Hasta La Gadget!

Sony might have beaten LG to the punch in the 84-inch 4K TV wars with its XBR-84X900 pre-orders, but you’ve got to be on the field to win — and the first to show up for battle is LG’s 84LM9600, which is officially on sale and in stores as of today. Anyone who can find a retailer carrying the Ultra High-Definition LCD can drop $19,999 to get what will undoubtedly be the centerpiece of the room, even if there’s hardly any content to fully exploit those six million extra pixels. LG does have a $5,000 price advantage over the Sony 4K set shipping next month, although we won’t kid ourselves here. Anyone who can see themselves spending five digits on bleeding-edge TV technology is either wealthy enough not to mind or busy explaining to the family why home refinancing is totally worth it.

Continue reading LG’s 84-inch 4K TV goes on sale in the US for $19,999, home mortgage optional

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, LG

LG’s 84-inch 4K TV goes on sale in the US for $19,999, home mortgage optional originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 02:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  LG  | Email this | Comments

LG is tipped to be developing a webOS-based smart TV, using the open source platform in favor of Google TV, after concerns about the Android-base OS’ momentum. The deal has seen LG dispatch engineers and prototype hardware to HP’s Sunnyvale Gram facility, webOS Nation‘s source claims, with the goal of showcasing the first models at CES 2013 in January.

Although both LG and HP apparently signed an agreement some time ago – back in June, in fact – to collaborate on the project, there are still some wrinkles yet to be ironed out. Most obvious (and likely to actively frustrate users) is boot time, with Open webOS taking some time to load up; tablet and phone users might be willing to suffer such a delay, but those settling down on the couch are probably not.

To address that, LG’s L9 motherboards – which use a dualcore processor, and are found at the heart of existing LG smart TVs – have been sent over to HP’s engineers for testing and trialling software tweaks. What could end up being the solution, it’s said, is a TV that only shuts off the display when put into standby, with the processor actually remaining on in the background for a subsequent instant-resume.

Hardware isn’t the only challenge, however. Open webOS would replace LG’s NetCast platform, and needs smart TV-focused apps to cater for that challenge. Netflix is one cited example, with a player apparently being build in Enyo (the platform’s application framework), as well as other web-connected widgets and apps for YouTube, Pandora, and other services.

As for why LG is pushing ahead with Open webOS rather than sticking with Google TV as it previously announced, it’s a complex one. The Korean company is apparently uncomfortable with Google’s demands for using its platform, and turned off by its slow adoption overall; meanwhile, the ever-present specter of Apple and the longstanding chatter of an Apple smart TV has pressured LG into taking precautionary steps of its own.

Those steps will need to be shared with HP/Gram, of course, but with the $1.2bn acquisition of Palm still yet to produce tangible benefits to pacify shareholders, Open webOS poses more potential for tinkering and modification.

LG Open webOS smart TV planned for CES 2013 as Google TV sidelined is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sharp may look like it’s in trouble, but that’s not stopping it bringing new displays to the market, including today’s announcement of the AQUOS Quattron 3D XL TV line. Behind the mouthful of acronyms, these LED-backlit LCD panels are the first to feature Sharp’s Moth-Eye technology, designed to reduce glare and pump out bright colors, as well as a deep black. The company’s ‘four primary color’ tech is partly responsible for the rich output, which squeezes a yellow sub-pixel in with the standard R, G and B. All the panels run at 1,920 x 1,080, as you’d expect, sport a 10 million to 1 contrast ratio and use five speakers to deliver audio. Prices aren’t fixed, but the 46-, 52- and 80-inch models will be released in Japan on December 15th, while the 60- and 70-inch variants will come slightly earlier, on November 30th. You’re going to have to be quick on launch day, though — only 10,000 units are expected to be available in the first month.

Filed under: Displays, HD

Sharp announces first TVs with Moth-Eye technology: the AQUOS XL series originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 04:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AV Watch  |  Sharp (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

You could argue that toughened glass is the cornerstone of the modern mobile industry: without the knowledge that our touchscreen phones and tablets could survive the everyday risks of scratches and minor drops, many of us would be terrified of leaving home with a glass-covered mobile device in our hands. Corning now has evidence to prove just how important that silicate can be. In addition to the mostly upbeat third quarter fiscal results you’ll find after the break, the firm brags to us that more than one billion devices have shipped with some variant of Gorilla Glass in place, spread across 33 major brands and 500 individual models that are occasionally very immobile. We can’t give Corning all the credit when alternatives like Dragontrail exist, but numbers like these make it hard to dispute that millions of gadgets have been spared an untimely end (or a flimsy plastic display) by some clever primate chemistry.

Continue reading Corning touts 1 billion Gorilla Glass devices: that’s a lot of face-saving surfaces

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

Corning touts 1 billion Gorilla Glass devices: that’s a lot of face-saving surfaces originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 14:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Analog TV broadcasts have been shut off in the UK, marking the final stages of the digital switchover and freeing up valuable spectrum for further 4G LTE roll-out. The signal broadcast milestone is the culmination of half a decade of handover, with Northern Ireland the last remaining hold-out; transmissions there ceased at midnight local time, the BBC reports, ending 80 years of analog television. However, the potential for high speed data is probably enough to assuage any sadness.

UK carriers have been chomping at the bit to repurpose the swathes of spectrum until now being used for analog TV, with the frequencies ideal for LTE services. That sense of urgency has only increased in recent months, after EE – a combination of carriers T-Mobile UK and Orange – revealed it planned to jump ahead and launch its own LTE service at the end of this month.

EE has hit an unexpected stumbling block with the news of its first LTE tariffs, which the carrier seemed to expect – with the inclusion of free film rentals, cloud backup, and more – would be broadly welcomed by speed-hungry consumers, but which in fact met with disappointment. The tariffs may offer higher speeds and unlimited calls/texts, but in some cases the data allowances are uncompetitive in comparison to rival 3G carriers.

Nonetheless, EE has an advantage in the marketplace and it’s one its competitors aren’t happy with; adding salt to the wound is the fact that the best-selling iPhone 5 is only available in LTE form on EE in the UK. The same is true of the 4G versions of the new iPad with Retina Display 4th-gen and iPad mini, announced yesterday.

Exactly how long it will take to repurpose the analog TV frequencies for LTE is unclear, though Vodafone and others have indicated their services could launch in Spring 2013.

[Image credit Stephen Coles]

Analog TV ceases transmission in UK, freeing up airwaves for juicy LTE is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.