Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Panasonic Unveils Flat-Panel Speakers
Posted by Jason Dunn in "HARDWARE" @ 02:00 PM
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,103445,tk,dn073002X,00.asp
Audio is a dear love of mine, so I greet this news with enthusiasm! I'm not convinced the audio quality will be all that great, but I've been surprised by flat-panel speakers before so I'll hold off on any preliminary judgments until I hear these in person. If they don't add much to the cost of a Pocket PC, and would make multimedia better, I'm all for it!
"Matsushita Electronic Industrial and its subsidiary Matsushita Electronic Components will start shipping samples of transparent flat-panel speakers for mobile phones and PDAs next month, they announced Monday. The products, the Acoustic Panel and the Acoustic Touch-Panel, use Sound Window technology jointly developed by Matsushita, better known for its Panasonic brand name, and its subsidiary.
Sound Window consists of a transparent panel mounted in front of a device's display and a separate driver to vibrate the air between the panel and the display to create sound. The panels are thin and flexible, so they do not affect the sound quality when they are touched. Because the panel is placed over the LCD, the mobile device does not require speaker holes. The driver can be placed anywhere on the device so long as it vibrates the air between the panel and the display, allowing more flexible design of mobile devices, the statement says."
Audio is a dear love of mine, so I greet this news with enthusiasm! I'm not convinced the audio quality will be all that great, but I've been surprised by flat-panel speakers before so I'll hold off on any preliminary judgments until I hear these in person. If they don't add much to the cost of a Pocket PC, and would make multimedia better, I'm all for it!
"Matsushita Electronic Industrial and its subsidiary Matsushita Electronic Components will start shipping samples of transparent flat-panel speakers for mobile phones and PDAs next month, they announced Monday. The products, the Acoustic Panel and the Acoustic Touch-Panel, use Sound Window technology jointly developed by Matsushita, better known for its Panasonic brand name, and its subsidiary.
Sound Window consists of a transparent panel mounted in front of a device's display and a separate driver to vibrate the air between the panel and the display to create sound. The panels are thin and flexible, so they do not affect the sound quality when they are touched. Because the panel is placed over the LCD, the mobile device does not require speaker holes. The driver can be placed anywhere on the device so long as it vibrates the air between the panel and the display, allowing more flexible design of mobile devices, the statement says."
