Hand-held devices
In the battle for Android smartphone supremacy, Samsung seems to be in another ‘galaxy’ and way ahead of the competition. LG is betting big on what will be its flagship for 2013 — the LG Optimus G Pro that will debut in India in the next couple of months. LG’s premium smartphones have made big strides in the last 12 months and the G Pro seems to have covered all bases. It’s clearly a response to the stupendous success of the Samsung Galaxy Note II which proved that we all love to live our mobile life king size.
While the tablet category has been growing exponentially, the effort to integrate the tablet and the laptop, driven primarily by Windows 8 powered devices, is yet to achieve critical mass. LG showed off its Tab Book (H160), a 1.05 kg notebook-tablet hybrid that it hopes will trigger consumer interest in this category. Printing photos might be passé but you still need to fill those photo frames and large tack boards at the office. Pocket Photo is a portable printer that sits on the palm of your hand and can hook up with your Android or Apple mobile phone (and other devices) via Bluetooth, NFC or a USB drive.
Home-entertainment
If you are confused about what TV to buy next, you are not alone. There’s a plethora of emerging technologies that are shaping exciting new home entertainment options. LG has added another element in this mix — a 55-inch OLED (Organic light-emitting diode) television. It’s just 4 mm thick, thinner than any mobile phone you have ever used and weighs less than 10 kg. Aside from its ultra slim ‘size zero’ form factor, this TV expands the conventional RGB (Red Green Blue) colour model with the addition of White and the unique WRGB technology delivers stunning images. At Rs. 17 lakh it might not fit most budgets and with an 84-inch screen you might struggle to make space in your living room for the LG Ultra HD TV, touted as the world’s largest Ultra HD TV. But this heady mix of size and clarity is truly compelling.
There are those times you are at a karaoke bar or restaurant and wished that some enthusiastic singers would perfect their amateur act before unleashing it on unsuspecting diners. The LG Song Star, a cool ‘sing along’ system has been designed specifically for the Indian consumer, especially those with frequent family reunions. The multi-functional microphone has an inbuilt playlist of over 4000 songs in 9 languages and syncs with your TV to create a karaoke experience at home.
Tech shows struggle to meet the insatiable demands of today’s tech consumers, LG’s ever first technology spectacle in India had its share of bright sparks to excite visitors. Although some of these products may not make it to our homes in 2013, they just might in the not too distant future.
Clean your home carpet from your office
Imagine the look on your neighbour’s face when she is greeted by a vacuum cleaner that resembles a ‘bot’ from a sci-fi film. LG’s ‘Hom Bot’ is a bagless vacuum cleaner with a mind of its own. An inbuilt camera sets its path, allows it to discover areas that need extra cleaning and dodge obstacles (including your neighbour). When it runs out of battery it will head back to its charging dock and return to complete the task on hand. The 2013 Hom Bot can be remote controlled via your smartphone, just what you need if the boss is coming over for an unscheduled dinner. You can run it and monitor progress via the onboard camera from your work desk.
Flagship mobile phone for 2013
The ‘phablet’ is probably the closest we have got to a single ‘convergence device’; it’s a device that can slip into your jeans pocket (even the occasional skin tight jeans) with a screen large enough to entertain you on the go. LG does not like the ‘phablet’ tag even though at 5.5 inches the Optimus G Pro might automatically be slotted in that category. The device features an impressive spec sheet — a 5.5 inch Full HD IPS display, a 1.7 GHz quad core processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB memory onboard that is extendable, a 13MP Camera and a heavy duty 3140 mAh battery. It feels lighter than the Note II but doesn’t feature an in-built stylus reflecting Steve Jobs’ philosophy — the human finger is the best stylus for a touch phone!
