Samsung's transparent OLED laptop could hit retail, IceTouch PMP will get the ball rolling

So um, remember this crazy 14-inch transparent OLED display Samsung was showing off perched atop a laptop at CES? Yea, that might be in the shops within the next 12 months. If that doesn't get you tingling with excitement, we don't know what will. Samsung will start its big push toward translucency with the IceTouch PMP, which we found to have a gorgeous 2-inch display in our earlier hands-on, but it's already working away in the labs on turning the prototype above into a concrete retail product. The IceTouch is slated to make its US arrival early in the first half of this year, priced at around $332. European availability is as yet unconfirmed, but the Korean's company is being very ambitious about its technology, suggesting that windscreen-mounted SatNav units could be next on the agenda and ruling nothing out as it strives to bring its transparent AMOLED displays into the mainstream.

[king_electric_warmonger Posted Feb 5th 2010 1:27PM]

i don't see the purpose of this product. should stay put as an R&D showcase, and only ell a few hundred to keep some value to it.


other than that, not too practical.

[RandomGuy Posted Feb 5th 2010 1:35PM]

It would be cool, if and only of, there was an LCD blackout layer behind the OLED scree. That way you could instantly turn on a Black background for privacy and/or contrast. Basically turn it into a regular Black Background OLED screen. It would undoubtedly add thickness to the screen, but would a simple and inexpensive solution to avoid having to deal with an always transparent screen.

[TonyRockyHorror Posted Feb 5th 2010 2:21PM]

stick a couple small ones in some Wayfarer frames and you've got me sold.

[erikreinertsen Posted Feb 5th 2010 2:23PM]

I can't wait to have touchscreen computing on my shower door. You folks remember the setup in Iron Man? We're another inch closer to that.

[Sirloganthestud Posted Feb 5th 2010 2:40PM]

I think that it should come with the option to be transparent when you want, and act like a regular panel when you want. Maybe even just having a cover on the back that can be removed or flipped to allow transparency when wanted. That would be something I would pay for.

[NoSarcasmInText Posted Feb 6th 2010 7:25AM]

@Sirloganthestud

More than likely (blindly hoping) the transparency of the screen will be a setting. Hopefully you'll be able to toggle it on/off within a control panel.

Electronic privacy glass has existed for a while. It doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility for the manufacturers to included this technology in the laptop.

[jfreakin Posted Feb 5th 2010 4:13PM]

Obviously this is something that will take time to find it's niche. I agree, it will probably be rather annoying in a laptop, but this could be amazing in retail displays, store windows, heck windows in general, tables, etc. It would be helpful it they were touch responsive, but I'm sure that will come with time. I remember a demo awhile ago (a video demo, not a prototype) that showed a person's living room window go from completely transparent, to completely black with a concept design similar to this actual display. How amazing would that be?! Infinite shades of gray, colors, etc for your home windows...

[bac Posted Feb 5th 2010 5:31PM]

At last!

something I can use on my Laptop Steering Wheel Desk

[Russw Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:21PM]

Well from what I know the problem with oled at the moment is that it's poor in sunlight because unlike LCD it doesn't allow ambient light 'through' to aid in the screen brightness. This new amoled screen being translucent would fix that but only if it had a solid backdrop still. Thus this could allow oled onto iPhones!

[OrsonX Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:34PM]

Way cool, the future has almost arrived, and it's see-through!

[rowancorbett Posted Feb 5th 2010 6:51PM]

I'd love to see this in an e-reader. E-ink with an transparent OLED touchscreen overlay. You get the battery benefits of both, can use the OLED as edge-lighting, and have a way to play video or high-res photos.
If they can make the OLED part transparent enough, it could be the ultimate mobile display technology.

[akn320 Posted Feb 5th 2010 10:00PM]

I'm drooling. But I would never actually buy this.

[liamdevlin Posted Feb 5th 2010 11:33PM]

Now if they made a translucent screen so you could not only see the girl sitting across you through the screen, but also what's beneath her clothes, that would be nice. :)

[bryantberry Posted Feb 6th 2010 12:15AM]

... how the hell does this work? lol

[Sirloganthestud Posted Feb 6th 2010 9:07AM]

@nosarcasmintext

That would definitely be optimal. If they didn't have some sort of privacy control, it would be missing a lot and it wouldn't sell near as well.