Sony Launches World's First OLED Television

Sony has announced an OLED-based television in Japan called the XEL-1, notable for both its odd right-biased neck and its extremely thin panel. While the whole screen assembly is thicker, the panel itself is just 3mm thick.

Some of my favorite products from recent CES haven't been retail products at all, but OLED manufacturers showing off how thin the technology can be, often with just a screen itself jutting up from a solid base that houses the controlling electronics. I realize the reasons video screens have bezels—protecting the panel and providing a visual delineation for the eye—but seeing a screen with color right up to the edge of its display looks very sci-fi (in a good way).

While OLED screens have been used in phones and smaller products for a while, this is the first commercially available large, full-color display offered by any company. The duty life of OLED has been a previous concern, but Sony claims you'll be able to squeeze out about 30,000 hours of viewing life. It's Japan-only for the moment, which isn't a heartbreaker: you don't really want to buy a $1,700 11-inch television, do you?

11 type organic EL televisions of SONY and scantness 3mm December sale (Machine Translated) [Impress Watch|Google via Crunchgear]
Sony to launch world's first OLED ultra-thin TV [Reuters]