I don’t know if I need a refrigerator with a TV and built-in weather reporting, but I’d certainly like one! In addition to this refrigerator, LG unveiled the first steam washer, a laundry system that lets you move the controls to the best position depending on how you stack the units, and a host of consumer electronics, too.
I really liked the feel of the keypad slide on the new Chocolate phone. Available in Q3, it has a red glowing, touch-sensitive keypad, a music/video player, and a 1.3 megapixel camera/camcorder along with Bluetooth and a microSD memory port. It looks slick, feels slick, and is full of useful features. Me like.
The V lets you exchange vCards with Bluetooth, stream, download, and play video clips with V CAST, or play tunes with the dual speakers. This one also has a 1.3 megapixel camera/camcorder, and takes a microSD memory card. I may rethink my Treo, this is a nicely done smartphone.
The Migo is made for little kids, with four big speed-dial buttons and an emergency key. The addition of Verizon’s Chaperone Service with Child Zone marks the first time a wireless service allows parents to establish predetermined areas in which a child can travel with their Migo phone and automatically alert the parent about the location of the device when it enters or leaves the defined area.
This is a cool accessory. The Style-i is essentially a Bluetooth mini-handset with an OLED display and dialpad. Hand it around your neck and you never have to take your phone out.
Since the event was held at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Times Square, I couldn’t resist adding this picture of the new Brad, Angelina, and Baby Shiloh wax figures (although I still don’t understand why so many are so deeply interested) since there’s such a buzz over them.
The V is a terrible phone. I had mine for 2 weeks before I exchanged it for something with a decent antenna. I would lose signal and get 50-70% dropped calls where other phones didn’t.
The one good thing about it was that it had excellent battery life.
Bizarre…
The screen by your right hand seems to be showing the inside of a dishwasher… or is it a “live” showing of the contents of the fridge itself ?
I thought you were pointing at the lens of a video camera with your left hand – which is way too “HAL 9000” – but now it looks like a smaller video screen…
I can see them using the larger screen to replace the kind of under-cabinet TVs which have been available for years, but the smaller screen seems like it would force you to stand too close for it to be useful.
Yes, the big screen is a TV which was strangely showing a dishwasher action. The little screen is for scheduling, menus and other secondary info. I’m pointing at the input buttons for the little screen.
Smarty, do the LG guys really think this new refrigerator is going to sell? I haven’t gotten the impression that the previous refrigerator-plus-TV creations have sold well, even to the high end market.
Is this a money maker for them, or more of a “Look at what we can do!” kind of product?
4 I haven’t gotten the impression that the previous refrigerator-plus-TV creations have sold well, even to the high end market.
Come to think of it, most of the “show” kitchens I’ve seen pictures of – with the “Sub Zero” fridge, massive stove, etc have not had them… it must not give the “professional kitchen” look they seem to adore. [grin]
It sems like the people who entertain in their kitchen while cooking the meal wouldn’t want to keep walking over to the fridge while following-along with their favorite cooking show.
I would expect them to have an under-cabinet or standalone screen which they can easily see from the counter they are standing in front of – during food-prep.
Mike V raises a good point. Before I retired, last year, I mostly worked on Trophy Homes. Crazy about cooking, I always checked out the kitchens.
I don’t think I ever saw one with a refrigerator TV.
James,
I would definitely put this in the same category as the Porsche GT. A line leader that few will buy, but all will admire on the show floor. I also thought that for all that hardware, they could have added some really useful functionality like a touchscreen so kids could leave notes for mom without having to type anything. A thin client running Outlook would be very useful too, so everyone could load their calendars into the fridge for other’s reference.
A range with a built-in TV would be a much more viable idea.
Or an ironing board…
A fridge with a TV?!?!?! Poppycock!
Now, a fridge with a detachable tablet PC and media extentions, that also runs a software package that databases your groceries as you put them away, tracks usage, spoilage, creates shopping lists on demand, and creates a spreadsheet outlining your families in home food consumption stats and budgets… Brilliant!
#0 – SmartAlix – “Brad, Angelina, and Baby Shiloh wax figures (although I still don’t understand why so many are so deeply interested)”
So LG is marketing wax Angelina Jolies. I’ll take one if it accepts third-party plug-ins…. 🙂
OH! I can’t believe how cheap a laugh I’m going for here! Someone ban me from this site!
Smarty, thanks for the info. It does make sense as a line leader, and I think LG does a nice job with their products in general. Hopefullly the brand continues to have success here in the US.
So LG is marketing wax Angelina Jolies. I’ll take one if it accepts third-party plug-ins….
I’m logging off now..
The V looks like a Nintendo DS on Steroids.
On the other hand, a TV with a small built-in fridge might work. Perfect for beers while watching the game.
Migo for little kids… Heck, its the kind of simple, no frills phone I want for myself.
Easy to carry, only a couple of people I’d ever call anyway. Could probably take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’ too.
Downside: My wife could use the “Chaperone” service to monitor my wherabouts…. no more “unspecified locations” for me. [grin]
Or better yet, a TV with one of these installed.
I like your new tie.
While I like the Migo, I’m wondering why we can’t just put an RFID chip in our kids so we’ll know where they are. Put the chip into their brains and we could program them to pick up their underwear off of the floor AND cut the grass.
I have liked every LG product I’ve ever had.
You really should check out Cyberchild, Fusion my buddy. It deals directly with such issues.
“this is a nicely done smartphone.”
It’s not a smartphone. It runs Verizon’s OS. It doesn’t even run java apps unless you get them from the GetItNow service. No installing, not even through the service menu. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, it’s the best gadgetphone short of the Motorola Q or the Treo 700w, but it has some limitations. The worst part is, call quality kind of sucks. My last phone was an LG VX8000 and call quality was excellent. The V (VX9800) sounds like cellular technology from 1996.
I set mine up to run the internet off a proxy and I encode dozens of tv shows and clips to carry around, I use it to stay in touch with home via Yahoo Messenger…what I’m saying is it’s quite awesome, but it falls short of a true smartphone.
I haven’t had a chance to use the V beyond playing with it at the event, so I appreciate the comments of those using it.
What would be the best thing to improve the V?
I’m getting a chocolate to review, let’s hope it delivers more.