Panasonic turning cellphone, gas pump into your next Plasma

We kid you not. Panasonic is working on a new low-voltage (1.5v) plasma technology which it says will rival OLED displays in brightness, thinness, and contrast. Better yet, Panasonic claims that its plasmas can be manufactured for "much less money" than OLEDs. Panny already has plans to include their new plasma displays in cellphones for use with AT&T's Mobile TV service, gas pumps, ATMs, and on HP printers under a new exclusive two-year deal. Color us impressed if the new displays look anything like the 3.5-inch, 854 x 480 pixel Viera phone instead of that anemic looking phone pictured above which accompanied the press release.

Update: Looks like this is a late, poorly-executed April Fool's joke. More here.

[Anthony @ Apr 3rd 2008 7:59AM]

lol great now we have screen wars !!


oled vs 1.5v plasma ... ehh i believe oled already this one (*hint flexable !)

[tom @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:31AM]

We can now say, my cell phone screen has "blacker" black =P

unlike all others!

[Benson @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:15AM]

You're certainly joking, but OLEDs have black black, too. The characteristic of plasmas is that, rather than emitting from the entire backlight, and blocking (99% of) the light where you want black, they only emit where you want light, and only as much light as you want. OLEDs are the same way, as are CRTs; but CRTs have a separate trouble where it's hard to turn the electron intensity completely down, because the beam scans every pixel whether you want it lit or not; OLEDs or plasmas simply don't illuminate black pixels.

[slarity @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:01AM]

Plasma + Static images of a cell phone = fail?

This doesn't sound like a good idea to me at all, I've always been so worried I even refused to buy a plasma tv, went with good ol reliable LCD and I love it.

[mushrooshi @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:36AM]

Kid to dad: "BUT THE BATTERY SEZ IT WAS FULL!"

[DeadPixel @ Apr 3rd 2008 8:42AM]

Plasma is dead, lets just move on to OLED!

[stezo2k @ Apr 3rd 2008 10:26AM]

If plasmas were so crap why are the pioneer plasmas the best TVs money can buy? i know were talking about phones but plasma is better than LCD, probably not OLED though

[slarity @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:47PM]

They are dropping Plasma's now, moving to Sharp LCD panels.

[UKNigel @ Apr 3rd 2008 11:20AM]

Lets consider for a moment which is more fun to say: Plasma or OLED. One of them is a component of fire, futuristic beam weapons, and sticky grenades. The other is an acronym with no associations to wildly exciting explosions or science fiction. You decide.

[josh @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:25PM]

quick question, with sprint i can switch between phones by calling in and they switch everything without altering my contract can you do this with verizon as well

[mike @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:55PM]

Oh boy! I can't wait to have burn-in on my cell phone's screen!

[amber @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:09PM]

A plasma screen phone?!?! Are we serious? I think the OLED would be better, but does it really matter to see things a "little" better on your 2" screen anyways?

[linusk01 @ Apr 3rd 2008 1:14PM]

i like that phone design. though i can't imagine why we need plasma screen phones.

[Christian @ Apr 3rd 2008 2:42PM]

How thick will the phones be with plasma screens? I've seen the OLED screens and they look like they can go super thin. It'd be nice if they can show a better sample though.

[NorthernPiker @ Apr 3rd 2008 3:38PM]

What about power usage compared to LCD and OLED?

[Dave @ Apr 3rd 2008 5:42PM]

yeah way to defend a technology even the premier plasma maker gave up on...lol

[Dave @ Apr 3rd 2008 5:43PM]

shit the reply button is screwed again and i dont know why...

[LindsayS @ Apr 3rd 2008 6:29PM]

Wait... I know for a fact that you cannot tilt a plasma TV very much... I sell them.. But would the same be true for a cell phone? I suppose there would be a lot less plasma, with a smaller, more sturdy frame... Still though...

[Bryan @ Apr 3rd 2008 9:05PM]

Dude! That's my phone! It looks a little better branded as a DoCoMo P902i, but yeah... I need a new one.

[waylon @ Apr 4th 2008 7:01AM]

That is a Panasonic VS7, released about 3 years ago in Asia. It actually got TFT, 16M colors (same as the iphone and N95) on its 2.5in 320 x 240 pixels display. Not too bad considering that it is 3 years old.

[David Z. @ Apr 4th 2008 1:17PM]

"We are advised by AbleComm, Inc. that journalists and other readers should disregard the news release, Panasonic To Put Plasma Video Displays in Cell Phones, issued earlier today over PR Newswire, as the entire news release is completely false."

http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/includes/contents/printable.jsp;jsessionid=3F6C4C11E9DBDC3B9A07CB9B60EFD04C.tomcat2?resourceid=3701412

Oops?