2)
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In theory one could predistort the image on the screen in such a way as to appear correct when focusing further away, right? In practice that may not be feasible, but I believe theory supports that.
If such technology could be mastered thing of the advantages. Simple heads-up display style AR would be trivial, as would non-movement synchronized 3D projections. (By adding a polarizing layer (good sunglasses should probably already have that) and a liquid crystal layer, one could even allow blacking out the re
Light rays have a direction (Score:2)
In theory one could predistort the image on the screen in such a way as to appear correct when focusing further away, right?
Wrong. Nice try but light rays have a direction as well which will be lacking if you simply reproduce an image on an OLED screen and so they will not be bend in the same way by a lens. If you have a screen which can control both the direction and intensity of light from each pixel then you could make a very nice 3D display.
How about a tablet/laptop (Score:5, Interesting)
How about using this on a hybrid laptop/tablet? Instead of having an mechanical swivel for the screen that can break, just have a transparent screen like this. Open it up and it's a laptop. Shut the laptop and the screen mirrors so it's a tablet now. This is assuming you could get the outside (or back of) the screen to have touch capabilities.
-John
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If prices continue to drop, the same thing could be implemented using two screens (I guess the exterior screen would have other semi-useful applications when the laptop was open).
Personally, I think thin and cheap are a much bigger deal for OLEDs than semi-transparency.
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I guess that's fine if you like looking at the keyboard behind your screen, and whatever is behind you when in laptop mode.
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good idea. I don' know if a screen can be transparent and touch-enabled at the same time though ?
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This isn't good for glasses. First problem is the focus issue as another person mentioned, but also the fact that everyone else would be able to see what is being displayed. Do you really want your girlfriend to know you only knew it was her birthday because of the reminder that flashed on your glasses?
Displays that project onto semi-reflective glasses are better on both counts.
also (Score:3, Insightful)
Car windows, particularly the windshield.
yep (Score:4, Funny)
Heads-up display, much like the system used in Cadillacs.
http://cars.about.com/od/cadillac/ig/2008-Cadillac-STS-gallery/2008-Cadillac-STS-HUD.htm [about.com]
viewing a map with turn by turn superimposed over the windshield would be killer app
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I'm not sure if that came out the way you intended...
Or maybe it did.
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That's a great idea. Adding an information display to something that needs to be transparent, like a car windshield, seems like a much better application than making something transparent that shouldn't be, like a laptop screen. I'm surprised Samsung didn't learn anything from the public's reaction to transparent GUI windows. They're kind of cool as a novelty for about 5 minutes, but nobody really wants to use them.
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A police car could see the status of cars as they drive past (speeding / stolen).
or a radar like in Grand Theft Auto?
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Considering that it's a brand-new product, the fact that it's already been successfully produced with 40% transparency means it's likely going to be improved significantly through further development. I fully expect the technology, or one very like it, to eventually see use in car windshields.
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Right. You're adding an old school LCD "panel" (like the one used in 1980's digital watches) behind the OLED display to control light transmission (transparency). I doubt flexibility is important in a medical situation or laptop.
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My old Casio from the 80's had an incandescent bulb for a backlight. Probably half a watt if that. I don't think LEDs became cheap enough to put in low end watches until the mid-90s; in either case that indiglo(w?) electroluminecent stuff was a better backlight anyways. I never saw a white or blue LED in a sub-$100 watch until after 2000
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A few threads above the problem of focusing optics is mentioned. If you have optics to focus your eye on the screen, you cannot see normally. If the point is simply to have 3D glasses, how is this any different than what we have now?
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Glasses. It would be great to get a screen on the lenses of my sunglasses, most of the time they'd be clear like normal, but info could pop up throughout the day as needed. Or I could sit back and watch a video, and just turn it off if I needed to see something.
The problem is that the glasses are so close to your eye that you wouldn't be able to focus on anything displayed on them, and even if you could, the rest of the world would be out of focus as you shifted your focal length so close to your eyes.
VR
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OLEDs are direct emission, they are not an LCD technology.
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Substitute sunglasses with motorcycle helmet.
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The only realistic use that I can think of is finally building a working version of Ed's computer from Cowboy Bebop. http://imgur.com/5SpiR [imgur.com]
And trust me, I've had the SketchUp diagrams for 3 years, waiting for this.
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- Glasses
- 3D Displays
Next: stack them together and wear them as glasses
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cool, absolutely. but... (Score:1, Funny)
there certainly is some geek coolness in having a transparent display on a laptop, although I question the usefulness of it; particularly when one is playing back pr0n on said laptop.
Re:cool, absolutely. but... (Score:4, Funny)
If you have a gf with a pretty face but an ugly body...
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And thus the term Butter Body was born
Absolutely. but...the necessity lies elsewhere (Score:2)
Yes I am talking about beer mugs. Make her look pretty even before finishing your first drink...
Cool for display pieces (Score:2)
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Yeah, CSI is going to be able to save some on their special effects budget. Other than that, it's kind of tough to think of an actual application. The summary makes some pretty fuzzy suggestions, but they don't really seem realistic.
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Or they'll switch to using opaque screens, which will be the new hotness.
Focus and line of sight (Score:2)
I can't see much use for an overlay unless there is a fixed viewpoint or the display is only used for information that does not need to be synced with what is behind it. Move your head a few centimeters and it'd throw it all askew.
The other problem I see with this, as someone mentioned glasses is the focal distance. The heads up displays and wearable computers, etc, that I've seen used mirrors and optics to achieve a further distance than trying to focus on the lens of your glasses.
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That's impressive!
Unfortunately it only applies to one person and must still be some distance away. While the head tracking and perspective changes shown can certainly be applied to some products, it's still very limited imo. This screen is transparent and I wonder about the possible applications as you can't set the focal distance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accommodation_(eye) [wikipedia.org] A young eye apparently takes 350ms to refocus, I can't say I'd want to use something like this even with head tracking for an
In Soviet Russia (Score:1)
screen watches you
-1 Cliche
Cool tech, all they need to do... (Score:2)
Or
Like a few others suggested; Stick it in a high end luxuary car's windscreen, no need for the driver to move his eyes from the road to see readouts.
(Obligitory M$ joke follows!) Just don't let the car windscreen run windows or the phrase "Blue screen of death" might take on a more perminent meaning.... ^_^
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Like a few others suggested; Stick it in a high end luxuary car's windscreen, no need for the driver to move his eyes from the road to see readouts.
I don't that would work very well. Current HUDs [wikipedia.org] use an optical system to allow the generate imagery to be focused at infinity, that way the pilot/driver doesn't have to refocus between the outside world and the generated image.
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Except that they won't. Head up displays have to be in focus when your eyes are focussed on the terrain ahead. If you have to refocus your eyes to the windscreen to see the display, it'll probably be distracting more than anything.
It's not transparent! (Score:1, Informative)
It's translucent. It if were transparent then it would be clear, instead it's like a dark tinted piece of glass which isn't that easy to see through if you ask me.
Re:It's not transparent! (Score:4, Informative)
It's translucent. It if were transparent then it would be clear, instead it's like a dark tinted piece of glass which isn't that easy to see through if you ask me.
No, translucency prevents seeing details through the medium, such as the glass you'd use in a bathroom window which allows light to pass through but scatters the photons preventing seeing detail. Transparency is a sliding scale, which can allow various levels of light through or even only certain wavelengths (colors) from 100% clear transparent to nearly opaque.
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It if were transparent then it would be clear
Transparent means the objects behind the glass are in focus, which they are in this case.
The amount of light the glass lets through is a separate consideration from the transparency/translucency distinction.
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And that property is called "opacity"
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It's translucent. It if were transparent then it would be clear, instead it's like a dark tinted piece of glass which isn't that easy to see through if you ask me.
It was supposed to be transparent, but if you look at the demo you'll see they're running Windows - Internet Explorer doesn't correctly handle opacity.
Yes, it's a CSS joke about a CES product...
Avatar (Score:2)
Looks like screens in Avatar!
Nook2 (Score:4, Interesting)
Instead of having LED below the e-ink, put it on top of the e-ink. With no current applied to either, you see the e-ink. When you need to use the faster more colorful tech, make the e-ink whitish and turn on the OLED.
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It is too dim to have a purely reflective technology at the back. The OLED is only 40% transparent, any light bouncing off the e-ink has to pass through the OLED twice (once from the light source to the e-ink, and once form the e-ink to the viewer). At the end you only have 16% of the light being reflected, minus whatever the e-ink absorbs. The reflections of the top of the OLED will be brighter than the displayed information from the e-ink.
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Whyever not? Nintendo did it for the original Game Boy Advance.... oh yeah.
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It's only 40% transparent - the effect would be to render the e-ink unreadable (or near unreadable). While I think it's fantastically cool, I can't think of a single good use for the technology. I can think of a couple of bad ones:
Make it a touch screen, and put it on the door of your microwave oven - now you don't need the panel to the side... still need to put that volume somewhere (that's where the "guts of the microwave are").
Did I say a couple? I meant one - really weak idea. But yeah it's cool.
For a l
Great!!! (Score:2)
How about as an overlayed screen on e-reader? (Score:1)
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Reflow.
(PDF has added support for reflow, but most pdf production is done with a fixed size in mind.)
"Pay attention to me!" (Score:2)
Samsung's new laptop with a transparent OLED screen
And there was much feline rejoicing.
However, on the issue of privacy, can people on the other side of the screen also see what you have displayed?
Then again, could it be also be used as a tablet without having to flip the screen?
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I guess you could make a oneway mirror... but really, WHY?!
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I guess. Probably still be a lot harder to read though... Still seems like a transparent display isn't very practical, even if it is cool.
Two thoughts. . . (Score:3, Interesting)
This could change the game for small tablets; you could hold the tablet on either side and use your fingers behind the screen to manipulate images without obstructing your view of them.
I've seen variations of such a solution which artificially create a 'finger' effect through graphics with the touch pad on the back of the device, but this would be the real thing.
Interesting.
Also. . .
People are obviously worried about the privacy factor of see-through computer screens, but I could see this being considered a huge plus in the evil corporate work environment; the drones would only be allowed to use laptops where the backside is a window to the front. A lot less Facebook and Farmville would eat into company time that way. Or at least, this may be how the pointy-haired dictator might think when placing bulk-orders for laptops.
-FL
Car Windshield possibilities (Score:1)
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lots of possibilities. displays mounted sunglasses are out, but displays on windows, windshields, helmet visors, etc are all possible. Imagine if your windows had a temperature reading in the corner. People would like that sort of thing. Heck why not make a whole window an interactive display of some sort (just no touchscreen please).
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You might not like it so much when it started to get dark and you effectively couldn't take off your sunglasses.
Minority Report? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you combine this with Wii-type motion control, I think you have the photo/video system from Minority Report.
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Very short?!
First and Largest? (Score:2)
"Samsung presents world's first and largest transparent OLED laptop at CES"
If it's the world's first, it's just as much the world's largest as the world's smallest transparent OLED laptop, as well as the brightest and most-dim, the sharpest and most-blurry, etc...
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(1) This is the world's first transparent OLED laptop.
(2) This is the world's largest transparent OLED laptop.
If interpreted that way, it makes sense.
yo dawg... (Score:3, Funny)
I heard you like windows so I made a window that you can display windows with while running windows, so you can have windows in your window.
Automatic window tinting (Score:2)
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Photoelectrochromic windows and the like have been around for quite awhile. Using OLED's for that effect would be pointless IMO. Wrong tool for the job.
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Hrmmm... New idea! If these can be put on a flexible transparent screen, programmable t-shirts! Create and upload your own graphics! Even animations! Next step, programmable, & touch-interactive clothing...
Its all fun and games until... (Score:2, Funny)
MRI/CAT scanners (Score:2)
A great application would be for medical ultra-sound visualisation. The latest scanners can generate 3D surfaces which can be viewed on a monitor. There was some experimentation with combining LCD screens with mirrors so that a cross-section view from the sensor could be superimposed on top of the location of the actual sensor.
Imagine if a doctor could slide this screen around a patient and motion sensors could pick up the location of the screen and transform the data from a MRI/CAT scan into a matching pro
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Some research with VR googles was done eight years ago:
Ultrasound augmented reality [unc.edu] Wired had an article just last year [wired.com]
Total Recall had a giant screen that did an X-ray to just the bones of the person plus metal objects. The latest volume visualization techniques will map all the muscles and major blood vessels, as well as synovial joints.
We all know the first profitable use will be... (Score:5, Insightful)
Porn.
What we really need this for: (Score:2)
Augmented reality glasses!
Mark my words! :)
Transparent screens are old news... (Score:2)
Back when overhead projectors were the dominant method of displaying information before a large audience (y'know the ones you put clear sheets of plastic on and wrote with a marker), before powerpoint and before projectors that connected to your VGA port. IBM came out with the Thinkpad 755CV [findarticles.com] in which you could remove the backcover of the screen and then place the screen over the light on your overhead projector.
Old news, been out for years (Score:2)
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You do realize that most of those are photography tricks where someone has set their desktop backgrounds to be a photo of the background and taken the a picture from just the right angle?
Advertising (Score:2, Insightful)
They'll wind up using this for advertising. Instead of regular "dumb" windows in stores they will all be "smart windows" with changeable ads, visible from both sides of the glass.
Beware of using with compiz. (Score:2)
Sean
Video Conferencing (Score:2)
One good use that could result from a technology like this would be screen-embedded cameras for video conferencing.
Anyone who has ever VC-ed with someone before knows that the experience is severely lacking for one important reason: eye contact. Even with a modern built-in camera just a half inch above the screen, it is obvious that the person you are talking to you is looking at their screen and not you. In my opinion, this is show stopper, and it really makes the experience no better than a phone conversa
Augmented Reality (Score:2)
This would be awesome for augmented reality in a hand held device. If you could make it so you could look through it to your surroundings, and overlay useful information. The tricky part would be tracking where the user's eyes were relative to the device so you could properly position the overlay.
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You are right, this is the future. Right now we are still struggling with this old concept of sending the data trough the network. It would be much more awesome to stay in front of a screen all the time and occasionally walk to the other computer bringing some data with you. This will absolutely solve the obesity problem. Genius!
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It's because they ran out of IP addresses and had to use NAT which prevented them from being able to initiate network connections.
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It seems to work in the given context. Also it sets up a physical audit trail, and makes it hard to over-distribute sensitive information. Sometimes design is about making it unobtrusively hard to do certain things.
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There doesn't seem to be a great deal of control over the actual transparency. It seems that fully white pixels are as opaque as can be whilst fully black are transparent.
It is more likely that all pixels are equally transparent, irrespective of their intensity. It is just that for bright pixels, the emitted ligth is much brighter than the background, so you see the display content, not the background image
visible brightness = emitted light + 0.4 * background
If the emitted light is 0, you just see a dim version of the background. If the emitted light is really bright, it dominates the background to the point where you can't see the background at all.