The SL80 and SL90 models blend the bezel, LCD screen, and speakers into one, solid piece of hardware. The SL90 produces a 3,000,000:1 contrast ratio — a new high water mark for LG — and the thing is freakishly thin at just 1.15 inches. It has a 240Hz refresh rate and an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust brightness. The SL80 has the same set of features but uses a flourescent backlight, which drops the contrast to 150,000:1. The SL80’s thickness is 1.8, due to that additional flourescent lighting.

The SL80 will ship later this month in 42″, 47″, and 55″ models, ranging from $1,600 to $2,800 in price. LG hasn’t committed to pricing for the SL90 yet, but promises that 42″ and 47″ models will be available in time for Christmas.

Image: LG Electronics.

Post from: EveryJoe

LG unveils “seamless” LCD TV

The LG Watch Phone will only be available for a limited time, though Orange is being cagey on the pricetag. All they’ll say is that it “will be available at an exclusive price point on Orange pay as you go.” The Watch Phone comes with a Bluetooth headset, built-in speaker, 3G networking, the aforementioned touchscreen interface, and yes, video-phone capability. No word yet on if LG has any plans to ever release it in the U.S.

The device is planned as the first in a new line of innovative “future phones” Orange will be offering over the next year and a half, all of which promise to be high-end and state of the art. At least three more of these devices are planned for release before Holiday 2009.

Come on, if money was no object… you know you’d want one. What tech geek hasn’t dreamed of wearing a video phone watch?!

Image: Orange/LG.

Post from: EveryJoe

Calling Dick Tracy…

With New Years upon us in North America in just a few ours, news from the HD section is coming out, so let’s start with LG.Philips’ announcement. They have already made some pre-CES announcements on five new panels, all of which are pretty nice. So let’s get the details down from small(er) panels to large:

• 42″ Transflective LCD with 1,500cd/m2 brightness rating
• 47″ Double-sided LCD at 70mm thick with a 500cd/m2 brightness with the ability to display on both sides (wow…)
• 47″ Triple-view LCD at 1080p, 250cd/m2 brightness and can show three separate sources (ooh…)
• 52″ Multi-touch LCD at 1080p and can recognize two touches, similar to the iPhone
• 84″ Multi-touch LCD with a 2×4 layout of 42″ panels at 1080p and 500cd/m2 brightness (can you reach that far?)

This is only the tip of the iceberg to CES announcements so these panels will be one to keep an eye on for sure. EngadgetHD 

Post from: EveryJoe

LG.Phillips Makes Pre-CES Announcements of LCD Panels. Wow.

That panel you see there? That would be one of the highest clarity panels you can see. Yeah, the still picture sucks, but that plasma panel LG has announced has a 30000:1 contrast ratio, something unheard of until now. I believe the highest was around 10000:1 or so. LG announced sizes of the “G Platform including a 32″, 42″ and 52″ HD panels as well as 50″ and 60″ Full HD panels. While 120Hz seems to be the in thing on refresh rates these days, LG stuck with 100Hz. Still, I think I’d take the larger contrast ratio than 20Hz. The panels will be released sometime in the 4th quarter, but pricing has yet to be announced.

Read More

Post from: EveryJoe

LG Shows 30000:1 Contrast Panel

The receiver was designed to “deliver DVD-quality [...] images even on older analog TVs.” It will also include the standard V-Chip, closed captions, and will allow a level of interactivity on the captions include font types, sizes, colors, backgrounds, and more. To connect the box, all you have to do is use either the RF input (antenna/coax cable) or the composite (RCA) jacks. I kind of wish there was an S-Video input for those who have a somewhat recent TV with that option. Pricing has not been released, but the boxes will be available in early 2008.

Read More

Post from: EveryJoe

LG Has First Converter Box Approved