CES 2014 |

LG webOS TV leaked before CES 2014 debut

LG’s webOS TV project has been silent for a while now, ever since the acquisition of HP’s failed Palm OS project we have heard very little from LG, apart from announcements they will be working on webOS for their new smart TVs.

The fruition of months of work may be upon us at CES and Evleaks has come early to the party once again, with new leaked photo of the LG webOS TV and the new interface LG has created on top of Palm’s old mobile operating system.

It is impressive that in a matter of months LG has managed to create a TV operating system from an abandoned mobile project HP put on the shelve. Most of the functionality will remain, we suspect and LG has had some work re-skinning webOS to look better on the big screen.

The design of the LG webOS TV is really nice, but the South Korean electronics giant has become a master at making incredible televisions. The steel stand and edge-to-edge display with no bezel screams quality and we can expect this being a high-price smart TV.

On the user interface front, LG has kept the multi-tasking cards feature but redesign it to make every card a small rhombus. We actually like the photo showing the UI, but it will be after CES when we find out if it is intuitive and functional, for now it just looks exciting.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Skype all look to be available on the LG webOS TV, the photo shows all the apps available. LG will be using webOS Enyo framework to gather apps onto the system, there is already quite a few, but none have been updated recently.

We do not know how this TV will fair, LG has not had the best success when it comes to smart TVs, but then again, nobody has apart from Samsung. WebOS is a nice concept and if LG can sell this at a reasonable rate, they may be able to draw a few buyers in.

LG LifeBand Touch reportedly will launch at CES 2014

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LG has already announced they will be launching a smartwatch sometime in 2014 and it looks like the South Korean electronics giant will take no time, with news the LifeBand Touch will be revealed at CES 2014, in January.

This is a little earlier than what we were expecting, but it seems every manufacturer is prepping their biggest products for the early launch window, between January and April, with most of the consumer electronics coming to CES.

The newest tip comes from Evleaks, saying the LifeBand Touch will come with a Fitbit design and will not be a smartwatch per say, more like a smart-band. We still believe there will be an interface for checking the time and recent notifications, instead of just a plain band.

The leak says the LifeBand Touch specs will come with an OLED display, accelerometer, altitude meter, and music player to control the connected device. Samsung’s Galaxy Gear only worked with the Galaxy Note 3 and some other compatible Samsung devices, but LG’s smart-band will work with iOS or Android devices.

We do like the idea of LG getting into the fray with Nike and Fitbit, but this is stiff competition and a lot of people already love the Nike Fuelband, including Apple’s CEO Tim Cook who regularly compliments the ease and use of the fitness band, compared to others on the market.

LG may bring more than just the LifeBand Touch to CES, we have heard about the first LG G3 rumors, coming with a fingerprint sensor and 3GB of RAM, alongside some other high-end specs and a brand new design.

Other than the LifeBand Touch, we have heard about HTC possibly developing their own smartwatch and other smart devices and Samsung may be bringing their second generation of the Galaxy Gear to CES or MWC, alongside the Galaxy S5.

LG G3 rumored to come with fingerprint sensor

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Rumors have started to kick off surrounding the LG G3, the next in line for the flagship throne. The rumors coincide with what seems to be the leak spurge before CES in January, where a lot of new features for upcoming devices will be shown off and then released at MWC 2014 in February.

One of these new features on the LG G3 will be the fingerprint sensor, the new security layer almost every company wants to get in on. Right now only a handful of devices support a fingerprint sensor, including the HTC One Max and the iPhone 5S with TouchID.

It may be conceived that Apple has started this trend off and no doubt the fanbois will tell of how Apple should have made Android suffer and not allow them to have this new extra layer of security on their smartphones – simply because they didn’t think of it first.

Nothing more has been said about the fingerprint sensor, other than it will be coming to the LG G3. The placement is the big issue, while the iPhone 5S worked with the home-button and became relevant, the HTC One Max was placed on the back and is in an awkward spot, making it more troublesome.

LG may slap their fingerprint sensor on the back of the smartphone as well, it would make sense considering their move to push all buttons onto the back of devices. On the LG G2 the volume rocker and on/off button are located on the back of the smartphone and this trend is continued on the LG G Flex.

Fingerprint sensors do seem like the future of smartphones, even though they had limited success on PC. Since Apple has raised the bar so high with TouchID, early Android concepts aren’t cutting it, but when the big OEM partners start playing around we may see a better design.

LG pre-emptively reveals 105-inch curved 4K LCD TV for CES 2014

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Last year, the big news on the block at CES was 4K, a new display standard all TV manufacturers were jumping on board, revealing expensive and odd looking televisions that cost the same as BMW or full degree in college.

The margins on these TVs are very thin, sell 100 of them in one area and you’ve made enough to be happy. The size of the TVs shown at CES 2013 ranged from 55″ to 95″ with all of the manufacturers trying out different designs and panels to make them stand out.

This year, LG may have taken home the crown already for the most dazing and outlandish 4K TV, pre-emptively revealing the 105-inch curved 4K LCD TV, a television big enough to act as a cinema for a lot of people – and not actually be big enough for most families front room.

The LG TV may be out of this world for many and we doubt the South Korean company is going to announce some amazing price point they managed to reach – rather they bring the price up to show the premium quality of this curved television compared to others in the market.

Design wise, the LG 4K TV looks incredible, the screen fits edge to edge with almost no bezels on the sides or top. At the bottom it looks like LG has either added anodised aluminium or a huge speaker spanning the width of the TV and the height of about 1/8, which would offer incredible sound.

Nobody may ever see or hear about this LG 4K TV again once CES 2014 is over, but LG is one to always want one up on Samsung and other competitors and this early move pushes the closer to this years prize of “worlds most well designed 4K TV you will never own” award.

Sony announces CES press conference on January 6

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Sony has been the first big tech company to get its CES plans out of the door, in preparation for a rather large event at the grand stage on January 6. The Japanese company will be bringing 15 devices from all its different product sectors to reveal at Las Vegas, where CES 2014 will be held.

The event may be on for two days, as Sony is preparing to push out all types of devices. There is no news on new smartphones from Sony, even though rumor has it there will be a few Xperia Z1 variants coming soon and the possibility of the Xperia Z2, slightly upgraded from the current flagship.

On the Sony schedule devices include tablets, netbooks, photography equipment and accessories, e-books, 3D video, portable and high-performance audio. There is a distinct lack of “smartphone” but we are excited about the new tablets Sony is bringing to CES.

Photography equipment is likely to be a few new cameras and Sony will officially release an e-reader of some kind, alongside a few new netbooks. We are hoping for a Sony Chromebook, it would most definitely be one of the better designed Chromebooks on offer if it actually made real.

There may be a good reason for no smartphone coverage at CES, the fact that MWC happens a month later. Mobile World Congress is more focused on smartphones and it is expected Samsung, LG, Nokia, HTC and ZTE will arrive with new flagships to show off at the event.

Valve preparing to reveal third party Steam Machines at CES 2014

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The Verge has gained heaps of information from their recent hands on with the Steam Machine, Steam OS and the Steam Controller, including dates and information surrounding Valve’s TV gaming project.

The mass amount of information surrounds topics Valve has already discussed or hinted at, but the overview of the platform makes it all the more real and close. Looking at the comments made by several journalists on the Steam Controller shows promise for Valve, the only major problem being the need to adapt.

One of the most exciting bits of information on the article was about the third party Steam Machines being built by Valve’s secret hardware partners. No official hardware partner has been named by Valve yet, but they hinted at more than one coming to CES next year in January.

Valve will also not bundle Half Life 3 and other first party games onto Steam exclusively. We may see Valve announce their next line of video games when the Steam Machines are released, but they have said the games will not be exclusive and will be available on other platforms.

This may make the Steam Machines less valuable in terms of exclusive games but Valve already has 65 million Steam users and plenty of people begging to be an early adopter of the platform, its not as if the company is desperate for buyers and needs to resort to making games exclusive.

Overall the Steam Machine looks well on its way to becoming a contender in the TV space. Valve’s co-founder Gabe Newell has often talked about Steam entering the TV space and how to get PC gamers onto the platform, this is their big move.

Challenges do face them but Valve is pushing new ideas and features to compete against the PS4, Xbox One and other possible TV/gaming projects coming in the next year, including something from Apple and Google.

Samsung Galaxy S5 could be released in January

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Samsung may be preparing an early launch for the Galaxy S5, to keep up with the competition. Instead of a April/May launch, Samsung may look at the January CES window as a way to get the Galaxy S5 out early.

This matches with a report a few weeks ago regarding the Sony Xperia Z2, the next generation flagship we have already had a good look at, with a blurry image and leaked specs released earlier this month.

There are other reasons Samsung may be preparing to launch the Galaxy S5 early, one being the Galaxy S4 minimal amount of changes from the previous flagship and the new displays and processors set to be revealed at CES next year.

Samsung may be preparing a rework with the Galaxy S5, we have already seen faux leather on the Galaxy Note 3, now we might actually see metal, a unibody designed metal smartphone, similar to the HTC One or iPhone 5S.

On top of the metal design, Samsung will be implementing a higher resolution display onto the Galaxy S5. We may see the first 2560 x 1600 smartphone at CES with a 500ppi, matching the Xperia Z2’s apparent resolution.

We could also see the new Exynos 5 octa-core processor from Samsung, with the slight redesign on the processor to make sure all eight cores run actively at the same pace and not one clocking for high-power and one clocking for low-power.

Apart from those changes, Samsung may boost the GPU and storage space on the Galaxy S5. The smartphone will most definitely run the latest version of Android, probably still KitKat in January as we cannot see Google announcing something else in three months.

This is a solid move by Samsung if they decide to go along with it, the new design will comfort most of the Galaxy S4 critics who say the back is slimy. Now all we need is the stock version on the Google Play store, no time for TouchWiz.

Galaxy Gear 2 already in development, set for CES 2014 unveiling

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We recently heard a pretty odd rumor about the Xperia Z2 and how it will be unveiled at CES 2014, even though the Xperia Z1 was only just released three weeks ago at IFA 2013. Now, we have heard Samsung will bring the Galaxy Gear 2 to CES 2014, despite it also being announced at IFA.

Some said the Galaxy Gear did look like a prototype version of what Samsung is creating with the smartwatch. Despite the finished exterior with the rubber band and metal watch-face, it feels like something a scrappy startup made and not a international company.

In saying this, the scrappy design is one of the best Samsung has pulled off, with their smartphones designed with plastic in mind and a pretty poor UI. The problem is Samsung really has little vision when it comes to smartwatches, at least right now and the Galaxy Gear 2 may be a more refined version.

When rumors first sprouted of a Galaxy Gear smartwatch, many claimed Samsung was trying to get the jump on Apple before they could launch the iWatch. This does not seem to have worked, despite some excitement surrounding the smartwatch, the vast majority of people see it as an overpriced gadget for the techies.

The iWatch is needed to change the market, as Apple have done with the smartphone and tablet. Not only is it is a big test to see how Apple can achieve vision under Tim Cook, but it is a show of how Apple’s vision can create a new market within the old one, changing and “revolutionising” it for a consumer friendly experience.

Apple has not always made great decisions and made great products, Siri and Apple Maps have had their shortcomings and these are just the latest, but the general idea is when Apple makes a new product for a market, it spreads like wildfire. The iPod, iPhone and iPad are proof of this and now the iWatch will be the fourth big push into a new consumer market.

Even if the Galaxy Gear 2 is launched at CES 2014, will we see something revolutionary or the same design and UI under a different skin. Samsung has the man power to make two watches and hundreds of phones in a few months, but do they have the vision to really create a game-changing device.