Samsung has announced a new series of prototype OLED displays in Hong Kong that, with their mirrored and transparent surfaces, are like something from a sci-fi film.
The new mirror display has been shown off as a kind of virtual fitting room, allowing whoever’s looking at it too see a reflection of themselves augmented with jewellery or clothes, say. That’s made possible using 3D cameras supplied by Intel, but the attraction is fairly clear: a crisp and clear mirror image from a reflective surface is always bound to trump one created from pixels alone. Elsewhere, the transparent display has been shown off as a way of overlaying ads onto otherwise clear panels. Err, great?
While mirrored and transparent displays aren’t revolutionary, Samsung claims that its mirrored display is sharper, clearer, and higher in contrast than others available, while the transparent screen is clearer and more colourful than rivals. There’s no word on these technologies becoming a consumer product any time soon, but it’s fun to know that the technology exists — and is clearly getting better. [Samsung via Engadget]