LG talks TV, appliances and fitness at CES 2014
LG has given a lot of love to home appliances at its CES press conference, as well as showing off the Lifeband Touch fitness tracker and new WebOS-enabled smart TVs.
It was 3am, when every right thinking Australian was asleep — but in Las Vegas it was CES Press Day and LG was in full swing.
The Korean electronics giant devoted a lot of its on stage time to its appliances division — with three different speakers talking about home technology — but still found time to talk about TV and, of course, its foray into wearable technology.
While there were plenty of fridges and washing machines, LG also went into more detail about its vision of the connected home with LG Home Chat.
This service would allow you, for example, to text your fridge and ask if it has milk and butter while at the local supermarket. LG called it one of the most important services for the Internet of Things, as it will work with almost everything in the future.
The lounge room
LG was also pushing WebOS, the operating system it bought from HP, with the OS forming core for many of its smart home entertainment devices. In fact, of the 25 new TVs it announced in its 2014 range, over half will feature Web OS.
In Ultra HD, the company has six new series and 12 total models ranging from 49-inch to the previously mentioned 105-inch screen monster. Interestingly, many will have built-in subwoofers to boost sound and all of these will feature the WebOS platform.
LG said that the OS will be critical for its 4K Ultra HD range because streaming is likely to be the first widespread delivery method for 4K. The company even brought Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on stage to discuss how a native Web operating system will make streaming shows like House of Cards in 4K easier and 'cleaner'.
OLED wasn't ignored, with four new series and five models shown off with sizes ranging from 55- to 77-inches. A new version of LG's flatscreen gallery OLED TV was also revealed.
Wearables
CES 2014 is shaping up as the year of the wearable and LG wasn't about to be left behind. The LifeBand Touch is yet another activity monitor for your wrist, but this one seems to bridge the gap between simple fitness tracker like the Jawbone Up and full-blown smartwatch like the Galaxy Gear.
It features a touch-enabled OLED screen, connect via Bluetooth and — while it doesn't track sleep and isn't shower-safe — it does have some nifty features such as music and volume controls, as well as call notifications and silencing.
And for something completely left field in the fitness arena, LG now has Heart Rate Earphones — earbuds that track your heart rate and oxygen consumption and send the data via Bluetooth. Mind. Blown.
Finally, while it may have seemed that smartphones got left out in the cold, LG committed to getting the curved LG flex into the US market in the next three months, meaning that an Aussie release may not be far behind.