It was a pleasant surprise to see Brendan waiting for me in the patio with his usual serene smile!! With a cup of Cappuccino, he was all set for a cheerful chat. “Hey honey, why don’t we have a talk?” I just settled down in the cozy couch with a beaming smile.

“Sweet heart, I was actually planning to get a new telly. I thought it will be nice to own a big plasma display panel. Since you are technocrat, I thought of discussing with you.”

Brendan became charged as soon as he heard the word technology!!! He is one big gadget-’o'-freak who eats up almost all the latest technologies out of interest. “Jenny, have you heard of OLED Televisions? They are the latest innovation in display industry.”

I was pretty sure that he is inviting me for a roller coaster ride into this technology. “Not much Ben. Why can’t you tell more about this?” I asked enthusiastically.

“Well, OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. It is the futuristic technology that helps to make many of the sci-fi concepts true. This technology is capable enough to make foldable televisions and flexible displays.” Catching the puzzled expression in my face, Ben continued,”Jenny, the OLED televisions are wafer thin, just few millimeters thick. When not in use, it can be folded or rolled as per your convenience.”

“WOW!!! Ben, I want to know about the advantages of OLED televisions. I have heard that this technology is emissive, and does not need any separate backlight settings as in LCD.”

“You are absolutely right Jenny. OLED is emissive, and that is the major advantage of this technology. OLED televisions are brighter compared to the back-lit display technologies, this assures vivid pictures with realistic appeal. I’m pretty sure that you know about the relevance of response speed in a television.”

“Ben, I have heard that shorter response time is advisable for good video rendition. I’ve also read that speedy response of the display to the video input helps to reduce image lags and motion blurs.”

“Yes Jenny, that is true. OLED Televisions provide much faster response to the input signals compared to the plasma/LCD tellies. And I don’t have to elaborate about the result right?”

“Oh No Ben, I can make it out. It makes the full motion video much better and realistic right?”

“Yup!!! OLED TVs are lightweight, and is much more durable and shock resistant compared to the present displays. The high operating temperature range of OLED makes it a Rambo even in hostile ambiance.”

“Ben, as you know,  the talk of the town is about the need for saving energy. You must be aware of the proposed ban for plasma television in UK due to the high energy consumption. Can you share more on the energy requirement of OLED Televisions?”

“You know something? Espresso goes well with tech chats” Ben was smiling while sipping the black coffee. “Hmm..Getting back to the telly world; I have already told you that there is no backlight system in OLED technology. In plasma / LCD, the majority of power consumed is for the backlight system. So..”

“So the energy consumption of OLED Television is much less compared to other technologies, right?” I was literally screaming it out of excitement.

“Jenny!!! Lots more excitements are yet to be revealed. So save your energy for that too honey…”

With a mischievous grin, I shot a query. “Hey Ben, how is it possible to fold an OLED TV? I mean.. won’t it break into pieces??”

Brendan flashed his dashing smile; “Oh my sweet Jenny, that is a good question. OLED TVs are made of different layers of polymers that are flexible and thin as well. You won’t believe me; each layer is almost 1/1000th of a single strand of human hair!!! With the flexible nature of polymers, you can roll it like a newspaper or can even fold it like a snail mail.”

“Wow!! That is indeed interesting..” I fought hard to veil my exhilaration!!!

“LCD televisions are transmissive, while OLED is emissive and transmissive as well. So the common LCD bugbears like off-axis viewing issues, impaired viewability due to the non-uniform brightness, etc. is not present in OLED displays.”

“Ben, Can you just elaborate on off-axis viewing problem? Well… I dint get it”

“Jenny, LCD panels are not producing the light by themselves. Instead they are relying on the backlight source, and blocks the light from the source accordingly to obtain the output image. While blocking the light, some amount of optical rays will be attenuated; this inturn affects the output video quality. Even if the amount of light attenuated is infinitesimally small, the picture quality will be affected to certain extent. While viewing from wider angles, this creates viewability impairments, and it is called off-axis viewing problem. Is it clear my dear?”

“Oh yes Ben.. OLED is very appealing technology. I do agree with you. I’m pretty sure that there will be Achilles Heels for this one too.” I looked at Ben curiously.

“Hmm.. There are very few downsides for this technology. You must be aware that OLED is a flourishing technology and is in its adolescence. Jenny, actually OLED displays consist of numerous small red, blue and green LEDs. Out of these three types, blue LED has comparatively smaller lifespan. Hence it was a great challenge for the manufacturers to shoo this bogeyman away in the infant state of this technology. Now that enough research and optimisations are done, adept measure have been taken to sort out this issue. The present problem as far as I know is the price. It seems OLED manufacturing is quite expensive. OLED TV costs a bomb!!!”

“Oh Ben, that dampens my excitement!!! I thought of getting OLED.” I couldn’t help frowning.

“Cheer up Jenny, Right now, only one commercial OLED display is available, and it is Sony XEL-1 O-LED TV. This 11 incher was almost $5000 a couple of years back. But now, it is available for almost $2000 in Amazon. Moreover Panasonic has announced their bigger 40” display which will be released next year. Most of the major players in television industry is in this game, and we customers will be benefited for sure with their stiff competition. If you are planning to get an OLED television, my opinion is to wait for some more time, may be a couple of years till few more models are released. By that time manufacturers will also come up with more cost effective way to manufacture OLED panels.”

“Well, Ben.. Then suggest me a good telly within 2000GBP.”

“Jenny, I prefer plasma televisions because of its immaculate video performance. Panasonic VIERA Televisions are good with all high-end features and network options.”

“Oh my Ben.. I will definitely take your word into account. Thank you so much for spending a beautiful evening with me. I just love to learn about technologies from you.”

“Jenny, its getting late for me. Actually I had promised Kate to take her for the animation blockbuster “Wall-E”. So I gotta rush..”

It did not take much time for his Porsche to race out of sight.