Cellphones are caught in this awkward spot where they've got to be small -- like pocketable, doesn't-look-ridiculous-on-your-face small -- and yet somehow big enough to pack an expansive, pretty display that's capable of displaying a lot of stuff at once. That's a paradox that has forced manufacturers into some curious form factors over the years, but ultimately, if you want to somehow cram the desktop viewing experience into a device the size of a pack of cigarettes, you're probably going to need something that projects, rolls, or folds. That's where Samsung's new concept phone shown off at the FPD International show in Yokohama comes into play, opening like a book to reveal a flexible OLED big enough to handle those cute puppy videos that no plain-vanilla, 2.5-inch display can do justice. There's no word on when a so-equipped handset might see production -- but we think it's appropriate that it's being shown off in Japan in all places, if you catch our drift. Follow the break for a video of the display in action.

We had a chance to gaze through the wireframe of this 8.1 megapixel Casio W63CA Exilim cellphone back in August courtesy of the FCC's finest. Now check it in high-gloss, plastic flesh. The latest Japanese super-phone squeezes 480 x 800 pixel into a 3.1-inch OLED display. Let that sink in for a second... the very same 384,000 pixels on a display smaller than the 3.8-inch LCD heralded by the Touch HD. The camera features a wide-angle lens, 9-point auto focus, face detection, anti-shake, and a YouTube video mode that records VGA video at 30fps to microSD. All this in a Japanese-only flip measuring 110 x 50 x 17.4 ~ 22-mm when it launches in early November.

[Via Impress]

Hardware fanatics, listen up -- a golden egg has been laid in the form of the Samsung I7110. Arriving with a slightly sleeker design than on the earlier spotted i7110c, this Symbian S60-based candybar has been revealed to the world today in London. Specs wise, you're looking at a luscious 2.6-inch AMOLED display, FM radio / transmitter , GPS navigation (with geotagging functionality), an accelerometer, "3D graphics," Bluetooth 2.0, HSDPA and WiFi. Additionally, it packs a 5-megapixel camera (with Auto Focus and a LED flash), robust multimedia player (DivX support included), 50MB of internal memory, a microSDHC slot, video recording, 11-hours of talk time and a 12.9-millimeter thin body. Price remains a mystery, but those in Russia will be the first in the know when it launches there next month. As for everyone else? Patience.

We kid you not. Panasonic is working on a new low-voltage (1.5v) plasma technology which it says will rival OLED displays in brightness, thinness, and contrast. Better yet, Panasonic claims that its plasmas can be manufactured for "much less money" than OLEDs. Panny already has plans to include their new plasma displays in cellphones for use with AT&T's Mobile TV service, gas pumps, ATMs, and on HP printers under a new exclusive two-year deal. Color us impressed if the new displays look anything like the 3.5-inch, 854 x 480 pixel Viera phone instead of that anemic looking phone pictured above which accompanied the press release.

Don't get too excited here, because unless you live in South Korea, odds are you'll never see an LG SH150A in person, let alone own one (though with its global roaming capability, we suppose we could be proven wrong). The domestic market slider looks ordinary enough -- especially considering the milquetoast 2 megapixel cam -- but it's got a couple aces up its sleeve: 7.2Mbps HSDPA, and more importantly, a 2.2 inch active matrix OLED display that should make the integrated DMB tuner an absolute joy to use. If the thought of such a supremely glorious screen in your pocket is too much to bear, hop a flight to Seoul and pick it up for about 400,000 won ($432).

While the technology is still in preliminary stages, it's not hard to imagine the kind of devices inside which a 3-inch WVGA (480 x 800) OLED display would find a home, and we want one yesterday. Samsung SDI is prepping just such a display, and claims to have overcome the manufacturing and performance barriers that have kept the technology stuck at QVGA in consumer devices. The new technology is being developed in conjunction with Clairvoyante, using Clairvoyante's proprietary PenTile RGB tech, allowing for low battery consumption and high performance, to the tune of 1000:1 contrast and 200 nits of brightness. Sounds good to us, mass production starts Q3 2008.

We actually went the distance and conducted a poll, but none of us here at Engadget have actually dreamed of owning a mobile that our autonomous Legos could seesaw on. Of course, that's not to say we wouldn't take interest if one were to surface. Enter Karsten Willmann's "Unique" concept handset, which longs to fit into Sony Ericsson's lineup and make us all paranoid over that beautiful, unprotected OLED display. Additionally, the built-in jog dial and bezel-less design sure get thumbs up from us, but unless this thing ends up constructed from some mighty rigid materials, we don't see it holding up for too long. More pictorial delight after the jump.

Our parcel carrier has been a busy bunch the past few days and today will be no different -- the LG VX8700 for Verizon Wireless arrived at our doorsteps today. We decided to take a few pictures of the unboxing process and share our initial impressions of The Network's latest toy. Put simply, the phone is beautiful and pictures do it no justice. It has a great, solid feel to it, has a snazzy 2 megapixel shooter, and a horizontal OLED outside display that performs better than we expected. LG decided to throw in EV-DO for data and expandable memory via microSD. Be on the lookout for the full review!

We've never really understood these displays on Bluetooth headsets. They might come in handy if you had a pocket mirror on you, but would it not then make sense for the text on the display to be backwards? At any rate, Helium Digital's new HD-880 uses the OLED display for help screens in addition to the standard-issue caller ID information, useful for folks unfamiliar with the pairing process. The Bluetooth 1.2 headset offers a claimed four hours of talk time and 30 hours of standby for a suggested retail of $90.

[Via SlashGear]

We hesitate to bring up anything to do with the ongoing debacle that is SPOT, but the guys over at Microsoft's most left-of-center division helped popularize the concept of "glanceable" information -- ubiquitous, high-demand data (weather reports, for instance) that can be gleaned quickly and with little or no user input. Cellphones, despite the fact that they have ready access to such data, have been largely left out of the party; always-on displays are a backbone of the glanceable concept, and the dazzling, hi-res screens necessary to keep the modern consumer entertained drain far too much power to be left on when no one is interacting with the device. Manufacturers have taken baby steps to solving the power problem by introducing OLEDs, but more is needed. Qualcomm, when it's not busy filing lawsuits, has been working on its iMoD (short for Interferometric Modulator) technology, which uses an array of microscopic mirrors to stay highly visible in well-lit conditions. Meanwhile, Philips spin-off Liquavista is taking the electrowetting approach. Either way, we're all for always-on cellphone displays that afford us more than a few hours of standby, but both groups have yet to name any commercial devices in the pipeline. In the meantime, there's still a chance to jump on the glanceable bandwagon -- grab a handful of Ambient Orbs, turn down the lights, and soak in the psychadelic data.

[Via textually.org]