LG shows off smart appliances at CES 2011 (photos)

LG Electronics kicked off a slate of press events today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company unveiled a host of smart appliances and home video gear, while only teasing to some of its most-anticipated gadgets.

LG's Smart TV Upgrader set-top box streams video from a variety of sources over the Internet, comes with a Web browser, and lets customers install new apps.

LG has introduced an Android smartphone called the LG Optimus Black. The Optimus Black promises a super bright 4-inch "NOVA display" in a very thin 9.2mm design. In fact, LG claims that it tapers down to 6.0mm to make it the world's thinnest smartphone. The Optimus Black will ship with Android 2.2, and is upgradable to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It will be available globally in the first half of 2011.

LG showed off its Thinq smart-appliance ambitions at CES.

The LG BP650 is the company's first portable Blu-ray player. There aren't any additional details at the moment, so we'll have to wait to know whether it has LG's Smart TV streaming media services, built-in Wi-Fi, how much it costs, etc.

LG's BD690 Blu-ray player offers an incremental update to last year's product. The basics are the same, with the BD690 featuring a 250GB internal hard drive, which can store music, photos, and personal (i.e., noncopyrighted) videos. There's built-in Wi-Fi, and like last year's model it's DLNA-compliant so you can also stream music, photos and video from a connected PC.

LG has updated its line of Wi-Fi-capable Blu-ray players with three new models. Most of the changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but the new streaming-media services to be added to LG's suite (now known as Smart TV) are definitely solid additions. Here are a few details:

LG BD670 (pictured): 3D + Smart TV + built-in Wi-Fi + DLNA personal media streaming

LG BD650: 3D + Smart TV + requires Wi-Fi adapter (sold separately) + DLNA personal media streaming

LG BD640: Netflix, Vudu, CinemaNow, and YouTube streaming + requires Wi-Fi adapter (included)

LG's PZ950 sports the company's fullest array of plasma features for 2011. Much like the PX950 series we liked last year, the PZ950, along with the step-down PZ750, will offer THX certification for both 2D and 3D sources.

LG's PZ750 plasmas are certified by THX with both 2D and 3D sources.

LG announced its flagship Blu-ray home theater-in-a-box (HTIB) system this morning, the LHB976, with several high-end features including two HDMI inputs, built-in Wi-Fi, and wireless rear speakers.

LG announced two series of LCD TVs with passive 3D technology, including the LW6500 pictured here.