Just a day after we were graced with Mother Earth's "most energy-efficient monitor" comes the "world's slimmest" 22-incher. ASUS claims that its LS221H is just 248-millimeters (that's 9.76-inches) at its thinnest point, but unless this thing morphs into a CRT at a moment's notice, we're assuming (read: hoping) it meant 24.8-millimeters, or 0.97-inches. Beyond that, we're trusting that the 1,680 x 1,050 resolution, 2-millisecond response time, 300 nits of brightness, VGA / HDMI inputs and 4,000:1 contrast ratio are all there, but you can never be too careful when talking about the planet's thickest / thinnest LCD. No price is listed, but if we were betting souls, we'd wager that it'll be right around $3,500. Wait, we mean $350. Yeah.

[Via NewLaunches]

AU Optronics (AUO) is tooting the "world's first" horn this morning with its new curved TFT-LCD process on glass substrate. They've also got the world's slimmest -- 0.63mm -- TFT-LCD available in both 1.9-inch and relatively massive 8-inch versions, the latter boasting a 400cd/m2 brightness and 2.1-gram weight. Not bad, but they can't hold a candela to future generation OLEDs. Perhaps most interesting, though, are a pair of in-cell, multi-touch displays offered at 4.3- and 8-inches. The panels are said to offer superior anti-glare properties while manufacturing the multi-touch feature directly into the LCD cell without necessitating any additional glass. The 4.3-inch panel hits mass-production this quarter. Feel free to speculate on which MID devices might sport 'em.

[Via DigiTimes]

The oft-irrational quest for thin already overwhelming television R&D budgets just hit our beloved LCD monitors. Meet the BenQ V2400W billed as the "world's slimmest 24-inch LCD monitor." BenQ claims that the LCD's 2.44-inch max depth is 21% thinner than any of its chubbier competition. Unfortunately, while BenQ happily drones on and on about the monitor's B-2 stealth bomber inspired design, it remains tight-lipped on the specifications. We know it offers a 4,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 2-ms response, touch control panel and selection of ports including HDMI, DVI and VGA inputs. However, the V2400W's brightness, panel resolution or backlighting tech, color reproduction capabilities, HDCP support for that DVI jack, and something so trivial as price all remain closely held secrets. Nevertheless, it'll be available at the end of this month in Asia then heading to North America and Europe in April. You know, if you can find it.

Update: Some of the specs found: 1920 x 1200, 250 cd/m2 brightness, 16.7 million colors, and 160-degree viewing angle.

[Via Fareastgizmos, thanks Strayan]

In a refreshing change of pace from Samsung's traditional black-slab design, we bring you this trio of hotness: the SGH-E950, SGH-E840, and SGH-J600 pictured above left-to-right. All are on display right now at ComnunicAsia and ready to ship in Southeast Asia before July is up. Of the three, only the E840 has a shot of making it Stateside with its quadband GSM, EDGE radios packed into the world's slimmest 10.6-mm slider. It features a 2 megapixel camera and up to 2GB of MicroSD to store your media. Nice and all but we'd love to get out hands on the tri-band GSM E950 instead. That black box on the face is actually a touch-sensitive display which fills itself with a variety of icons depending upon how the phone is being used. Interestingly, the FCC approved J600's main claim to fame is its "intense hues" of "mystical colors" like, say "dark gray" -- riiight, and dreary office cubicles are just tiny magical kingdoms for gifted marketing drones. Be sure to check the full gallery over at Engadget Mobile.

A busy day on the OLED front this morning with both Samsung and LG.Philips announcing new AMOLED goods. Samsung announced the "world's thinnest" 2.2-inch Active-matrix OLED display (pictured above) which touts a 320 x 240 resolution, 262k colors, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 100% NTSC color gamut, and life span of about 50,000 hours when set at 200cd/m2 brightness. Better yet, the 0.52-mm thin wafer of a display is ready for mass production. That trumps LG.Philips' new 4-inch AMOLED which rocks the same resolution but only 16k colors. That is, unless the whole flexible display thing gets ya hot. If so, then you'll want to check the pose after the break.

Read -- Samsung 2.2-inch
Read -- LG.Philips' 4-inch

Witnessing the dethroning of one crown thanks to a determined competitor is anything but surprising, but it seems that Samsung is ousting one of its own in order to make room for a newer champion, as the Ultra Edition 10.9 takes over where the D900 left off as the "world's thinnest slider." Continuing on Samsung's recent infatuation with creating increasingly slim mobiles, the 10.9's biggest feature is its ultrathin frame, as the spec list really doesn't deviate from what we found on the previous title holder. Onboard, you'll find a 3.2-megapixel camera, MP3 / video playback, Bluetooth, video output, 80MB of internal memory, and a built-in microSD slot for loading up additional media. Little more is known about the 10.9 as of now, but just about every detail you could need should be divulged during the 3GSM Congress in Barcelona next month.

[Via Unwired View]

Like the self-satisfaction felt upon arriving at Carhenge in slaughterhouse central, Toshiba Matsushita can lay claim to a hollow victory in this, the latest "world's slimmest" TFT-LCD. This 0.99-mm slimster kicks that ol' 1.3-mm fatty from LG.Philips squarely to the curb by trimming the paunch and matching the lower estimate of its 300 to 400 nit brightness. Meant for cellphones, the display delivers a 240x320 QVGA resolution on that 2-inch diagonal / 3.5-gram screen. Just don't get too worked up at the thought of a sub-6mm phone anytime soon -- the first samples won't roll to manufactures until April 2007. Oh Tosh, why must you tease?

[Via Slashphone]

Get ready Guinness 'cause Samsung just launched an entire series of "World's slimmest" handsets. Sure, we've seen the D830 clam, X820 candybar, and FCC approved D900 slider before, only now they've been turned-out onto that mean global scene official, spec'd, and rebadged with their ultra-slim, millimeter measurements right in the name: the Ultra Edition 9.9 (D830), 12.9 (D900), and 6.9 (X820) pictured left-to-right. The UE 9.9 brings tri-band (900/1800/1900MHz) GPRS/EDGE, a 2 megapixel cam with auto-focus and flash, a 2.3-inch 240x320 262k TFT main display (0.8-inch 92x16 grayscale external), Bluetooth, 80MB embedded memory with MicroSD expansion, MP3/AAC media player, and even an MPEG4 recorder with TV-out jack slammed into this world's slimmest flip. The UE 6.9 brings pretty much the same network coverage, cam, Bluetooth, media capabilities, and on-board memory as the 9.9 but had to forgo the microSD card and flash while dropping down to a 1.9-inch 176x220 262k TFT display in order to slip into that world's slimmest, 6.9-mm, 2.33-ounce dress. The relatively plump UE 12.9 takes advantage of all that, uh, roominess to squeeze in quad-band GPRS/EDGE, a 3.13 megapixel shooter, 2.1-inch 240x320 262k TFT, that good media lovin' we've already seen, Bluetooth with A2DP stereo audio support, and 80MB with microsSD expansion. Yeah, that makes it the world's slimmest slider, er, with 3 megapixel camera -- kind of a stretch, but that's how Sammy likes to roll. They didn't bother with drop dates, countries, or prices but the fact that the press release hit their English site gives us hope for this Samsung triptych to drop in the US sometime this year.

[Via AVING]