Please hammer, don't hurt Samsung's flexible OLED prototype (video)

Surely by now you've seen pictures or videos of flexible OLEDs -- many from Samsung. Did you ever wonder just how durable the things are? The video after the break should answer that question. In it, one of the Hammer Bros. from the Super Mario games, apparently frustrated about Polyphony Digital's endless delays, is attempting to destroy a screen looping a Gran Turismo 5 clip. A traditional LCD shatters like so much porcelain, while the 2.8-inch, 20 micrometer thick OLED display is completely unaffected, even when folded. Impressive, and apparently just the thing to wear when exploring the Mushroom Kingdom.

[oringal Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:16AM]

this need to come out now!!! not later

[runner50783 Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:33AM]

Yeah, but Apple insider says they are no good for outdoors use!!! Don't believe the videos and hype (just been sarcastic)

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 16th 2009 9:06AM]

The song in the background ftw.

Afterschool.

[DAZA Posted Oct 16th 2009 9:36AM]

Is the background sound really singing.. AMOLED over and over?

[Bryce Posted Oct 16th 2009 9:49AM]

its some korean song but yea it does sound like it!

[hellodeibu Posted Oct 16th 2009 11:30AM]

They have a bunch of those songs that they use for ads. There are a couple of phones out already with these AMOLED displays. One ad in particular can be seen often in the cinema here before a movie starts. It's too bad the screens end up being used in a situation where you can't bend them anymore.. Hope they soon come out with this fold-open phone that is just one gigantic screen. Go 16:4 aspect ratio, go! :D

[One Love Posted Oct 16th 2009 11:52AM]

I know what i want to do, "Afterschool".

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 16th 2009 2:08PM]

Can those be surgically implanted into the forehead?......Because mine would be on a 24-hour loop of highly-tuned japanese sportscars on a racetrack while european dnace music was playing.

[xavierpr14 Posted Oct 19th 2009 1:49AM]

AAAMOLEEEED AMOLE MOLE MOLE AAAAMOLEEEED

A A A MO MO MO MO LED LED LED!

Awesome Technology BTW.

[Rod Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:18AM]

If only they could make them last longer before they start to degrade.

[jon Posted Oct 16th 2009 11:28AM]

OK, this needs to die along with the plasma burn in nonsense.

With the newest OLEDs, even the blue elements(historically the shortest lived) are lasting 10 of thousands of hours.

I understand that people have LCDs to sell, but OLED is just better.
Live with it.

[Plothole Posted Oct 16th 2009 6:29PM]

@Jon

Better than a transmissive LCD for sure. However outdoors a reflective or transflective LCD still has a advantage, since the only way to make an OLED, which is 100% emissive, visible in sunlight is by increasing its brightness. Using more power and shortening the lifespan of the display.

[Rattle Posted Oct 16th 2009 9:53PM]

Ok so which is more likely to happen; the need to replace your screen because the LCD has cracked or replace it because it has gone through it's lifespan and the display starts to degrade?

In mobile devices, as opposed to large panels for TVs etc, it's going to be cheaper to replace them and companies won't have to deal with replacing cracked screens that happens oh to easily on today's electronics.

Well done to Samsung for pushing new technology, I hope we can see this soon.

[JViz Posted Oct 18th 2009 6:52PM]

@jon
How long they last is not as important as the half-life of the intensity.
Even if the blue still works, how long till it's at half brightness? How long till it's *noticeably* out of calibration? It /is/ a good thing that our eyes aren't as sensitive to blue as other colors, but that doesn't we won't perceive the color distortion at all. The only way to compensate is by lowering the intensity of the other colors, balancing them to the lowest common denominator.

[ietomit Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:20AM]

I'll take 20 dozen please I want to cover my windows in them

[simbr Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:20AM]

What happens if you tried to pin one to a wall? Will the whole panel stop working, parts of it, or just the area around the pin?

[Bash23 Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:23AM]

x2

[Bash23 Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:24AM]

I'll take a educated guess, I would presume it would just be the part around the pin because each pixel is being eliminated separately.

[Timmmmmm Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:29AM]

You mean illuminated? :-)

I expect it will mess up the row and column that the pin is in.

[Ioannis Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:33AM]

funny. not sure what you have in mind. As far as I know, one of the technical challenges of OLED is insulation. Avoid oxidation of the organic material. As the others said, I'm guessing the rest of it might still work, but by breaking the seal, the whole thing will probably become inoperable after awhile.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 16th 2009 3:52PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZfrFX36Hkc&feature=related

[jkenny23 Posted Oct 16th 2009 10:20PM]

A moment of silence for the pretty OLEDs killed in the name of science.

[nowhereman Posted Oct 16th 2009 10:43PM]

Nah, wed all just go 6 sec back in time and the panel would cease to be broken

[TheShredder Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:24AM]

If they make TVs out of this stuff can i stop wearing my wiimote wrist strap?

[2d546a2d Posted Oct 16th 2009 11:22AM]

Your comment made me shoot soda out my nose. Well done, sir!

[sockatume Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:25AM]

STOP

[Joeyjoejoe Shabadoo Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:34AM]

HAMMERTIME

[cashclientel Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:39AM]

hammertime.

[Eruanno Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:59AM]

Totally hammertime.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 16th 2009 10:13AM]

Collaborate and listen?

[pokes Posted Oct 16th 2009 10:44AM]

Hammertime and Ice Ice Baby mix? :-s

[reiththestud Posted Oct 16th 2009 2:18PM]

ice is back with a brand new edition

[JS Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:34AM]

The lyrics to the song in the background music from 47 seconds onward is "amoled" over and over. LOL

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:40AM]

LOL, I thought I was just hearing things but apparently not.

[Qoo Posted Oct 16th 2009 9:46AM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEWkDQI0jN4

[pokes Posted Oct 16th 2009 10:46AM]

thanks for the youtube link!

[oringal Posted Oct 16th 2009 11:05PM]

that is like the coolest ad i have ever seen !! its so catchy for some reason. aaaaaa moooo leeed aaa mmoo leeedd

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:45AM]

This is handy!
I always accidentally break the screen from my mobile with a hammer.. :|

[George Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:36AM]

Is it just me or are samsungs phones shitty when it comes to good quality, responsive touch screens?
They are unresponsive, and are laggy with their shitty 3d swipe menus that just lag like shit
iPhoneiPhoneiPhoneiPhoneiPhoneiPhoneiPhoneiPhoneiPhone

[aubreyq Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:52AM]

Your comment was pretty much on the money before you went into iPhone Tourette's.

[Ichinisan Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:42AM]

Even more cool: a related video I just watched shows a passport in credit card for
factor with a buit-in OLED that is POWERED BY THE RF READER.

[Greg F Posted Oct 16th 2009 12:31PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYMTFDydhNs

(If anyone was wondering about that particular video)

[SgtR Posted Oct 16th 2009 12:38PM]

I saw that too, it was incredible!

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 16th 2009 2:29PM]

Wow that was very cool, wonder when this will come out for everyone drivers license :p man OLED are great!

[ahm3d Posted Oct 20th 2009 6:57AM]

Leeloo Dallas Multipass FTW!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV_eGm1qgGs

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:52AM]

the sound is kind of off.....makes me wonder if this is just for show and not real test hahaha...sorry i also noticed the hammer kind of slows down when it hits the OLED

[Chico12 Posted Oct 16th 2009 9:07AM]

It could slow down because he doesn't want to put a whole threw the where ever the screen is sitting on. Or it could be totally fake let the conspiracy begin.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:53AM]

he is not even touching the screen with the hammer!!! watch closely people. this is total bs.

[Yoda Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:59AM]

You're clearly hard of sight. May I suggest an eye doctor?

[digitalspys Posted Oct 16th 2009 9:23AM]

I agree he is hitting it. However he's hardly using any force at all. If they really want to show it off they should shown how much force it would take to damage it, and I'm guessing that it's still not that much. But still, over the past 15 years I've had maybe 10 different cell phones and still don't see why you would need this type of impact resistance.