Sony's XEL-1, widely known as the first consumer-level OLED TV to hit the market, has done a pretty decent job of traversing the globe. For reasons unknown, however, it has yet to touch down in the great nation of Australia. Thankfully for deep-pocketed Aussies who passed up on the Kevin37 deal, all that changes next month. CNET is reporting that Sony will launch its 11-inch wonder Down Under in "mid-April," with pricing expected to be anywhere from AU$6,000 ($4,209) to AU$8,000 ($5,612). Call us looney, but we get the idea that most mates will be passing this opportunity up without thinking twice. We mean, do you have any idea how much, um, stuff that kind of dough buys in Nimbin?

[Via Sony Insider]

Just as expected, Sony will be bringing its XEL-1 OLED TV to UK shores before 2008 expires (sans battery or viewing area), paving the way for the 11-inch wonder's European tour; at least that's the word from T3. Of course, if it shows up next month wearing a price tag near the estimated £1,500 mark, this bit of kit will retain its status as something for well-heeled blokes obsessed with riding the bleeding edge of tech trends. Frankly we're surprised by the whole "estimated pricing" verbiage -- the XEL-1 has been on sale for almost a year, so we'd assume Sony would have a better feel for pricing. And really, are any customers for this going to be put off by a few pounds on the high side?

What's better than a (cheap) XEL-1? How's about a wireless, battery-powered XEL-1? Sony has recently shown off a completely cordless OLED TV with the same ultrathin chassis as used in the aforementioned 11-incher. Bulking things up a bit is the integrated HDTV tuner, and of course, it's wall-mountable for midgets who live in a Little Tikes playhouse. Unfortunately, there's no real mention of specs (aside from the whole "3-millimeter thin" part), and even worse, there's no telling how long we'll have to wait before we see it hit shelves (let alone grow to a size that's actually useful). Anywho, tap the read link for a plethora of images.

Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports this morning that Sony plans to sell its 11-inch XEL-1 OLED TV in Europe in 2009. That dovetails nicely with a two-week old statement by a Sony representative who said, "I'd be very surprised if this hasn't arrived in the UK by 2009." Us too, after all, it's been on sale in Japan since December of 2007 and was recently caught slumming the big box outlets in the US. It only seems natural then, that Sony would ramp production to the point that by 2009 they could meet the minimal, European demand for a $2,500-ish TV measuring just 11-inches -- million:1 contrast or not. Still, it's all a bit late if you ask us (you did right?) seeing as how Sony plans to be producing medium to large OLED panels as early as April 2009.

[Via AVING]

Read -- Europe 2009
Read -- UK 2009

The D conference is in full swing, and the next heavy hitter on deck is Sony CEO Howard Stringer, who's rumored to have a new Sony OLED display for Unkie Walt to play with. We're assuming it'll be a little bit bigger than the XEL-1, but Silicon Alley Insider says it'll come in at just .3mm thick, which is only slightly beefier than a playing card. We're guessing it'll be more like the XEL-1's 3mm, but we'll see what Howie has in store for us -- we wouldn't be opposed to hearing some more about those "slim PS3" rumors, ourselves.

Leave it to Gary Merson, a.k.a the HD Guru, to really put Sony's XEL-1 OLED display to the test. He busted out some test bench equipment and found that while the blacks were vanishingly dark, colors were accurate and motion resolution was handled with aplomb, there were some peculiar issues with the brightness. Off-axis viewing dropped the brightness by a third, which damaged perceived contrast as well. What was more troubling, however, was the automatic dimming of the display from 16.4 ft.-Lamberts at power-on to 7.8 ft.-Lamberts after only four minutes. While Sony claimed this is to prevent burn in, the Guru suspects it's more about preventing burn out. We're long on OLED technology, but those of you with itchy trigger fingers might want to consider carefully. Hit the link for the in-depth read.

Ruh roh. Research firm DisplaySearch has just unleashed a new report that takes an in-depth look at the ultrathin XEL-1, and it ended up finding a video lifetime barely half of what Sony promises. Apparently the company ran a couple of Sony's OLED TVs for 1,000 hours, after which it found that blue luminance degraded by 12-percent, the red by 7-percent and the green by 8-percent. Extrapolating the data it gathered, it estimated that the unit would lose half of its brightness in 17,000 hours -- Sony says you can expect 30,000. Of course, Sony is still standing by its numbers, and even we can see that DisplaySearch's methods aren't perfectly scientific, but if you were honestly expecting to watch this thing for the next decade (and not a year less), you may want to hit the read link and snoop around.

[Via Yahoo, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Whether you love 'em, hate 'em or qualify 'em with statements like "great for vacuum cleaners; not so much for HDTVs," you've got to respect that fact that Consumer Reports buys all the goodies it tests. Especially when the item in question is a $2500 Sony XEL-1 OLED TV. Overall, we came to the same conclusion as they did: incredible tech appeal, great picture quality, poor input options and "are you kidding me" size-to-dollar ratio. We'll even overlook the fact that the 960x540 pixels isn't truly HD, because at 11-inches it just doesn't matter. Credit to this little tech jewel for eliciting some verbiage that we don't recall ever seeing before from CR -- "... top of your list-provided, of course, that money is no object." Somehow, we don't picture that "money is no object" crowd flipping through the pages of CR.

Seen enough of Sony's 3-millimeter thin OLED TV? Nah, we reckoned not -- and even if you've grown somewhat accustomed to that sleek 11-inch exterior, opening this pretty boy up gives you a whole new perspective. The camera-toting cats over at bunnie:studios managed to happen upon a live XEL-1 tear down while perusing the floor at the Embedded Systems Conference, and sure enough, they succeeded in capturing the momentous event and were kind enough to host up a smattering of high-resolution images to prove it. Anxious to see what Sony could possibly fit inside of this thing? You're just one click away from finding out.

[Thanks, Andrew]

Haven't you heard? OLEDs are gearing up to take over the display world, making your fancy LCD something you'll wrap fish with. Taking up the point in the quest for world domination is Sony's XEL-1, which we admit puts out a great, albeit small, picture. Lab tests by Tech-On, however, show the 11-inch display has an appetite for power that belies its diminutive size. Check out the link for some insight to the wizardry that makes the XEL-1 work, including ramping down panel brightness after turn-on and insertion of "blanking" frames. But eyebrows at the lab arched a little when the unit ate up 28.4-Watts to produce a pure white image. While that figure won't send your electric meter into Whirling Dervish mode, the CEO of Toshiba says that at sizes beyond 30-inches, OLEDs consume 2 - 3 times more juice than LCDs. These kind of challenges are nothing new to emerging technology, and we're sure manufacturers will get things under control; but for now (in an increasingly "green" world), there are still hurdles.

[Via SmartHouse]

It's one thing to swoon all over Sony's 3-millimeter thin XEL-1 OLED while being keenly observed by likely armed guards. It's another to bust this baby out in the comfort of one's home. Our comrades over at the Spanish branch were able to do just that, and of course, they snapped a few glamor shots before ruining its allure with fingerprints. Curiously enough, their model arrived sans an Ethernet port -- needless to say, we're still waiting to find out the story behind that. Grab anything that can work as a drool rag and hit up the read link below.

As expected, Sony has released the first OLED display in the US, with the 11-inch XEL-1 available now at select Sony Style locations for $2,500. Japanese customers have been able to purchase the 3mm-thick XEL-1 since late last year for ¥200,000, but the US has had to wait until now to get its organically 1,000,000:1-contrasted fix. The XEL-1 also offers support for DMeX so consumers can download content via the BRAVIA Internet Video Link service. If you're hankering for something even thinner than a 9mm plasma and looking to spend a whopping $227 per inch, head on over to a Sony store today.

Sony's XEL-1 OLED TV -- with its 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a ridiculous 3mm thin enclosure -- has been unboxed over at TV Snob. Next to all of its accessories, the XEL-1 looks rather less appealing when compared to the clean press shots. In particular, we're left a little confused as to what the deal is with that ugly external power brick: isn't that what the big box underneath the screen was for?

We're sure you've been drooling over Sony's sexy little 11-inch XEL-1 OLED TV since the official launch last month, and though we thought that only the Japanese would be lucky enough to snap one up this year, Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow has just revealed that US customers may actually have a shot at the 3-millimeter thick waif by holiday time. At a roundtable discussion this morning at the Sony Club in New York, Glasgow told the assembled journalists that "OLED could come [here] before the end of the year," but that the decision would be based significantly on foreign demand and panel supply -- an area where yields are still reportedly quite low. In other words, while you shouldn't go squirreling your ~$1,800 away just yet, you should start praying to the gods of consumer electronics that the XEL-1 hits Tokyo with little more than a whisper.