Forget LED bulbs, LG is already making OLED lights

By Drew Prindle March 31, 2014

forget led bulbs lg already making oled lights screen shot 2014 03 31 at 1 46 16 pm

There’s already a boatload of different companies who make high-efficiency, smartphone-controlled LED lightbulbs, so LG is taking things to the next level. Earlier today at the Light + Building show in Frankfurt, Germany, the company unveiled a new, ultra-thin table lamp that, instead of using conventional LEDs, relies on an ultra-slim OLED sheet to produce light.

Much like the company’s recently-announced Smart Lamp LED bulb, the OLED Table Lamp is designed to interface with mobile devices, so, as is the norm with “smart” products these days, users will be able to control it via an accompanying iOS or Android app. As long as you’re within Bluetooth range, you’ll be able to wirelessly turn the lamp on or off, adjust its brightness, or activate preset light modes for things like reading and watching movies.

This actually isn’t the first OLED lamp ever to be created, but it is the first time we’ve seen a major manufacturer like LG dip its toes into the OLED lighting business. If other big companies jump on the OLED bandwagon, it could kick off a movement away from traditional light fixtures, and help the industry move “beyond the bulb” so to speak. The versatility of OLEDs affords them with a broader range of potential uses and applications than normal lights. Imagine, for instance, a flat light fixture that doubles as a television, or lights that can be applied to walls in the same fashion as wallpaper.

It’s all speculation at this point, but the larger possibilities of OLED lighting are exciting, and this is definitely something you’ll want to keep an eye on in the future.

[via cnet]

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

LG
TV

Senior Editor, Features

Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…

Smart Home

Smart light bulbs vs. smart switches: The pros and cons

Woman having glass of wine with Govee Smart LED light bulb on.

Updating your home lighting is a big project, and it may be easy to lean toward smart lights. However, smart light switches can deliver much of the same convenience at a lower cost. Let's put these two categories of products head to head and figure out which makes the most sense for your setup.
Do I need smart light bulbs with a smart switch?
You do not need smart bulbs to install smart switches. That's really what's so convenient about smart switches. They provide connectivity to lights without needing to change the bulbs themselves, so you can control them remotely from your phone, via voice assistants like Alexa and Siri, or by setting automations so they turn on at sunset. This feature is especially helpful when light fixtures are set at inaccessible locations, making bulb replacement challenging. Smart switches are also handy because they can activate other outlets that are connected to different appliances. This can give you the chance to remotely control a lot more than just lights.
Do smart switches work with normal light bulbs?
The vast majority of smart switches work with normal light bulbs. You'll need to check the packaging, though. Some smart light bulb manufacturers make switches specific to their light bulbs. For example, Philips has a dedicated switch that communicates wirelessly to all of the Hue bulbs in the house.

The smart switches that work with normal bulbs will have their own apps and setup processes where you'll have to wire them into your home's electrical. They'll also need Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to connect to the home network so you can control the switch from your devices and build automations. On that note, you'll want to make sure smart switches are in range of your Wi-Fi router to ensure consistent connectivity. So you may need to move your Wi-Fi router or get a network extender to ensure coverage.
Are smart lights or smart switches more expensive?
Smart switches tend to be cheaper than smart lights. You can certainly find cheap smart lights, and the fanciest smart switches can crest the $100 mark. Those higher-end smart switches will often have features like built-in speakers and microphones so you can use voice assistants like Alexa.

Deals

Vont’s LED Outdoor Solar Lights are crazy cheap for Black Friday!

Vont LED Outdoor Solar Lights featured images with real world use.

Lining a path, walkway, or even the front of your home with LED lights can get quite expensive. However, the good news is that there are a lot of solar-powered lights out there that make installing a collection much simpler. You just place the lights, and they power themselves during the day, and turn on automatically at night. But again, as simple as that can be, it's expensive trying to get enough lights to cover an area, small or large. Fortunately, Vont is offering its 2-pack of LED Outdoor Solar Lights for ridiculously low prices to coincide with all of the early Black Friday deals and the holiday season!

We'll dig a little more into their list of features below, but the Vont LED Outdoor Solar Lights are IPX7 water and heat-proof, and come with a lifetime warranty -- with protection for loss, theft, and material defects. Normally $26, the 2-Pack of Vont's LED Outdoor Solar Lights is on sale currently for $22, but when you clip a $10 off on-page coupon, that price drops even lower, to $16 with free Prime shipping. That is an amazing deal. If you add more than one to your cart, you'll get $10 off the total, so 2 packs of the Vont LED Outdoor Solar Lights would be just over $34, when normally, they'd be $44+. You can check out that deal below, or keep reading for more information about the lights!

Smart Home

Smart light bulb buying guide

Philips Hue sync box.

Finding the perfect smart light bulb is a major challenge. Between the multiple brands to wade through, to figuring out the style you want, and assessing which features you need, we're going to help you find the smart bulb that's right for you.
What is the point of smart light bulbs?

First and foremost, smart light bulbs offer convenience. By being able to turn on an entire room's worth of lights without having to go to each lamp individually is worth the price of admission alone. Connecting the bulbs with voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant, you don't even need to access the mobile app to do it.