IGZO
Latest
Nintendo may have many, many more Switch consoles planned
Nintendo is definitely releasing the $200 Switch Lite handheld console on September 20th, and may release a higher-end console soon too, if rumors are to be believed. Its plans might even go beyond all that, however. The company is reportedly working on further updates beyond those models "to make the platform's lifecycle long," according to WSJ sources inside the company.
Razer Phone leak suggests it's made for the gamer faithful
We knew that Razer was working on a high-end gaming smartphone, but a leak from one of its partners shows just how powerful it might be. According to a (since deleted) page from a UK mobile plan reseller called 3G, the Razer Phone will have a 5.7-inch, 120Hz IGZO display, Dolby Atmos sound with dual front speakers and amps, a dual 12- and 13-megapixel wide angle/zoom camera, 4,000mAh battery and 8GB of RAM. Adding credibility to the leak is the fact that 3G is a retail partner with UK operator Three, which recently announced an "exciting global strategic alliance" with Razer.
The first 8K TV will go on sale soon for over $130,000
Sharp has demonstrated Super Hi-Vision 8K displays before (as seen above during CES 2015), but today in Japan it announced an 85-inch version is going on sale October 30th. Dubbed the LV-85001, it's a monitor (it has a tuner so you could call it a TV, but that can't actually receive 8K video) for professional use only, mostly since there aren't really any broadcasts or content to watch in 8K. Coming in at 16 times the resolution of 1080p screens, the 7,680 x 4,320 pixel LCD panel uses Sharp's IGZO technology. To actually watch any 8K video, you'll need to plug into all four of its HDMI inputs at once just to have enough bandwidth. If you're interested (and why wouldn't you be, even though there's almost nothing to watch), just contact Sharp's business-to-business sales unit, and bring along a check for 16,000,000 yen, or about $133,034 US.
Razer's new 'Blade' laptop has a touchscreen that won't kill battery life
Beating last year's Blade is a tall order, but Razer hopes throwing a fancy new 14-inch, 3,200 x 1,800 touch display into its 2015 gaming laptop will help it do just that. The outfit's using an Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (IGZO, for short) panel, and all those pixels are powered by NVIDIA's GeForce 970M GPU that runs on Maxwell architecture. In terms of memory, there's 16GB of RAM (double that of last year) in addition to a maximum 512GB of solid-state storage. All that to say, much like our laptop buyer's guide choice from last year, games will almost assuredly look gorgeous and perform incredibly well here.
Sharp's new any-shape displays are coming to cars and a whole lot more
Sharp's been working on its isn't-that-concept-art free-form displays (FFD) for a few years and, well, CES is a good place to show and tell us where they'll eventually end up, you know, in real life. We've just seen some of the more polished prototypes that will form the basis for dash-based displays in cars coming to market by 2017. But while we knew that was the aim, it's only the start. These low-power IGZO displays "don't need edges," so they can be cut into any shape and while there's no touch functionality in the current prototypes, it can be added -- meaning they could be found in mobile devices and (according to reports at least), something from Nintendo. Sharp had a great display where two circles were cut out and used as separate displays, and the "leftover" screen also functioned as part of a larger dash display. Here, take a look:
Nintendo's next device will reportedly, bizarrely, be donut-shaped
There's an intriguing report from Kyodo that Nintendo will use Sharp's "free-form" LCDs on an oddly-shaped new console or other product. Sharp recently showed off IGZO-based displays that move the control circuits away from the bezel, allowing for funky, non-rectangular shapes, as shown above. Nintendo will reportedly use the tech for a device with a "donut-hole" at the center, either a replacement 3DS console or an unusual sleep-tracking device it recently teased. It could also be aimed at cheaper consoles for emerging markets, judging by recent statements about "new thinking" from president Satoru Iwata. If the rumor is accurate, it's not clear why Nintendo would want a screen with a hole -- possibly to display extra game info? Your guess is as good as ours. Update: We asked Nintendo about the report and it (unsurprisingly) told us "we don't comment on rumor or speculation."
Engadget Daily: Holiday Gift Guide, Amazon's Hachette deal and more!
It'll soon be time to wrap those presents, so to help with with the burden of holiday shopping, our latest Gift Guide offers ideas for the tech-savvy folks you're buying for. Read on for the rest of our news highlights from the last 24 hours, including the Microsoft Band review, another day in the Taylor Swift/Spotify saga, Amazon's truce with Hachette and more.
Sharp's new display shows the pixel-density race is far from over
If you have spectacularly good eyesight, the highest pixel-density you can see is about 500 pixels-per-inch (ppi). But that trifling little detail isn't stopping display manufacturers and marketers, no sir! Sharp just revealed an iPhone 5s-sized (4.1-inches) IGZO LCD screen with WQXGA (2,560 x 1,600) resolution. That works out to 736ppi -- a quantum leap above Samsung's Galaxy S5 LTE-A, the current smartphone champ at 576ppi. You'll see devices with the screen starting in 2016, but it may lose its density crown before then anyway. Samsung is rumored to have a 5.9-inch, 4K Super AMOLED display with 747ppi in the works. Better eat those carrots. Update: We've updated the post to note that it's the iPhone 5s that has a 4-inch-sized screen, not the iPhone 4s.
Sharp flaunts Free-Form displays for funky-shaped devices
When Motorola unveiled its snappy Moto 360 smartwatch, the first thing we thought was "how do you make a round display?" Sharp has one answer with its new IGZO-based "Free-Form" LCD prototype that can be sculpted into any shape. The company's current IGZO tech only works with rectangular displays, where the circuits that drive the LCD live on the perimeter of the screen. Sharp managed to bake those chips into the display itself, allowing for not only a shrunken bezel but nearly any display format you might want. That'll let designers create much more compact car dashboards, new digital signage, unusually shaped monitors and yes, wearables like smartwatches. That likely won't include the Moto 360, though, since it's rumored to have an OLED display. Also, Sharp says that the Free-Form display is nearly ready for mass production, but isn't quite there yet.
Sharp's latest high-res Windows tablet is an Ultrabook minus the keyboard
Let's see: sporty Intel Core i5 processor and Windows 8.1? Check. Retina-esque 3,200 x 1,800 15.6-inch display? Check. Plus 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD? Of course. If Sharp's RW-16G sounds like the laptop of your dreams, sorry, but it's actually a tablet in the mold of Panasonic's 20-inch, 4K Toughpad or Samsung's new Galaxy Note Pro 12.2. Sharp is keying in on business users for the new slate with a bundled stylus for graphics pros, along with screen sharing to assist during presentations. With the Japanese company's own IGZO screen tech, it'll also outlast everyone's bladders with nine hours of battery life. There's no pricing or availability yet, but so far, it looks destined for the Japanese market only -- if you're stateside, Samsung's aforementioned model or a Surface Pro 2 might have to do.
Sharp converts TV plant to make more low-power IGZO smartphone displays
Sharp's IGZO displays make regular appearances at global trade shows, but have been less easy to spot in western devices, hardly ever leaving domestic Japanese market. That could soon change, as the company is ramping up production of smartphone-sized screens, at the cost of TV output. The Wall Street Journal reports that Sharp is expanding production at its Kameyama plant, with the aim of becoming a top player in the not-so-exotic world of handheld screen production, making the sheets that will make its way into multiple phone makers' devices. It might be able to lower manufacturing costs by making hundreds of displays from a single sheet, which would certainly be good news for the company's balance sheet. This increase in output might also mean that devices with Sharp's impressively bright IGZO displays will finally appear outside of Nippon, creating the necessary extra demand and giving us something else to square off against AMOLED and Super LCD 3.
Sharp's first Windows 8 tablet has 10.1-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 IGZO display and water resistance (hands-on)
Kicking off this week's CEATEC show in Japan, Sharp has played to its strengths with its new Windows 8 tablet, the Mebius Pad, factoring in a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution display. That puts it pretty far ahead of the current crowd of 1080p Windows 8 tablets, including Microsoft's incoming Surface 2, although we admit, we'd have loved to have seen another incredible 4K tablet. Regardless, that's the highest resolution Windows 8 tablet we've seen yet. Alongside the company's 10.1-inch IGZO panel (known for their low-power credentials), the Mebius Pad runs on a slightly less-exciting Intel's latest Atom Z3370 SoC (codename Bay Trail). The basic Windows 8.1 model will arrive with Office for free, although you'll have to pay extra if you want it for the Pro edition. Also, following Japanese trends for practically any device, the slab is both water and dust-proof (it's in the midst of being certified for IPX5, IPX7, IP5X), while you'll be able to buy it with LTE radios on board, at least for Nippon, as the device is unlikely to leave Japanese shores once it launches in early 2014. Unsurprisingly, in the flesh the screen looked good -- Sharp even provided a magnifying glass so we could get up close to those pixels. The 10.1-inch display is also satisfyingly bright -- if we're honest, it's unusual to see such a capable screen powered by an Atom processor. The tablet is headed towards business use (which explains the optional stylus) and the extra resolution found on Sharp's first Windows 8 tablet means there's more space for your spreadsheets and documents. The hardware itself is suitably thin and light, with the rear of the device bearing a passing resemblance to recent Sony hardware -- possibly due to the understated camera lens in the corner. We'll let you know if Sharp has plans to offer the tablet to global business types. Update: We've corrected our description on the Mebius Pad's processor -- it's Intel's new Atom series.
ASUS' 31.5-inch PQ321 4K monitor gets reviewed: pricey, but luscious
Let's be honest: almost no one expected one of the world's first 4K monitors to be ho hum. After all, it has eleventy gazillion pixels. Er, a native 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, but close enough. The gurus over at HotHardware were able to take the 31.5-inch PQ321 for a spin, and predictably, they loved what they saw. Outside of being duly impressed with how the panel handled everything from Photoshop work to gaming, they were also taken aback by the monitor's svelte frame. In fact, they found it a little tough to look back on a 1080p screen after a couple of weeks with this thing -- it's like the SD-to-HD revolution all over again. That said, they did confess that the product feels a bit ahead of its time, and the monstrous $3,500 price tag is certainly indicative of that. Feel free to hit the source link for the full spiel, but the long and short of it is this: if you're in the one percent, buy it.
Sharp intros 32-inch IGZO monitor with 4K resolution and pen support
The majority of the world is still patiently waiting for 4K technology to become more widely adopted, and companies are certainly doing all they can to assist in speeding up that process. Following in the footsteps of ASUS, Sharp's now introducing an Ultra HD, IGZO panel of its own, the PN-K322B. Aside from boasting a 3,840 x 2,160 screen resolution, this 32-inch multi-touch monitor also features the ability to support digital writing (or drawing) by way of a "dedicated touch pen with a pen-tip width of just 2mm." Ports-wise, the LED-backlit PN-K322B houses two HDMI inputs, a DisplayPort and a 3.5mm stereo jack to help get some external audio going. Mum's the word on how much it'll cost when it arrives in Japan on July 30th, but if other similar options are any indication, we'd say upwards of $3,500 is a safe bet.
ASUS' 31.5-inch 4K monitor is up for pre-order for an introductory $3,500
A mere month after ASUS unveiled its 31.5-inch 4K monitor to the world, and the humbly-named PQ321 is already available for pre-order on Amazon, Newegg and TigerDirect. As a reminder, the Ultra HD display boasts a jaw-dropping 3840 x 2160-pixel 10-bit RGB (a billion colors) IGZO panel with LED backlight, 176-degree viewing angles, a maximum of 350 cd/m2 in brightness and 8ms GTG response time. Built-in stereo speakers sweeten the package, as does a 3.5mm audio jack, DisplayPort connectivity and dual HDMI inputs. Oh, and did we mention it's also apparently the thinnest 4K monitor on the market at only 35mm thick? However, you'll have to pay a pretty penny for all that awesomeness: it has an introductory price of $3,499.99. That's about $300 less than what was announced a month ago, but it's still not exactly cheap. The PQ321 is set for a July 16th release date, so you still have a couple weeks to bribe relatives, rob a bank or sell off any unwanted organs.
Qualcomm finishes $120 million investment in Sharp, becomes third-largest investor
Chipmaker Qualcomm has finalized its investment in beleaguered display manufacturer Sharp. Announced back in December 2012 and totaling $120 million, the second portion of the investment was delayed earlier this year when Sharp failed to satisfy conditions for the investment. Sharp's now confirmed the transaction, which gives Qualcomm a 3.53 percent share of the display maker, and will presumably increase its involvement on new screen tech being developed between the two companies. The combination of Qualcomm's MEMs display products and Sharp's high-resolution IGZO screens will apparently make its way into a number of devices in varying sizes. Qualcomm isn't the only company with a vested interest in Sharp's recovery, either -- Samsung also holds a 3 percent stake.
Sharp shows off 14-inch and 15.6-inch 3,200 x 1,800 IGZO panels (eyes-on)
It was only a few hours ago when Fujitsu announced its UH90, the first laptop to feature a 14-inch 3,200 x 1,800 IGZO display. While the device won't hit Japan until June 28th, we were lucky enough to stumble upon the panel itself at Sharp's Computex booth. In fact, the company also had a 15.6-inch IGZO panel with the same QHD+ resolution, 400 nit brightness plus 1000:1 contrast ratio, and both looked super crisp to our eyes. Alas, IGZO is still a bit behind LTPS panels when it comes to viewing angle, but we had absolutely no problem when looking at the displays straight on. With the UH90 rolling out soon, we should see more devices shipping with these panels very soon. %Gallery-190394% Mat Smith contributed to this report.
Fujitsu intros Lifebook UH90 with Haswell and a 3,200 x 1,800 IGZO touchscreen
Fujitsu burst on to the Ultrabook scene in earnest with the Lifebook UH75 last fall, and it's clearly bent on keeping our attention: it just launched an early sequel, the Lifebook UH90. The 14-inch portable is ever-so-slightly thinner than its ancestor at 15.5mm (0.61 inches) thick, but upgrades to an extra-dense 3,200 x 1,800, IGZO-based touchscreen. The improvements are more than just skin-deep, of course. A Haswell-based, 1.6GHz Core i5 helps feed that monster display, and a 500GB hybrid hard drive strikes a balance between speed and storage. Japanese buyers will get a crack at the UH90 on June 28th under the country's customary open pricing system. There's no word yet on a possible US release, but we hope one is on the cards. In case the UH90 is too pricey, Fujitsu also has a trio of more modest PCs on tap. The Esprimo FH78 all-in-one (shown after the break) runs on a Haswell-era, 2.4GHz Core i7 and stuffs a 30W, 2.1-channel Pioneer speaker system underneath its 23-inch display. The PC builder's 15.6-inch Lifebook AH models have also been given a slight bump: the AH45's battery life has doubled to 6.4 hours, and the AH42 has upgraded to a 2.4GHz Pentium while lasting for 7.9 hours on a charge. We're not expecting the Esprimo to reach the US, although the starter Lifebooks may cross the Pacific.
ASUS unveils 31.5-inch 4K monitor ahead of Computex
Taiwanese PC maker ASUS dropped this gem yesterday ahead of Computex 2013 -- the PQ321, a professional-grade 31.5-inch 4K monitor. It features a 3840 x 2160-pixel (16:9, 140 ppi) 10-bit RGB (one billion colors) IGZO panel with LED backlight, 176-degree viewing angles, 350 cd/m2 brightness and 8ms GTG response time. Beyond its Ultra HD capability, the monitor comes with built-in stereo speakers (2W) plus height, tilt and swivel adjustments. It's wall-mountable (VESA) and only 35mm thick -- according to ASUS, that makes it the thinnest 4K monitor on the market today. Connectivity includes DisplayPort, 3.5mm audio, RS-232C and, for US models, dual HDMI inputs with picture-in-picture support. There's no word on pricing yet, but the PQ321 will be available in North America at the end of June and ASUS is expected to show the monitor in Taipei next week along with a 39-inch 4K model.
Aquos Pad SH-08E flaunts 7-inch high-res IGZO display, 1.7GHz quad-core processor
Amid the bevy of phones outed in NTT DoCoMo's summer lineup, the Japanese carrier snuck in a tablet: Sharp's Aquos Pad SH-08E. A 7-inch 1,920 x 1,200 IGZO display dominates the front of the Android 4.2 device, while a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor and a 4,200mAh battery are tucked inside. When it comes to imaging, the slab totes an 8.1-megapixel shooter on its rear, and wears a 2.1-megapixel cam on the front. The hardware's also been kitted out with WiFi, NFC and TV tuning capabilities, along with waterproofing and dustproofing, to boot. As the slate's outfitted to work with DoCoMo's Xi LTE network, it's capable of sucking down 100Mbps and uploading at 37.5Mbps. There's no word on how much it'll empty wallets, but it's penciled in to be available in Japan by the end of July.
