Hasta La Gadget!

The curved television era has officially begun, with LG announcing US availability for their new Curved OLED HDTV, which is the first of its kind to reach the US. LG’s 55-inch class model is going on sale starting today at select Best Buy locations. However, you’ll want to save up and go through your piggy bank to make sure you have enough cash, because these things aren’t cheap.

The new television from LG will cost you $15,000, a price that isn’t too surprising and one that we were expecting, but it’s certainly not in the category of an impulse buy. The curved OLED TV was initially put on sale in Korea, but Americans are now finally getting their chance to own one of the newest pieces of technology.

The TV is exclusively launching at Best Buy’s flagship store in Minneapolis, but availability will begin to spread over the coming weeks, including locations in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, and San Antonio. Availability at all Best Buy locations is expected to hit later this summer at some point.

The new TV is only 0.17 inches thin at the edges, and it weighs just 38 pounds. On top of the OLED technology (which is known for better image quality and low-power state), LG’s proprietary WRGB technology is being used in this new model, which features white sub-pixels on top of the traditional RGB color scheme. It’s also the world’s first OLED TV to achieve THX Display Certification, but we’ll let the buyers be the judge of the television’s quality, if anyone is up for buying it, that is.

LG Curved OLED HDTV rolling out in the US is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s not hard to imagine LG bringing a new wave of devices with “G” at their brand head now that the company has made clear they’re keeping the one-letter titles. What’s unclear is the full expanse that the company hopes to cover with the array of trademark filings appearing this week, all of them coming from KIPO. The Korean Intellectual Property Office doesn’t always indicate which products will be appearing in the wild worldwide, but in this case, LG may have a big push incoming.

What you’ll find at KIPO is more than just the LG GPAD, explored a bit earlier today by SlashGear as well. You’ll also find the following, each of them appearing one on top of the other as LG lets the whole collection hit filings at once. Note that SlashGear has added the possibilities – the titles alone come from LG.

GPad – Android tablet
G Watch – Android smartwatch not unlike Motorola’s MOTOACTV
G Glass – software-based connection with Google Glass
G Link – wireless mirroring and/or cloud sharing service for LG devices
G Band – Wearable aetheletic device not unlike the Nike Fuelband
G Hub – LG-centric app store and/or hub connecting to Google Play for media

It’s not hard to see how these bits and pieces might be inspired by Samsung’s own set of devices and apps. Now we’ll have to see how quick they catch up with those systems that’ve been running for months, or in some cases, years.

Now we’ll see if LG decides that these products can be created and made press-ready quick enough for the August 7th event that’ll have the LG G2 standing proud as the company’s next-generation hero smartphone. Will this be the birth of another one-hero strategy, proven strong by the likes of companies such as HTC with the HTC One over the past half-year? Let’s see it happen!

Thanks for the tip, Florian!

VIA PockeDroid

LG G Watch leads the wearables way as Glass tips Google integration is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you didn’t get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we’ve opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week, Samsung added two new colors to its GS4 LTE-A lineup, Motorola teased its manufacturing facility for the upcoming Moto X and @evleaks spilled the beans on a new smartphone for Verizon. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that’s happening in the mobile world for this week of July 15th, 2013.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Comments

The LG Optimus F3 doesn’t make much sense on Sprint, where a preference for contract pricing leaves the F3 competing with more advanced devices. It’s a good thing that the 4-inch Android phone has launched on Sprint’s contract-free Virgin Mobile brand, then. The smaller carrier’s version offers everything we’ve seen before, including LTE, but costs just $180 up front — a big discount over both the $250 Sprint variant and most 4G phones at Virgin. Combined with cheaper plans, Virgin’s Optimus F3 should be a much better deal for those who want LTE on the cheap.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sprint, LG

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Source: Virgin Mobile

This week the folks at Virgin Mobile have let it be known that they’re bringing the LG Optimus F3 to their ranks, complete with the full 2013 LG suite of software features. Inside there’s a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and up above a 4-inch IPS LCD display, covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 for reinforced scratch resistance.

This device brings on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean along with essentially the same software build as we’ve seen with higher-powered devices this year like the LG Optimus G Pro. This smartphone works with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera at its back with LED flash and 1080p full HD video capture. Up front is a VGA camera for video chat and all the selfies you can handle.

NOTE: This device is exceedingly similar to the LG Optimus F5 and F7 we saw earlier this year at Mobile World Congress. Have a peek!

Under the hood you’ve got SmartShare for DLNA wireless media mirroring and sharing, Polaris Viewer 4 for Office document viewing and editing, and Wi-Fi Direct for additional super-fast file sharing abilities. You’ll be rolling out with a 2,460 mAh battery to keep you active all day long, and this device’s QSlite 2.0 “advanced multitasking” engine should be your key to next-level software-bound productivity.

This machine works with a fabulous LED light home button like we’ve seen with the LG Optimus G Pro as well. Strange as it may seem, this little feature was one of the most unique of the whole generation of devices, so says our LG Optimus G Pro review – its mesmerizing! Though on the surface that may not say much about the rest of the phone, rest assured: LG has done a rather fine job with this generations’ smartphones.

As for the 4G LTE; remember you’re working with Sprint bands, meaning the coverage area is not going to be especially expansive – you’ll need to check to see if your region has coverage well before assuming you’ll be hitting Verizon or AT&T LTE speeds any time soon. This device is being offered by Virgin Mobile for $179.99 attached to a “Beyond Talk” plan (“monthly no-contract plan” they call it) with unlimited data and messaging, this starting at $35 per month.

LG Optimus F3 heads to Virgin Mobile with 4G LTE is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.