Sony Shows Off Sweet 27-inch OLED Display

Sony is showing off some mighty fine-looking and super-thin OLED screens at its booth—all prototypes, of course. OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) screens are believed by many to be the future of display technology. They use a synthetic electrophosphorescent process, not unlike what give fireflies their light, that makes for lower-power consumption, excellent handling of fast-action scenes and sports, brilliant color, and Ritz-cracker slimness (seriously).

I've seen OLED screens at CES before, but I've never seen one as big as the 27-inch prototype that Sony has on display, along with a slew of photo-frame-sized screens. They are simply stunning. I've included a few pictures here. But pictures don't do them justice, so if you happen to be at the show, check 'em out.

As you probably, know OLED screens are already used in small devices like MP3 players (Samsung's K5 and new K3, for example), but soon we'll see them in bigger laptops, like this sweet CWT 7064 OLED Notebook with Windows SideShow that's on display at the Microsoft booth. As for when we'll see OLED TVs, that remains to be seen. One issue is the relatively short life span of OLED screens, a kink that needs to be worked out before the technology goes big screen and mass market.