Sony announces new ultra-thin OLED TVs

Living up to the promises that OLED TVs would be shipping in 2007, Sony has announced its first ultra-thin television for the commercial market. Due to go on sale in Japan on 1st December, the XEL-1 boasts some impressive specs including an amazing 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 3mm thin panel.

This 11-inch ultra-thin TV offers a resolution of 960px ×540px, and takes input resolution up to 1080p. It also sports an integrated digital TV tuner, USB, LAN interface, 1x HDMI port, headphone plug and S-Force sound.

Sony’s XEL-1 uses light-emitting display technology called OLED which is said to be superior to liquid crystal and plasma displays, since it uses materials that emit light on their own and don’t require a backlight. It also reduces energy consumption by 40% compared to LCD, according to Sony. The new XEL-1 OLED TV is expected to go on sale in Japan by the end of this year for 200,000 yen (about $1,200).