AllThingsD » LG http://allthingsd.com Sun, 27 May 2012 01:54:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 LG Says Optimus L7 to Start Shipping This Month, at Least in Europe http://allthingsd.com/20120504/lg-says-optimus-l7-to-start-shipping-this-month-at-least-in-europe/ http://allthingsd.com/20120504/lg-says-optimus-l7-to-start-shipping-this-month-at-least-in-europe/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 12:00:56 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=203693 Korea’s LG said Friday that the Optimus L7 phone introduced at Mobile World Congress will start shipping in Europe later this month.

The device will then head to Asia and beyond; no U.S. plans have been announced.

The L7 is at the upper end of a midrange line that LG is hoping will help the company regain some lost ground in the market.

“For consumers desiring high-end style and sophistication in a smartphone, LG Optimus L7 offers beauty and performance in one smart package,” LG mobile unit CEO Jong-seok Park said in a statement. “The L7 is a significant addition to our L-Series portfolio and we are confident that it’ll prove highly attractive to users. We expect it to be one of our most popular smartphones.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120504/lg-says-optimus-l7-to-start-shipping-this-month-at-least-in-europe/feed/ 0 No New Windows Phone Device in LG's Pipeline http://allthingsd.com/20120501/no-new-windows-phone-device-in-lgs-pipeline/ http://allthingsd.com/20120501/no-new-windows-phone-device-in-lgs-pipeline/#comments Tue, 01 May 2012 22:50:51 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=202118 LG is not abandoning Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform; it’s just not particularly focused on it at the moment.

Responding to a report in the Korea Herald that suggested it was “taking a step back from Windows Phones,” LG today said that is an inaccurate characterization.

“At the moment, LG is primarily focusing on developing Android-equipped smartphones,” the company said in a statement. “Contrary to what some articles have said, LG is not giving up on Windows Phones.”

But it’s not exactly throwing its full support behind them, either. There isn’t a single Windows Phone device on the company’s near-term handset roadmap, as the company itself concedes.

“Although we currently don’t have a new Windows device in the pipeline, that is simply because demand for Android devices is so strong,” LG said in a statement to AllThingsD. “We’ve maintained since the beginning that LG will support whatever operating system consumers want but at the moment, our priority is to get our Android devices to a level where we feel we have strong coverage of all the major markets.”

So no, LG is not giving up on Windows Phone. But its commitment to the platform wasn’t all that big in the first place. While it was one of the first hardware makers to support the platform, the company has released only a handful of handsets running the OS.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120501/no-new-windows-phone-device-in-lgs-pipeline/feed/ 0 LG Hopes Its Latest Smartphone Is More of a Fairy Tale and Less of a Nightmare http://allthingsd.com/20120418/lg-hopes-its-latest-smartphone-is-more-of-a-fairy-tale-and-less-of-a-nightmare/ http://allthingsd.com/20120418/lg-hopes-its-latest-smartphone-is-more-of-a-fairy-tale-and-less-of-a-nightmare/#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:43:33 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=197878 Korean smartphone maker LG is looking to rebound off a pretty rough year in which it found itself overshadowed by its rivals.

Its U.S. presence has become more common at the low end of the Android market and at prepaid carriers as the high-end market has been dominated by the likes of Samsung and Motorola.

LG is hoping to improve its fortunes, starting with the Viper, a $99 LTE phone for Sprint. Among the markets LG hopes to target is busy parents.

“This is really easy to use and still has a ton of features,” LG spokesman Chaz Abbott said, showing off the phone.

To highlight its family-friendliness, LG has come up with a storytelling app that lets parents record a fairy tale using their own photos, sounds and words — sort of a Mad Libs for the digital era.

The Life’s Good Fairytale will eventually be free for all Android phones, though Viper owners will get first crack at the app, which is slated to be available for them starting April 27.

LG is showing off the phone and app later today at an event in New York. Unfortunately for LG, the N.Y. launch party market is almost as crowded as the Android smartphone one. Its event is up against both T-Mobile’s HTC One S launch and a party for Spotify.

The Viper, too, will find itself challenged to stand out. It launches at the same time Sprint is pushing out the Galaxy Nexus, a more high-end phone that also runs on the carrier’s nascent LTE network.

LG faces similar challenges outside the U.S. amid a host of Android competitors at all segments of the market.

Globally, LG is counting on a new lineup that includes a quad-core phone, a “phablet” and a new-look mainstream line.

Abbott said that LG has yet to announce U.S. plans for any of these devices, which were shown off at February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120418/lg-hopes-its-latest-smartphone-is-more-of-a-fairy-tale-and-less-of-a-nightmare/feed/ 0 Sprint's New 4G LTE Evo Has HD Voice, Brings Back the Kickstand http://allthingsd.com/20120404/sprints-giant-new-4g-lte-evo-comes-with-a-kickstand/ http://allthingsd.com/20120404/sprints-giant-new-4g-lte-evo-comes-with-a-kickstand/#comments Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:51:53 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=193124 As expected, Sprint and HTC used a New York event to announce a new phone. In this case, it’s the new Evo 4G LTE phone.

The smartphone’s specs are pretty much based on the recently-unveiled HTC One phones, though the word “One” wasn’t uttered, well, once.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse unveiled the new 4G LTE Evo, calling it “the gold standard” of Sprint phones, running the latest version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and the latest version of HTC Sense, called Sense 4. It will be the first HD voice-capable phone, which is supposed to make voice quality extra clear.

The smartphone also brings back the kickstand, for propping up the phone when you’re taking advantage of viewing the massive 4.7-inch LCD HD display. It’s got an 8 megapixel camera and Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz dual-core processor; no word yet on expected battery life. Oh, and it’s got Beats audio, that audio technology that pops up in select HP products.

The phone is expected to retail for $200 sometime in the second quarter of the year, with pre-orders starting on May 7.

The phone will be among the initial stable of phones that work with the LTE network that Sprint will roll out in the coming months. Sprint has already said it will have a version of the Galaxy Nexus as well as an eco-friendly phone from LG.

The carrier is in the midst of a major shift. After having spent the past several years focused on a different 4G technology–WiMax–Sprint is now adopting LTE. The company has said it has introduced its last WiMax phone.

For the moment, though, that makes things a bit awkward as the company will be introducing new 4G phones but it will have service in just a handful of cities.

Sprint has announced the first half dozen cities that will get LTE, a list that includes Baltimore, Kansas City, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta.

For HTC, its new One line is an attempt to regain lost ground at the high-end of the Android market. HTC plans to put nearly all its marketing weight behind the One line.

The company announced the One line and the first three devices at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. AT&T will sell the flagship HTC One X while T-Mobile will sell the narrower HTC One S. The first HTC One devices are expected to go on sale globally this month.

AllThingsD’s Ina Fried contributed to this report.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120404/sprints-giant-new-4g-lte-evo-comes-with-a-kickstand/feed/ 0 Android Now on More Than 50 Percent of U.S. Smartphones http://allthingsd.com/20120403/android-now-on-more-than-50-percent-of-u-s-smartphones/ http://allthingsd.com/20120403/android-now-on-more-than-50-percent-of-u-s-smartphones/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:49:06 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=192757 Android use continues to grow and has now crossed 50 percent market share in the U.S. according to newly released numbers from comScore.

The research firm estimates that just over half of the 104 million smartphones in America run Google’s operating system, up 17 percentage points from a year ago.

Ownership of iPhones continues to grow in the U.S. as well, representing 30 percent of the smartphone market — up 5 percentage points from a year ago.

Google and Apple’s gains have come at the expense of the other players in the market, which include Research In Motion at 13 percent and Microsoft at just under 4 percent share.

In terms of the overall market, including non-smartphones, Samsung is the top individual hardware maker, accounting for just over a quarter of the 234 million phones owned by those 13 and older. That’s essentially the same share it had a year ago.

Korea’s LG is next with 19.4 percent share, followed by Apple at 13.5 percent of total handsets, Motorola at 12.8 percent and HTC at 6.3 percent.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120403/android-now-on-more-than-50-percent-of-u-s-smartphones/feed/ 0 Satisfaction, Thy Name Is iPhone http://allthingsd.com/20120316/satisfaction-thy-name-is-iphone/ http://allthingsd.com/20120316/satisfaction-thy-name-is-iphone/#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:05:46 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=186963 Here’s a data point sure to get prominent mention during Apple’s next big media event. The iPhone has once again claimed the top ranking in J.D. Power’s semiannual smartphone satisfaction study.

For the seventh consecutive time.

The iPhone scored 839 out of 1,000 possible points. That’s a point more than it claimed in J.D. Power’s September 2011 survey, and 41 points more than its nearest rival, HTC, which scored 798 (down from 801).

It’s also 64 points more than the industry average of 774, beneath which rivals Samsung, Motorola, LG, Research In Motion and Nokia continue to toil. All five of those companies’ smartphones fell in customer esteem, some precipitously. Motorola’s score slipped to 758, down from 775; Samsung’s to 769 from 777; LG’s to 733 from 760; RIM’s to 733 from 762; and Nokia’s to 702 from 721.

What a sad commentary on the industry that smartphones from five of its seven largest vendors posted below-average scores in customer satisfaction.

Declining scores.

Ease of operation, operating system, physical design and the all-important battery performance — which, according to J.D. Power’s study, consumers identified as the least satisfying aspect of smartphones, by far — are features you’d think the smartphone industry would have pretty much dialed in by now. But evidently there’s still lots of room for improvement.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120316/satisfaction-thy-name-is-iphone/feed/ 0 LG: Please Call It a Comeback http://allthingsd.com/20120226/lg-please-call-it-a-comeback/ http://allthingsd.com/20120226/lg-please-call-it-a-comeback/#comments Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:37:27 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=177968 After a year of lost ground in the smartphone business, LG is looking to regain its footing with a string of new products.

Despite gaining early Android market share with popular and inexpensive models, the company lost its way over the past year amid strong competition from Samsung and others.

In addition to having less-than-earthshattering designs, LG was also slow to bring out models with the latest versions of Android, smartphone unit leader Ramchan Woo said in an interview.

“We admit last year we were kind of behind,” Woo told AllThingsD.

However, things are looking up, he insists. The company’s homegrown display technology, once trailing rivals, is now ahead of the curve, Woo said. Its battery life is also better than rivals, and the company is banking on new design to help its low-end and midrange phones.

“At the same time, we provide a bigger display compared to other models in same tier,” Woo said.

At the high end, the company has a quad-core phone that Woo said packs eight unique software features, though he declined to identify any of them. An update to the company’s initial 3-D phone boasts a wider viewing angle and no longer adds extra bulk.

“This year, it is as thin and light as regular smartphones,” he said. “You can do 3-D, as well. That’s the message.”

At Mobile World Congress, LG is focusing exclusively on new Android devices, after slower-than-hoped-for sales of its Windows Phones. Additional models are in the works, Woo said, though he declined to say when to expect new models.

The demand for new Windows Phones varies by operator, he said.

“Some operators, they ask (for) Windows Phone to balance Android; however, the others, they are (still) figuring out how to sell Windows,” Woo said.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120226/lg-please-call-it-a-comeback/feed/ 0 LG Shows Its Hand in Barcelona (After Already Tipping It) http://allthingsd.com/20120226/lg-shows-its-hand-after-already-tipping-it/ http://allthingsd.com/20120226/lg-shows-its-hand-after-already-tipping-it/#comments Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:57:32 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=177915 After announcing a ton of devices last week, there wasn’t much room for surprise by the time LG made it to Barcelona.

The company introduced four devices last week, as well as plans for a new design theme. However, the company is using the show to display the just-introduced devices, plus three other phones that are part of a new-look design for the company.

Those devices — L3, L5 and L7 — are similar in design, but with different screen sizes and going after different parts of the market, from low-end to midrange. The L3 will sbhip this quarter and runs on the Gingerbread version of Android; the L5 and L7 run Ice Cream Sandwich and are due out next quarter.

Along with those devices, LG has a range of high-end models, including a new 3-D phone with a wider viewing angle; a quad-core phone; and the LG Optimus Vu, with its ginormous screen. Or, as LG likes to put it, a device that is “four times smaller than an ordinary tablet.”

The moves come as LG is trying to deal with increasingly tough competition in the mobile space, particularly among Android makers.

Here’s a picture of the Optimus Vu, by the way, held next to a Nokia Lumia 800:

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120226/lg-shows-its-hand-after-already-tipping-it/feed/ 0 With Latest Galaxy, Samsung Looks to Project Its Android Lead http://allthingsd.com/20120226/with-latest-galaxy-samsung-looks-to-project-its-android-lead/ http://allthingsd.com/20120226/with-latest-galaxy-samsung-looks-to-project-its-android-lead/#comments Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:36:06 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=177907 Taking away yet another potential niche for competitors, Samsung on Sunday offered up a beefed-up version of its projector-packing Galaxy Beam device.

The Android phone uses the built-in projector to turn a blank wall into a giant display — up to 50 inches. It’s an update to a product of the same name introduced back in 2010.

.

It’s one of the signs we see from Samsung and rivals like LG. Amid an increasingly competitive Android market, device makers are offering smartphones in every conceivable shape and size in an attempt to stand out. It will be interesting to watch how this strategy plays out this year.

In addition to the new Galaxy Beam, Samsung also introduced an updated version of its 7-inch and 10-inch Galaxy Tabs. The company also updated two existing phones last week, the Galaxy Mini 2 and Galaxy Ace 2.

Unlike past years, Samsung isn’t having a big press conference of its own, but it has unveiled several phones over the last couple of weeks. The company had already said it won’t use Mobile World Congress to show off the successor to its flagship Galaxy S II, though it is expected to debut later in the first half of the year.

As for the Galaxy Beam, Samsung says it has a chance to succeed where past projector phones have failed to catch on, because it is thinner and doesn’t make compromises on phone quality.

“We wanted to stress the fact it’s a projector, but we wanted to stress the fact it is a phone first,” said Will Bin, Samsung’s manager of smartphone product strategy, in a briefing with reporters.

The device is due to ship in the second quarter, though no pricing was announced. The company did pare back the memory a bit and use a lower-end ST Ericsson processor, likely to help compensate for the cost of the projector.

Update: Meanwhile, judging by the giant posters at the Fira Palace hotel, I’m thinking that the rumored 10-inch Galaxy Note is also real.

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120226/with-latest-galaxy-samsung-looks-to-project-its-android-lead/feed/ 0 LG Keeps the Pre-Barcelona Announcements Coming, This Time With Quad-Core Phone http://allthingsd.com/20120223/lg-keeps-the-pre-barcelona-announcements-coming-this-time-with-quad-core-phone/ http://allthingsd.com/20120223/lg-keeps-the-pre-barcelona-announcements-coming-this-time-with-quad-core-phone/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:26:41 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=177194 Clearly looking to beat the Mobile World Congress onslaught, LG Mobile announced its fourth phone of the week, this time the quad-core LG Optimus 4X HD.

In addition to the 1.5GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 chip, the Optimus 4X boasts a 4.7-inch screen, an 8 megapixel camera and the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android. Pricing and availability were not announced.

The Optimus 4X is the latest pre-Barcelona announcement from LG, which has also announced a new 3-D phone, an NFC-equipped device, and a 5-inch device that fits into the emerging “phablet” category. LG has also promised a new look for its phones, which have been struggling amid fierce competition in the Android business.

LG is having a press conference at Mobile World Congress, but it’s not clear if there will be any new devices left to announce.

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120223/lg-keeps-the-pre-barcelona-announcements-coming-this-time-with-quad-core-phone/feed/ 0 With Neither Sales Nor Designs Turning Heads, LG Promises New Look for Barcelona http://allthingsd.com/20120221/with-neither-sales-nor-designs-turning-heads-lg-promises-new-look-for-barcelona/ http://allthingsd.com/20120221/with-neither-sales-nor-designs-turning-heads-lg-promises-new-look-for-barcelona/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:57:20 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=176355 Korean phone maker LG, struggling amid fierce competition in the Android business, said on Tuesday that it has a new style that it plans to show off at next week’s Mobile World Congress.

After some admittedly lackluster smartphone designs, LG said its new “L-Style” aims to go back to some of the heritage the company had with pre-smartphone era phones like the Chocolate.

“Design is consistently the top or second most important factor for customers when choosing a mobile phone,” LG Mobile CEO Jong-seok Park said in a statement. “With smartphones, we sometimes took a more functional approach to design but with L-Style we’re going back to our roots as a company focused on how our products fit into the lifestyle of our customers.”

The company said it will debut three phones in Barcelona with the new look. The Optimus L3, with a 3.2-inch screen, will launch in Europe in March, and will be followed by two other devices in the first half of the year that will run the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android. Among the qualities LG said mark the new style are “sensuous slim shape” and “harmonized design contrast.”

LG has already announced one phone ahead of the Barcelona show, the finger-stretching 5-inch Optimus Vu.

Rival Samsung, meanwhile, announced a pair of phones of its own on Tuesday: The Galaxy Ace 2 and Galaxy Mini 2.

Hopefully, there will still be some announcements by the time the show starts.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120221/with-neither-sales-nor-designs-turning-heads-lg-promises-new-look-for-barcelona/feed/ 0 Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung Gear Up for the Next Round of Patent Fights http://allthingsd.com/20120220/nokia-qualcomm-samsung-well-positioned-for-next-round-of-mobile-patent-wars/ http://allthingsd.com/20120220/nokia-qualcomm-samsung-well-positioned-for-next-round-of-mobile-patent-wars/#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:00:13 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=175948 With the mobile patent wars showing no signs of slowing any time now, it bears looking at which companies have the key patents for the next round of cellular technology.

That’s also what the folks at Article One Partners thought, so they conducted a study, along with Thomson Reuters, to see who holds what with regard to patents on 4G LTE technology.

When it comes to the patents rated “highly essential,” the study found that Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung and LG held nearly half of the patents. When adding in the proviso of the patents also being highly novel, the study found that Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung and Ericsson collectively own 55 percent of the highly essential and most novel patents.

While things are still shifting, the results should help companies better understand where they fit when it comes to the next generation of wireless technology.

“One of the things companies can use this kind of work is for landscaping,” Article One investor and director Marshall Phelps said in an interview. If a company notices it doesn’t have much intellectual property in an area that most people see as essential, Phelps said, “that might tell you where you have holes in your portfolio.”

Of course, the real problem remains — namely that most of the major wireless companies are suing one another rather than licensing each other’s technology.

“It’s a circular firing squad,” Phelps said. “The industry is not mature enough yet to figure out how to deal with each other.”

Right now, for example, Apple is suing Samsung and HTC, Microsoft is suing Barnes & Noble and Motorola, and Oracle is suing Google, to name just a few of the major legal actions gripping the industry.

Over time, though, Phelps expects that the wireless companies will figure out a way to license technology in such a way that companies can both partner and compete.

“In the high-tech world, litigation has rarely stopped anyone from competing,” said Phelps, who led intellectual property licensing at Microsoft, and at IBM before that. Phelps said that is especially true in smartphones, which necessarily must use thousands of patents worth of technology.

Phelps said he doesn’t blame companies that are struggling in the marketplace but asserting their patents.

“It’s an asset, like your building is,” he said. “If you are not using it, you should be.”

And the values of those IP buildings are skyrocketing, as evidenced by Google’s pending $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility, among other deals.

“What you see with these giant purchases are companies that don’t feel they are in a good position trying to buttress their position,” Phelps said. “Everybody knows right now IP is really critical, and if you don’t got it, you better get it.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120220/nokia-qualcomm-samsung-well-positioned-for-next-round-of-mobile-patent-wars/feed/ 0 Another Ginormous Android Phone, This Time From LG http://allthingsd.com/20120219/lg-jumps-on-the-giant-screen-smartphone-bandwagon/ http://allthingsd.com/20120219/lg-jumps-on-the-giant-screen-smartphone-bandwagon/#comments Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:59:25 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=176133 Korea’s LG is following its countrymate Samsung in introducing a smartphone with a 5-inch screen.

LG on Sunday announced the Optimus Vu, which features support for LTE networks in addition to its extremely large display, which carries a 4-by-3 aspect ratio, as opposed to the 16-by-9 format typically used for high-definition content.

The device is sure to draw comparisons to Samsung’s 5.3-inch Galaxy Note, which is just hitting the U.S. market after debuting internationally last year. Both have large screens and the option of using a stylus.

LG said the Optimus Vu will start shipping next month in Korea. It includes 32 megabytes of memory and an 8-megapixel camera. It will, however, begin life with the Gingerbread version of Android. LG said it is already working on an update to bring the Vu up to Ice Cream Sandwich.

The announcement is the start of what is expected to be a flurry of new device introductions around the Mobile World Congress, which takes place next week in Barcelona.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120219/lg-jumps-on-the-giant-screen-smartphone-bandwagon/feed/ 0 CES Hangover: What You Might Have Missed http://allthingsd.com/20120117/ces-hangover-what-you-might-have-missed/ http://allthingsd.com/20120117/ces-hangover-what-you-might-have-missed/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:59:28 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=164272 The Consumer Electronics Show is over. We came, we saw, we conquered … but we couldn’t possibly write about every one of the more than 20,000 products showcased in Las Vegas last week. Here are a handful that stood out at the show:

Nintendo Wii U
The gaming company didn’t have a spot on the show floor at CES, but Nintendo offered private demos of its upcoming Wii U console, the successor to the popular Nintendo Wii.

The “new Wii” comes with a 6-inch tablet-like motion sensor control that offers a full touchscreen and alternative views of the game being played on the TV set. While using a larger controller to play games might seem cumbersome at first, the interactive options it adds can be fun. The new console also works with the standard Wii controllers, as well as the Wii Nunchuk and Balance Board. It supports 1080p HD output, and the games in the demo were remarkably crisp and clear.

But there are still more questions than answers about the Wii U. Its launch date is still pegged to sometime in the later part of the year, but exactly when and how much it will cost is still unknown. And while Nintendo was the front-runner in motion-sensor gaming with the Wii, Xbox Kinect, in the meantime, has been setting new gaming-console standards with its gesture-control technology, content partnerships and even basic voice command.

When asked about content partnerships in the works, Nintendo declined to comment on any specifics. As for voice-recognition technology, Nintendo also declined to say whether it would be added to the Wii U prior to launch; the company did point to some audio capabilities built into the tablet-like controller, and said it is exploring all kinds of possibilities right now.

Samsung Dual-View 3-D OLED TV
That’s quite a mouthful for a television set, so let’s simplify it: This is a TV that lets you watch two programs at the same time on the same screen — and not by creating separate boxes within the screen. Instead, users wear active-shutter 3-D glasses, and each wearer has a different 2-D image projected to them, or even a different TV show or movie.

What about audio, you ask? Good question: The audio for each program is streamed right through the glasses, so you’ll hear your own program, while your significant other sitting on the other side of the couch will hear his or her choice of entertainment.

A dual-view screen has a certain appeal for gamers, and both Sony and LG have introduced such screens for gaming purposes.

For the average TV watcher, this is notably both high-tech and isolating.

LG’s Blast Chiller
You might have heard about this one by now. We still think it’s cool, no pun intended.

It was apparent at this year’s CES show that appliance makers think we want fridges that tweet and washing machines that send messages to smartphones when the laundry is done. While interconnectivity within the home is still in its teenage — if not even earlier — stages, there was one feature of LG’s refrigerators that seemed quite smart: The Blast Chiller is a compartment that chills cans of soda or beer in about five minutes, and can cool down a larger bottle of wine in about eight minutes. It will be available in LG’s new line of refrigerators — price is unknown, but current models cost around $2,500. The Blast Chiller was definitely a favorite with conference-goers — likely because, by the end of the week, many may have wanted a cold beverage.

Corning Gorilla Glass, the Sequel
You might wonder where glass fits in at a tech show, but this isn’t just any soda-lime glass: It’s the ultra-thin, chemically strengthened Gorilla Glass that forms the displays of many smartphones and tablets, and even coats some laptops. Last week, Corning showed off Gorilla Glass that was 20 percent thinner and just as durable (which I was unable to break with a metal stick, as you can see from the photo here, although you might not want to use my arm strength as your gauge).

Gorilla Glass can be used to create stronger, brighter product displays, the company said. Last year, Corning had also said that it believed the future of glass was “3-D” or flexible glass that can be used in different form factors, including keyboards and kitchen countertops. At CES, the company showed how Gorilla Glass 2 can be used in home appliances and dashboard display systems.

Sleeper Pick: “The Patch”
As anticipated, armbands, accelerometers, exercise gear and health-and-fitness-focused apps dominated the digital-health section of CES this year (and even Jawbone’s UP armband made an appearance). But if you’re not ready for a full-time commitment to some of these devices, BodyMedia and Avery Dennison have come up with a temporary adhesive patch to test your resolve. Meant to be worn on the back of the left tricep for up to seven days, the patch combines the sensors of BodyMedia armbands with Avery Dennison’s wearable tech to aid in weight-loss management.

The patch is still awaiting U.S. regulatory clearance, so it may not be available until the third quarter of the year, or later. I’m told it will be less expensive than BodyMedia’s armbands, which run from $150 to $179 (and now work in conjunction with a new digital-wellness platform from fitness guru Jillian Michaels.)

But in future-form, a potentially inexpensive, disposable patch that has some of the same sensory capabilities of an armband could be an interesting fitness “gadget”: Slap it on, forget it’s there while you exercise, save the data and throw it out.

(Blast Chiller photo courtesy of Flickr/LGEPR)

MORE CES NEWS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120117/ces-hangover-what-you-might-have-missed/feed/ 0 Microsoft, LG Sign Patent Agreement Covering Android, Chrome OS http://allthingsd.com/20120112/microsoft-lg-sign-patent-agreement-covering-android-chrome-os/ http://allthingsd.com/20120112/microsoft-lg-sign-patent-agreement-covering-android-chrome-os/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:36:15 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=163178 Microsoft and LG Electronics said on Thursday that they have signed a patent agreement covering LG devices running Android and Chrome OS. It’s the latest in a string of such deals that Microsoft has signed, though it has also sued both Motorola Mobility and Barnes & Noble over Android-based devices.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120112/microsoft-lg-sign-patent-agreement-covering-android-chrome-os/feed/ 0 LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-55-inch-glasses-free-3-d-tv-is-on-the-way/ http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-55-inch-glasses-free-3-d-tv-is-on-the-way/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:03:39 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=161746 As we reported earlier, expect 3-D to be featured alongside “smart” — meaning Internet-connected — TVs at CES this year, as TV makers try a variety of tactics to push high-end television sets with lots of bells and whistles.

One of LG's new Cinema 3-D Smart TVs: Glasses still required.

LG Electronics is no exception to the trend, as the company today unveiled a new line of high-resolution 3-D TVs — part of its Smart TV line — and a 3-D TV with an 84-inch screen.

But what about that glasses-free 3-D? It may come sooner than previously expected, says Seog-ho Ro, LG’s head of global strategy for home entertainment. LG already sells a not-exactly-cheap, 20-inch, glasses-free 3-D monitor and will display another small 3-D screen this week at the annual tech show in Las Vegas.

The company tells AllThingsD that it will have a 55-inch pilot version of its glasses-free 3-D display technology ready for 2013 and hopes to bring it to market by 2014. While it’s too early to know an exact price point, LG confirmed that it will be “expensive,” despite the fact that the company considers its current 3-D TV line to be cost competitive.

Toshiba, which has brought glasses-free 3-D gaming to laptops, has also confirmed that it plans to make “big” glasses-free 3-D TV screens available in the U.S. sometime early this year.

Because of technical obstacles, glasses-free 3-D TV has been relatively slow coming to large screens — it can be hard to experience the 3-D effects from viewing angles other than directly in front of the screen.

Until glasses-free, or autostereoscopic, 3-D becomes mainstream, companies are looking to convince consumers that 3-D glasses really aren’t all that bad (we’ll let consumers speak for themselves on that). LG, for instance, is pushing its new “passive” 3-D glasses that are 20 percent lighter than previous versions and can snap on the front of regular spectacles. LG says it has realized that consumers don’t want to pay for relatively expensive active-shutter 3-D glasses and that it is “getting aggressive about passive.”

MORE CES NEWS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-55-inch-glasses-free-3-d-tv-is-on-the-way/feed/ 0 LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-pushes-4g-smartphone-through-verizon-the-lg-spectrum/ http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-pushes-4g-smartphone-through-verizon-the-lg-spectrum/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:15:53 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=161628 In the smartphone market, LG Electronics has done well at the low end with the Optimus phone, which is popular with prepaid carriers. But the company has been largely absent in the high-end phone market.

Today, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, LG showed off its new Spectrum, a 4G LTE smartphone with a 4.5 inch HD IPS display, through a partnership with Verizon. The phone runs Android’s Gingerbread operating system and is upgradable to Android Ice Cream Sandwich. It has rear- and front-facing cameras, and captures 8 megapixel images and 1080 HD video. The phone will be available on Jan. 19 in Verizon stores and will cost $199.99 with a two-year contract.

Through a partnership with ESPN, the Spectrum will stream exclusive mobile video content from ESPN in HD.

LG also teased its upcoming dual-solution VMware smartphone and said it would have more details at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. But what we know about the phone is that it will run two Android operating systems on a single device — one for work and one geared toward personal use. LG cited the growing trend of consumers using personal phones for work as evidence of a need for this sort of thing.

We also got a glimpse of the 55-inch OLED TV from LG — another one of the worst-kept secrets in Vegas — and learned a little bit more about the company’s 3-D TV efforts. More to come shortly.

Ina Fried contributed to this article.

MORE CES NEWS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-pushes-4g-smartphone-through-verizon-the-lg-spectrum/feed/ 0 At CES 2012, 3-D Is Riding Shotgun to "Smart" TVs http://allthingsd.com/20120106/at-ces-2012-3-d-is-riding-shotgun-to-smart-tvs/ http://allthingsd.com/20120106/at-ces-2012-3-d-is-riding-shotgun-to-smart-tvs/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:48:29 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=160499 After years of flogging 3-D TVs at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, television makers are trying a different tactic.

For 2012, they are focusing on making TVs “smarter” by enabling them to connect to the Internet for apps and video services on the Web.

But that doesn’t mean 3-D is going away. It’s just riding shotgun with smart TVs.

Smart TV is not a new concept, of course. Up until now, it has been defined as Internet-connected television achieved through a separate box or device that connects to the TV and streams Internet content, or via a computer-like processor built directly into the TV.

On the showroom floor in Las Vegas next week, electronics makers including Samsung Electronics, Sony and LG Electronics are expected to show off more television sets that bring Internet connectivity to entertainment centers for the home. Yesterday, Google announced that LG will join the list of companies supporting Google TV; Samsung, Sony, and Vizio Inc. have also adopted Google’s Internet TV technology.

With Apple rumored to have a possible Internet-connected HDTV in the pipeline, TV makers are making all kinds of pushes to bring to market devices that offer consumers a full range of options. For many consumers, the answer for now will still be external devices that offer easy, upgradable solutions, like the Microsoft Xbox, Apple TV, Google TV and even Roku’s latest gadget.

Analysts believe that Internet-enabled TVs will begin to take a larger share of the market by default, eventually becoming a check-off item for consumers, rather than a special feature. Some 60 percent of new televisions being sold in 2012 are expected to have Internet connectivity. According to NPD’s DisplaySearch, connected-TV shipments are expected to reach 138 million globally by 2015, accounting for 47 percent of all flat-panel TVs.

So where does 3-D fit into all this?

TV makers will still be touting 3-D at CES 2012, as many smart TVs will also include 3-D capabilities. Samsung Electronics, for instance, says that more than half of its 2012 TV models will support 3-D. “Our commitment to 3-D is only deepening,” says Ethan Raisel, director of communications at Samsung.

Tim Alessi, Director of New Product Development at LG, estimates that around 20 percent of all LG TV units will support 3-D, and notes that 3-D is featured in 50 percent of the company’s lineup for this year.

But despite the fact that 3-D TV sales in 2011 showed some encouraging gains — with an estimated 21.5 million 3-D units reported to have shipped last year and sales showing significant gains from quarter to quarter — the forced exuberance over three-dimensional screens has been tempered a bit.

That’s likely because it doesn’t matter how well 3-D TV units are selling — for the consumer, anyway. “It’s not really the penetration that matters, it’s the use,” says Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey. “You’d be hard pressed to find a 3-D TV owner that actually uses it in 3-D mode even once a week. That’s not a formula for building consumer momentum.”

For TV, 3-D presents a three-headed monster: To start, there are the technical and psychological obstacles of those pesky 3-D glasses — and while autostereoscopic (glasses-free) 3-D technology is being worked on in many R&D labs, industry experts all agree that quality 3-D without glasses is at least a few years away.

Secondly, 3-D presents a chicken-and-egg dilemma that doesn’t exist with smart-TV features — the question of where the viewable content will come from. Many content creators have been holding off on making 3-D programs. The Discovery Channel and ESPN made headlines two years ago when they announced 3-D channels; but in terms of sports, 3-D has been relegated to key events, due to high production costs.

An increasing number of 3-D movies are available on DVD, but moviemakers that hopped aboard the 3-D train early — think Pixar Animation Studios and DreamWorks Animation — were likely doing so to plant a flag in the ground for when 3-D finally does hit critical mass in the living room, says Scott Steinberg, head of strategic consulting firm TechSavvy.

Sony Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer even said recently, regarding the company’s 3-D TV push, that he hadn’t realized all of the challenges in getting 3-D content in place.

And the third issue affecting the uptake of 3-D has been the cost of the sets. On average, the cost of 47-inch to 50-inch 3-D TV sets is $400 more than similar HDTVs, according to a 2011 report from Retrevo. And while the entire consumer electronics industry has been hurt by a weak U.S. economy, TV sales have been hit particularly hard.

Steinberg says that for the average American household, television purchasing is about being practical right now. “It’s much more important to have the maximum-value TV with Internet capabilities and apps, than to invest in a still-unproven technology like 3-D.”

A December 2011 report from Parks & Associates on consumer purchasing intent also indicates that smart TVs are what’s grabbing the interest of consumers right now.

Even that report points out that smart TVs won’t deliver the killer blow to 3-D. As smart TVs are punched up with even more features — from apps to motion remotes to voice-command capabilities — more middle-class households looking to purchase smart TVs may buy in to 3-D, whether they’re actively looking for it or not.

Whether consumers actually want to sit in their living rooms and wear 3-D glasses to watch TV remains to be seen. For now, TV makers will still insist that they do.

MORE CES NEWS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120106/at-ces-2012-3-d-is-riding-shotgun-to-smart-tvs/feed/ 1 With No iPhone 5, Koreans Change View of Apple -- And Themselves http://allthingsd.com/20111005/with-no-iphone-5-koreans-change-view-of-apple-and-themselves/ http://allthingsd.com/20111005/with-no-iphone-5-koreans-change-view-of-apple-and-themselves/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:30:12 +0000 Evan Ramstad http://allthingsd.com/?p=128761 Apple Inc.’s rollout of a new version of iPhone 4 rather than the major redesign that many techies were expecting is being portrayed in South Korea as good news for the country’s big electronics companies — even as Apple fans in the country, like many elsewhere in the world, said they are disappointed.

Whether or not Apple’s iPhone 4S will really make a big difference for the Korean companies — Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Co. — in the global smartphone race remains to be seen.

But it is sure to change the perceptions of that race among South Koreans and the portrayal of it in the domestic media.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111005/with-no-iphone-5-koreans-change-view-of-apple-and-themselves/feed/ 2 LG: Layoffs Galore? http://allthingsd.com/20110908/lg-layoffs-galore/ http://allthingsd.com/20110908/lg-layoffs-galore/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 22:20:17 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=118822 Ugly news for LG Electronics. The South Korean company has reportedly implemented massive layoffs in its mobile division in an effort to turn that business around. According to the Korea Economic Daily, LG sacked 20 to 30 percent of its overseas mobile staff, mostly in marketing and purchasing positions. But after five consecutive quarterly losses and continuing poor performance in the smartphone market, what else was it to do? Reached for comment, an LG spokesperson disputed the report saying “no decision has been made as to any job reductions.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110908/lg-layoffs-galore/feed/ 0 Nokia Remains Top Handset Maker, but for How Long? http://allthingsd.com/20110811/nokia-remains-top-handset-maker-but-for-how-long/ http://allthingsd.com/20110811/nokia-remains-top-handset-maker-but-for-how-long/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:58:14 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=108744 Nokia’s platform may be burning and the company may be rushing to bring its first Windows Phone handsets to market, but it remained the leading mobile phone manufacturer in the second quarter.

New metrics from research outfit Gartner, which measures handset sales to end users rather than handsets shipped into the channel, show Nokia selling 97.9 million mobile devices in the second quarter, for a 22.8 percent market share. That’s down from the 30.3 percent share it claimed in the year prior, but still far more than the 16.3 percent held by its nearest rival, Samsung. LG and Apple trailed far behind the pair, with 5.7 percent and 4.6 percent shares respectively.

The smartphone market, however, was another matter entirely. There, devices running Google’s Android OS hold a commanding lead with a 43.4 percent share of the market, up from 17.2 percent in the year prior. Nokia’s share is a little more than half that, with handsets running Symbian claiming 22.1 percent, down from 40.9. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS holds an 18.2 percent share, up from 14.1 percent; and Research In Motion’s Blackberry OS has an 11.7 percent share, down from 18.7 percent.

So Nokia managed to hold some of its ground in the second quarter, despite ceding a lot of it to rivals. But it’s growing increasingly more difficult for it to do so, as that year-over-year drop — 40.9 percent to 22.1 percent — shows.

“The sales efforts of the channel, combined with Nokia’s greater concentration in retail and distributors’ sales, saw Nokia destock more than 9 million units overall and 5 million smartphones, helping it hold on to its position as the leading smartphone manufacturer by volume,” Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza said. “However, we will not see a repeat of this performance in the third quarter of 2011, as Nokia’s channel is pretty lean.”

[Image credit: visionshare/Flickr]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110811/nokia-remains-top-handset-maker-but-for-how-long/feed/ 0 Apple Tied Up in Booting Suit http://allthingsd.com/20110808/apple-tied-up-in-booting-suit/ http://allthingsd.com/20110808/apple-tied-up-in-booting-suit/#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:50:35 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=107194 It’s going to be a busy fall for Apple legal. A multitude of iPhone-related patent suits are in litigation, and now there’s a new one concerning its Mac operating system.

PatentlyApple reports that Operating Systems Solutions LLC has filed suit against Apple, alleging OS X violates a patent it owns for quickly booting an operating system. The patent at issue here, RE840,092: “Method for Quickly Booting a Computer System,” describes what seems to be a pretty basic process:

“A method for fast booting a computer system, comprising the steps of: A. performing a power on self test (POST) of basic input output system (BIOS) when the system is powered on or reset is requested; B. checking whether a boot configuration information including a system booting state which was created while executing a previous normal booting process exists or not; C. storing the boot configuration information from execution of the POST operation before loading a graphic interface (GUI) program, based on the checking result; and D. loading the graphic user interface (GUI) program.”

Operating Systems Solutions cites Apple’s MacBook Pro as an example of infringing hardware, but argues that anything running Mac OS X is liable. It’s seeking injunctive relief as well as damages.

At first glance, this seems like just another case of a patent troll coming forward to try its hand at squeezing some cash out of Apple. But as Florian Mueller notes over at FOSSpatents, there may be something else going on here as well. Operating Systems Solutions LLC appears to have acquired the patent at issue in this case from LG Electronics. And while there’s no evidence of a working relationship between the two companies (LG is not included in the suit), it’s certainly possible that Operating Systems Solutions could be a proxy for LG, which sells a number of Android-based devices that might draw Apple’s ire.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110808/apple-tied-up-in-booting-suit/feed/ 0 It's Official: Apple Ousts Nokia as the World's Largest Smartphone Vendor http://allthingsd.com/20110729/its-official-apple-ousts-nokia-as-the-worlds-largest-smartphone-vendor/ http://allthingsd.com/20110729/its-official-apple-ousts-nokia-as-the-worlds-largest-smartphone-vendor/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:53:18 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=104269 IDC and Strategy Analytics today officially confirmed what was unofficially revealed last week: Apple has ousted Nokia as the largest smartphone maker in the world. The company sold 20.3 million iPhones last quarter, up 142 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, and according to Strategy Analytics that gives it an 18.5 percent share of the worldwide smartphone market — greater than Nokia’s 15.2 percent share, which has fallen by more than half since last year.

Meanwhile, in a separate report, IDC noted that Apple’s share of the overall handset market more than doubled in the second quarter, rising to 5.6 percent from 2.6 percent a year earlier. That makes it the world’s fourth-largest manufacturer of all mobile phones after Nokia, Samsung and LG. “[Apple] easily posted the highest growth rate of the worldwide leaders despite the fact that its flagship iPhone 4 is now more than a year old,” IDC noted. “[The company's] ability to bring its smartphone momentum to developing economies, where it’s less successful, will help dictate the company’s smartphone fortunes in future.”

And those fortunes look quite promising, given Apple’s achievements to date. After all, the company has managed to become the fourth-largest handset vendor in the world and its largest seller of smartphones in just four years, with essentially one phone.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110729/its-official-apple-ousts-nokia-as-the-worlds-largest-smartphone-vendor/feed/ 0 Apple Testing Hi-Res Screens For Next Generation iPad http://allthingsd.com/20110718/apple-testing-hi-res-screens-for-next-generation-ipad/ http://allthingsd.com/20110718/apple-testing-hi-res-screens-for-next-generation-ipad/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:10:32 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=99312 In addition to a new, higher-resolution display, the next generation iPad may have new display supplier as well. The Korea Times reports that Samsung and LG Display are competing for the contract to supply Apple with LCD displays for the successor to the iPad 2.

“Apple’s upcoming iPad 3 will feature an improved display to support quad extended graphics (QXGA), a display resolution of 2048×1536 pixels with a 4:3 aspect ratio to provide full high definition (HD) viewing experience,” an industry source told the Times, adding that Apple is also looking for pixel density of at least 280 pixels-per-inch.

With a resolution of 2048×1536 at 280 ppi, these displays would be a vast improvement over those used in the current crop of iPads. That said, they would still fall short of “Retina Displays” used in the iPhone 4, which boast a 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110718/apple-testing-hi-res-screens-for-next-generation-ipad/feed/ 0 LG: Our Business Is Improving, So We're Cutting Our Smartphone Forecast http://allthingsd.com/20110707/lg-our-business-is-improving-so-were-cutting-our-smartphone-forecast/ http://allthingsd.com/20110707/lg-our-business-is-improving-so-were-cutting-our-smartphone-forecast/#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:01:17 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=95368 LG says its business is “gradually improving,” but evidently not so much that the company can stick by its sales targets.

The company on Thursday slashed its 2011 smartphone sales forecast by 20 percent, lowering it to 24 million from 30 million amid increased competition from HTC, Apple and Samsung, among others. Worse, it said that the 150 million in total handset sales it had projected for the year was a bit too aggressive. A more realistic number: 114 million, said Jong-Seok Park, head of LG’s handset division, during a press conference today.

Ugly news for LG and its continuing efforts to revive its money-losing handset business, which is gearing up to report its fifth straight quarterly loss.

“Our overall performance is gradually improving,” Park said. “It’s hard to give an exact timing, because there are so many market variables, and the situation changes quickly.”

Particularly when it changes for the worse …

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110707/lg-our-business-is-improving-so-were-cutting-our-smartphone-forecast/feed/ 0