Event Coverage

CES 2013: Samsung's Chase for Flexible Display Technologies and Smarter TV Interfaces

By Wong Casandra - 18 Jan 2013

CES 2013: Samsung's Chase for Flexible Display Technologies and Smarter TV Interfaces

CES 2013: The Samsung Edition

Samsung's presence has greatly expanded in mobile phone scene over the last two years and in this year's CES keynote, the Korean company showed off some key technology that will shape upcoming mobile devices. Flexible AMOLED screens, powerful mobile processors and eco-friendly LCD screens are part of what Samsung has in store for us. As we have seen from its recent Galaxy Note II phablet offering, the company is willingly open to new ideas and innovation as they don't believe in limiting themselves to an existing category; these new and upcoming technologies will hopefully allow them to create a whole new product category, just like they have carved out one in the last year.

Take for instance, its new line of flexible OLED displays. Dubbed "YOUM", the flexible display line-up uses extremely thin plastic instead of glass, making it bendable and virtually unbreakable. The versatility of the technology proves to be exciting - as demonstrated by Brian Berkeley, senior vice president of Samsung, at the keynote event, the prototype device can be bent and wriggled without any damage to the device itself, prompting the possibility of mobile devices being stowed away in thin tubes.

Samsung showed various possible uses for the flexible screen technology, including a screen rolling out of a thin storage tube.

That's not all - with the increasingly mobile nature of smartphones and tablets, performance is key. Samsung's new quad-core Exynos 5 chip promises to provide twice the 3D performance of its predecessors and up to 70 percent higher energy efficiency compared to its previous quad-core chips. Given the fact the the Galaxy S IV is most likely due in May, we are sure to see high-powered Samsung mobile devices in the near future.

The Exynos 5 Octa activates necessary cores depending on the level of your workloads - there's a total of four powerful Cortex-A15 processors to handle processing-intense tasks along with four additional Cortex-A7 cores for lighter workloads.

Apart from advancements in the mobile device department, Samsung has also a few magic tricks to share when it comes to their televisions. The biggest of course, is the unveiling of its first 85-inch S9 Ultra HDTV. The juggernaut will offer four times the pixels available on existing 1080p resolution as well as ample audio support. 

 To further allow users to enjoy the full extent of its visual prowess, the S9 comes with an up-scaling algorithm that converts HD and Full HD content to UHD resolution (otherwise known as 4K resolution, which is 3840 x 2160 pixels).

With all manufacturers focusing on smart connectivity features in their televisions, it is no surprise that Samsung has also made a few improvements to their overall Smart TV experience. All next-gen Samsung Smart TVs will come packaged with a reworked and more user-friendly Smart Hub, as well as the new S-Recommendation technology, that helps build a base of suggestions from your previous viewings and user ratings, and enhanced Voice Interaction technology, which allows users to give voice commands for the TVs to perform certain tasks.

At CES, Samsung also showed off a curved OLED TV display. Content shot on wide-angle would produce an immersive panorama effect that's otherwise not prominent on a flat-planel TV.

Last but not least, Samsung also showed off its new NX300 camera alongside the new NX 45mm F1.8 2D/3D lens, the first one-lens 3D system capable of capturing both still images and Full HD movies. This will undoubtedly help make 3D movie-making available on a consumer level.

It looks set to be a busy year up ahead for Samsung as they continue to offer technology that empower people and yet is accessible and easy to operate - even in areas other than the mobile sector. To get to know more of what's happening at CES 2013 with regards to Samsung, hit these links below:-

Highlights from Samsung at CES 2013

Hands-on: Samsung NX300 & 45mm F1.8 2D/3D Lens

Monitors from Samsung at CES 2013

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