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Review: Sony XEL-1

Sometimes you can see the future in a device. Well, we see it in the diminutive XEL-1, with its first-ever consumer-ready OLED TV screen. Like an old-school jumbotron, each pixel creates its own light, eliminating the need for bulky backlighting. And when a pixel is off, it’s off — unlike LCDs, which always bleed some […]
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Rating:

9/10

WIRED
No backlight makes for an absurdly thin panel — just 0.12 inch. Cool retro-futurist styling. Equally svelte remote has easy-to-push buttons.
TIRED
Some issues de-interlacing HD sources. Lilliputian screen doesn't exactly deliver a home theater experience, but Sony promises that bigger versions are on the way.
  • Screen Size: 11 inches

Sometimes you can see the future in a device. Well, we see it in the diminutive XEL-1, with its first-ever consumer-ready OLED TV screen. Like an old-school jumbotron, each pixel creates its own light, eliminating the need for bulky backlighting. And when a pixel is off, it's off — unlike LCDs, which always bleed some residual glow. The result is mind-blowing contrast and a picture that's clearer, sharper and more vibrant than anything we've seen — plus a virtually unclockable response time that makes the XEL-1 a killer gaming monitor. If only the 11-inch screen allowed you to ogle its glories from more than a few feet away. It's not going to replace your 50-inch plasma, but its technological progeny will.