Sony announced several new digital cameras and camcorders today, all with the same XGA (1024x768) OLED EVFs (made by Sony). First up is the A99, Sony's flagship full-frame DLSR with a 24.7 mp sensor with on-sesor phase detection, dual AF system and Full-HD (1080p@60). The A99 will ship on October 2012 for about $2,800 (body only).

The NEX-6 is a 16 mp mirrorless interchangeable lens camera that features Wi-Fi, in-camera apps and on-sensor phase detection. The NEX-6 will ship in November 2012 for $850 (body only).

eMagin's new SNU OLED deposition machine has finally achieved automated operation. The company already started producing using the new machine last month, but a part of process needed to be automated and the company now achieved that.

eMagin says that some OLED microdisplay samples produced in the new machine were provided for customers - and these performed well in tests. eMagin's own 1,000-hours long reliability testing is nearly complete, and it's showing positive results. The testing will conclude in mid-September, after which displays from the new machine, including those in inventory, can be shipped to fill customer orders.

One of the promises of OLED lighting is that flexible panels can be produced on the cheap using roll-to-roll processes. There is a lot of work towards this goal, but it hasn't been achieved yet. Now researchers from Sweden and Denmark have managed to produce light-emitting electrochemical cells (LEC) using an all-solution-based R2R fabrication process, in ambient conditions. They say that this process can be used to create large area panels too.

Polymer LEC panels are similar to PLEDs in structure, but in LECs the emitter polymer is blended with an electrolyte (e.g. LiCF₃SO₃ dissolved in PEO). LECs, which require only three layers, were first reported 15 years ago, but they suffered from very low lifetime and efficiency. But LECs are very easy to produce and so with steady improvements (mostly from choice of electrodes) LECs are now ready to enter the lighting market.

Sony announced that they have sold over 15,000 OLED monitors (or actually they will have sold that number by the end of the month). Back in April 2012 they announced that they sold 10,000 monitors, so it means they have sold 5,000 monitors in 6 months (about 800 monitors a month). When we discussed OLEDs with Sony's OLED product manager back in February 2012 he said that the OLED fab at Nagoya Japan is running at full capacity.

Sony also published several "customer stories". RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana has just purchased 1,105 monitors (not sure which model) that will be supplied over a three year period. Dutchview from the Netherlands are also using OLED monitors, and Turkish Ozkan Production has equipped eight of its outside broadcasting vehicles with Sony's OLED monitors(they are using 34 PVM-1741 monitors and 6 PVM-2541 ones).

Researchers from the Fontys University in The Netherlands have demonstrated that patterned plasma treatment of substrates gives them better control over inkjet printed structures (which results in higher quality printing).

The researches have used tailored wettability using InnoPhysics uPlasmaPrint technology that can locally change surfaces from hydrophilic to hydrophobic and vice-versa, creating patterns that make droplets spread in only one direction while restraining them in the other direction. Printed lines created in this way have both a very high homogeneity and a well-controlled width (without this technology the inkjet spreads in all directions which creates broader lines). In the research they used PixDro's LP-50 R&D inkjet printing platform.

Nokia announced two Windows Phone 8 devices today. The lower-end one, the Lumia 820 has a 4.3" 800x480 Clearblack OLED display. Other features include a 1.5Ghz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage (and a microSD slot) and a 8mp camera. The Lumia 820 will ship towards the end of 2012.

The second phone is the flagship Lumia 920, which unfortunately does not have an OLED. It does have a very good LCD though - 4.5" WXGA (1280x768) resolution. Nokia claims that this new LCD is the brightest one on the market (25% brighter in fact than anything out there) and it's also the fastest LCD Nokia has ever shipped on a smartphone. Other features include a 1.5Ghz dual-core CPU, PureView 8mp camera (with hardware stabilization and good low-light capabilities)

Two of Samsung's new AMOLED cameras have started shipping yesterday. The MV900F is now shipping for $350 (with an 8GB memory card, tripod, case and a spare battery). The MV900F is a digital camera that sports a display that can flip to face forward and enable self portrait photos. The camera features an 4/2.5-6.3 5X zoom lens, Wi-Fi, 16.3mp sensor, 1080p video and a 3.3" WVGA AMOLED.

The second camera to ship is the EX2F - for $499 The EX2F is a high-end compact digital camera sporting bright f/1.4-2.7 lens (24-79mm, or 3.3X), 12.4mp camera, Wi-Fi, a full-size hot shoe, dual image stabilization, top ISO of 12,800 and a 3" swivel VGA AMOLED display. The camera has full manual controls, RAW image option and Full-HD (1080p @30fp) video.

Google's Motorola announced two new smartphones today, both with OLED displays. The first is the Droid RAZR HD, an Android V4 smartphone with a large 4.7" 720p HD Super AMOLED display, a 1.5Ghz CPU, 8mp camera, 16GB of memory, NFC and a large 2,500mAh battery. There's also a Maxx version which has more memory (32GB) and a larger battery (and a slightly larger size of course). The Droid RAZR HD will launch towards the end of 2012.

The second phone is the RAZR M, an LTE smartphone that features a 4.3" qHD (960x540) Super AMOLED Advanced display, Gorilla Glass, dual-core CPU, 1GB RAM, 8mp camera and 8GM of storage memory (and a microSD slot). The RAZR M will ship in September 2012 for $99 on Verizon.

Yesterday I posted about the Galaxy Note 2 subpixl scheme, with the 5.5" 1280x720 HD Super AMOLED display featuring 267 ppi (with three subpixels per pixel). Our readers pointed out that the new scheme used in the Note 2 looks very much like Ingis Innovations' patented HR pixel structure (as part of their AdMo-p technology). This may explain how Samsung managed to get good enough lifetime at such a high PPI without PenTile.

Just as a reminder, here's how the Note 2 pixels are arranged. It's not exaclty the same as in the HR structure as the red and green sub-pixels have the same size. In any case:

Digitimes reports that Chimei Innolux decided to shift its focus from OLED displays to large-size 4K2K panels. While CMI is advancing its small/medium OLED program (it aims to start low-volume production in Q4 2012, see the video below), it's facing technical difficulties and low yields with large-size OLED panel production. CMI estimates that due to the high-costs involved with large OLED panels, the demand will be low in the near future.

CMI is going to produce 50" and 65" 4K2K LCD panels. It's not clear if there'll be real demand for 4K2K panels either - as there's currently a lack of content for this format.