Our provocatively-titled story from last week, Are new LCDs the OLED killer?  prompted more than a few of you to write in with your thoughts.  Indignation, surprise, incomprehension, disgust: we've seen them all in our Inbox, and all with a convincing justification to match.

The recurring question has been how reasonable it is to consign OLED screens to history without first seeing how good the contrast that this new generation of screens promises to bring really is?

We’ve recently learnt four new interesting facts about the technology which will add to the debate:

1. When it’s used commercially, the technology will be marketed as WLED, not OLED.  So for those who thought that its supporters may have given it up, OLED is very much up for the fight, even if it is under a different name.

2. The contrast tests for theses screens show results of 100 000:1.  So, if the maximum brightness really is 280 cd/m², as is promised, black will only show at 0.0028 cd/m²!

3. This technology will make its debut not only in televisions, but also on computer monitors, starting this November with AOC (19” and 22” models) and then in 2009 from Philips.

4. The energy efficiency measurements taken so far on the first models suggest an improvement of anywhere between 10% and 20% compared with average conventional LCD screens currently available.

Why WLED?  It stands for White LED, because that’s how the screens are backlit, although they aren’t the only product to use this method.  Another caveat: the 100 000:1 contrast must surely be involve the activation of dynamic contrast, but how good will they be without this option?

Much as we’d love to, we honestly can’t tell you any more than that without getting in seriously hot water with some of sources.  We promise to keep you posted though! 

Now with a range of LCD TVs that's as complete as its collection of plasma screens, Panasonic has two new Full HD 1080p screens for us to test, the Viera TX-37LZD80F and the smaller TX-32LZD80F.

Identical in all regards, apart from their size, these LCD screens feature matt panels, which will really help people whose TVs are in a brightly-lit room, or have a window at right angles to their screen.  And to make the most of the viewing angle, both screens sit on a rotating base.

Be careful, though: neither screen will make the most of the excellent resolution, as the built-in digital tuners are not compatible with the HD pictures already being broadcast in several countries and forecast to arrive soon in many more.

Perhaps the only noteworthy difference brought about by the change in size is that the smaller screen actually has a slightly higher resolution, and its form factor makes it well-suited to acting as a computer monitor as well as a TV screen.

> Our ongoing survey of 30 to 39" TVs

Garmin will launch its new nüvi 765T GPS in October, with a redesigned interface offering drivers a much clearer description of which motorway exits to take.  The new Junction View system is capable of offering a photorealistic picture of the route to be followed.  Most of Garmin’s competitors already offer similar functionality, albeit under different names.  As you can see in this screenshot, the sign above the lane that should be taken is shown clearly, but the other options are grayed out.  This is a simple but effective idea that for the time being at least is only exploited by Garmin.  The other new feature that can be seen here is Lane Assist, which adds a very visible arrow to the lane of traffic to follow.

In some big cities, certain signature buildings and key monuments are shown in 3D, and it probably won’t be long before this feature, which can be seen in this screenshot, is added to more constructions in more locations.

As for the hardware itself, it’s a standard high-end model with all that brings: 4.3 inch screen, Bluetooth to connect to a hands-free kit, voice synthesizer to read street names, FM transmitter to be picked up by the car radio, speed camera locations, MP3 player and, finally, up-to-date traffic information from ViaMichelin.

The Garmin nüvi 765T should launch at around 399 euros.

> Ongoing comparison: GPS systems

Here we are: the new Google brower, Chrome, is available now ...

Download Google Chrome

A 'best of' the other browsers

Google has made no secret of the fact that it's combined the best parts of other browsers to bring together a new program better adapted to the needs of modern Internet users.  You can see this straight away in the user interface, which is full of the kind of transparent effects we're used to from Apple coupled with the sparse set of buttons found in Internet Explorer.  And the functionality is most reminiscent of Firefox, of course, but we’re not going to go in for a detailed comparison just yet …


Fast browsing

But the really big surprise is just how fast you can surf with Google Chrome: when we tried to load our own site this morning, it felt like it had been on steroids.  We never really thought digitalversus.com was slow, but this is something else. 

Right here, on the computer I’m using to type this article, the difference between Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome is clear, and it’s very much in favor of the new arrival.  The whole surfing experience seems instantaneous, as if our whole site were cached already.  A quick dash around some of our other favorite sites confirms this first impression: we’ve never surfed so speedily.  It’s a surprising effect, and actually a little disconcerting at first, even if you get all too used to it after a little while.  NB: we do have an excellent fiber connection in our offices.

As for the amount of memory it occupies, Chrome seems to have a slender advantage: with the same five tabs open in each browser, Google’s clocked up 47 MB against Mozilla’s 57 MB, although this is obviously something to test in the longer term.

Three other first impressions

• As for the amount of memory it occupies, Chrome seems to have a slender advantage: with the same five tabs open in each browser, Google’s clocked up 47 MB against Mozilla’s 57 MB, although this is obviously something to test in the longer term.

• Google has emphasized a sober design that leaves more room for displaying the website in question.  On our site, for instance, you can see one or two more news articles on the home page than you can in Firefox.

• Finally, the redesigned home page is very practical, and might well change your browsing behavior.  Rather than going directly to one or the other of your favorite sites, Chrome offers a well-designed list, made up not only of your favorites, but also the pages you visit the most frequently.  Apparently, this welcome screen should take a few uses to iron out the sites you actually use, but it’s already started work on ours …

For more of the technical details, you can also see our Chrome preview from yesterday