CES 2022 might be right around the corner, but LG figured it would drop a little teaser in our laps as a taste of what’s to come in January. The company released a few details about two of its latest lifestyle-oriented TV designs: An OLED TV with a motorized fabric cover and a battery-powered 27-inch screen that can roll around your home, going pretty much anywhere you need it to be. Here’s what we know so far.
LG StanbyMe
LG’s quirky new StanbyMe TV looks like someone took an iMac G4 screen and mounted it to a rolling coat rack. And given its capabilities, that description isn’t far from the truth. In fact, the StanbyMe is a fully portable smart TV with a built-in rechargeable battery and fully adjustable rolling stand. It has a custom interface that you can control with a remote or just by touching it. And it functions as a wireless external monitor for smartphones and laptops via screen mirroring.
The screen is 27 inches and the back panel has been wrapped in fabric to make it look a little less like a TV on a stick. As you can see from LG’s press photos, you can change its orientation from landscape to portrait, all while tilting and swiveling on that robust-looking gooseneck that I’m convinced was inspired by Jonny Ive’s iconic Mac design.
LG hasn’t said how high the screen can be positioned, but there seems to be a lot of range to play with. “The height can be adjusted, allowing the viewer to customize the position according to the usage scenario,” according to the company, “[and] ensuring optimal comfort when lying in bed, cooking in the kitchen or lounging on the living room sofa.”
The battery will give you up to three hours of fully wireless operation, but you’ll no doubt be able to plug it into power for continuous use. That will be important if you want to take advantage of one of the StanbyMe’s clever features: A detachable cradle can be mounted to the top edge of the screen for holding a smartphone. You’ll need this for videoconferencing as the StanbyMe doesn’t appear to have its own built-in webcam, which is a bit surprising considering LG is positioning this model as the perfect go-anywhere smart TV solution.
You’re probably curious about price and availability, as are we, but all we know right now is that both the StanbyMe and the Objet TV (below) aren’t currently planned for sale in the U.S. Hopefully we’ll know more once CES rolls around.
LG Objet TV
LG has not been shy in sharing the many uses of its OLED TV technology, from transparent screens that are built into the footboards of beds to its fully concealable rollable OLED TV. It’s latest concept is the Objet TV (“objet” being the French word for “object,” as in “objet d’art), a 65-inch OLED evo TV encased in a metal frame that also houses a motorized fabric panel.
LG says the Objet TV resembles an art canvas and that the fabric panel can be repositioned at the touch of a button on the included remote control. When watching TV or movies, the panel slides all the way to the bottom of the frame, revealing the full expanse of the screen. But you can also choose other display modes where the panel slides up, covering more of the screen. “Line view” is one of these modes, and it displays date and clock functions. There is also a mod for music playback and a gallery mode that can show off a collection of space- and nature-themed images.
Those fabric panels, designed by Danish textile company Kvadrat, are interchangeable and available in three color choices: Beige, redwood, and green. In keeping with with gallery-inspired theme, the Objet TV is designed to be positioned against a wall at an angle of up to 5 degrees, like artwork in a modern gallery. Ordinarily, that would be pretty terrible for picture quality, but OLED screens have excellent viewing angles, so it might work just fine.
An in-frame cable system lets you connect external devices such as a set-top box or game console without wrecking the Objet TV’s clean, minimalist appearance. The TV can also be installed flush to the wall like LG’s OLED Gallery Series TVs.
As with the StanbyMe, no price or availability info was offered for the Objet TV.
