Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV technology has been touted as the successor to LCD/Plasma displays for quite some time, but it's showing no signs of becoming a mainstream alternative anytime soon.
Highlighting the technology's slow progress, LG has today announced that its 15in OLED TV - the EL9500 first seen at CES 2009 - is only now making its way to UK retail.
The set, pictured above, measures just 15 inches but will become the largest OLED screen available to UK consumers. What you lose in sheer size, however, you're likely to gain in image quality. LG's OLED boasts a 720p resolution and a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio, promising "deeper blacks" and "more vibrant colours".
A key factor to the image quality is an OLED TV's use of self-illuminating organic materials, as opposed to a traditional backlight. That same advantage also allows for OLED TVs to be created using impossibly-thin frames. Measuring just 3.2mm thick, the LG EL9500 is a sight from all angles.
Other OLED benefits include a near-limitless viewing angle, a response time of less than 0.1msec and improved energy efficiency.
But LG's set isn't quite perfect, despite aiming for the ultra-high-end market, it features only a standard digital Freeview tuner and doesn't support Freeview HD broadcasts.
It's water-resistant, though, and LG reckons it's "an ideal addition to the luxurious bathroom, kitchen or bedroom". The word luxurious is key, as LG expects the set to fetch anywhere between £1,500 and £2,000 when it hits stores later this month.
