LAS VEGAS – LG Electronics kicked off press day here at CES by unveiling its new K Series of “mass-tier” smartphones (pictured) that cater to a younger, active audience and responded to skeptics by showcasing 4K HDR-enabled OLED TVs. The new products competed on stage for attention with a new LG fridge that automatically opens its door as you approach it.
The first two smartphones in the series, the K10 and K7 feature a curved, modern finish with the K10 featuring a 5.3-inch HD display and a 13-megapixel camera on the rear and 8-megapixel on the front of the K10.
While 4K UHD sets boast higher resolutions than HD sets the issue is that most consumers will find it hard to see the extra pixels on a 4K UHD television unless you are inches away from the screen. For 4K sets to avoid the path of 3DTV they need to provide far more than just better resolution, they need superior contrast to provide a truly stunning picture. 4K UHD sets with High Dynamic Range (HDR) can provide the needed contrast levels to provide lifelike colours with brighter brights and darker darks.
But LG’s industry rivals have questioned OLED displays ability to properly display High Dynamic Range (HDR) content, since self-emissive OLEDs are dimmer than LED-driven LCD TVs, and that they lacked the internal firmware capacity to correctly read and analyze content that has been encoded with high dynamic range from sources like Netflix. But apparently with today’s announcement LG has overcome that obstacle.
LG’s new 4K TVs are led by the 77/65-inch G6 and 65/55-inch E6 models. All eight new models will feature OLED displays, 4K resolution and HDR, which LG implements in the G6 and E6 as HDR Pro.
All 2016 OLED TV models from LG feature the “Ultra HD Premium” seal of recognition from the UHD Alliance for meeting new technical standards for resolution, HDR, peak luminance, black levels, wide colour gamut and audio quality, among other criteria.
The G6 and E6 are the first TVs from LG to feature the company’s Picture-On-Glass design, which boast an ultra-thin 2.57mm OLED panel with a translucent glass back and forward-facing sound bar speaker system.
With 10-bit panel and 10-bit processing power, LG claims its OLED TVs have access to more than a billion possible color options. In a bid to future proof its TVs LG says the new sets support BT.2020, the next-generation standard for broadcast and distribution.
LG’s OLED TV lineup for 2016 features the newest iteration of LG’s webOS content management platform. LG says webOS 3.0 provides enhanced mobile connectivity, remote features and more content options.
“By upping our OLED TV game every year, we are driving innovation in the TV space so that more consumers will see and hear about the benefits of owning an OLED TV. We think 2016 will be a game changer for this category,” said Brian Kwon, president and CEO of LG’s home entertainment company
LG says the G6 and E6, will hit the market in March but they released no details on pricing. Until they do I’ll reserve judgment on whether this really is a “game-changer.”
