The Doubleplay runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and features a 3.5-inch main touchscreen. The slide-out keyboard is perfect when you want to get down to the texting nitty gritty. The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU and has a 5 MP rear camera with 720p video and an LED flash. The camerasounds like nothing to write home about, but that’s not what users will be looking for when they get this phone, which is all about typing.

The LG Doubleplay will be available from T-Mobile in a couple of weeks.

[via Designboom]

The converter is simply called the “3D Game Converter,” and it will work with any OpenGL-based game that plays in landscape mode. Other games will not work. It can convert the 2D images to 3D and can be turned off at any time. The new game converter is being offered in Europe to start with this month as part of a maintenance release.

The converter will be offered in other regions in the coming weeks says LG. That should mean the US gets the converter before too long. I wonder how well this works for making 2D games 3D.

LG made the AG-F220 glasses for customers who have LG Cinema 3D HDTVs, but I don’t see why you can’t use it to watch 3D in cinemas or on other brands of monitors or TVs. The polarized lenses also offer UV protection so you can even use them as actual sunglasses. You can order the AG-F220 straight from LG or from Amazon for $20 (USD). Pouch and cleaner included. Someone should mod this to make them look like Adam Jensen’s implanted shades.

[via Engadget via Wired]

Turns out I was quite wrong, because LG’s LSM-100 Smart Scan Mouse is to be released later this year.

It’s pretty obvious from the name itself that this mouse has a bit more to it than it lets on. Aside from being a mouse, it’s also a handheld scanner. Yes, you read that right: this sleek and compact mouse can replace that bulky flatbed scanner on your desk and perform scans by simply moving it back and forth across the page or picture that you want to scan. (That has got to be the most number of times I’ve ever used the word “scan” in one sentence.)

Anyway, the LSM-100 has the capacity to scan pages that are up to A3 in size, which beats other portable scanners that are limited to smaller-sized documents in terms of what they can and can’t scan. In addition to the regular left and right click buttons that you find on most computer mice, this one also has a Smart Scan button that the user presses down when doing some scans.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The scanned images can be saved in PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PDF, XLS or DOC format. Aside from that, the LSM-100 is also equipped with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology that can detect text in scanned documents and convert them into editable text. The Smart Scan, which will retail for around $150, was made available in Europe at the end of August and will be launched everywhere else shortly after.

[via Gizmag via Oh Gizmo!]

Like a scion of a blue blooded line with three middle names, all of them fancy, the LG Roboking Triple Eye VR6180VMNC deserves its typically long and convoluted designation. That’s because aside from the two cameras that it uses to decide how to go about sucking dirt, it has a third camera that users can activate to capture the robot’s surroundings. The camera combos with the robot’s Wi-Fi capability and a complementary mobile app, allowing its master to monitor headquarters from a smartphone.

But that’s not all that the Roboking Triple Eye can do. It’s also equipped with voice recognition technology, allowing its master to verbally command it to stop cleaning, charge itself, annihilate all who stand in his way, etc.

For now it seems like the impossibly smart Roboking Triple Eye is exclusive to Korean households, but you can bet competitors all over the world will come up with something similar soon enough. After all, the Roboking wasn’t the first of its kind. Jeez. Robot vacuum cleaners. If aliens came to Earth and the first thing they saw was a robot vacuum cleaner they’ll have awfully high expectations of us Earthlings. Boy will they be disappointed.

[via Robot Buying Guide & Akihabara News]

I’ll start out by saying that this is the first time I’ve had a 3D TV in my home, as I had just purchased a brand new 58″ plasma months before all the 3D sets came out, and never really saw a need to upgrade. Other than the fact that my set was just fine without 3D, I really didn’t like the expensive, headache-inducing shutter glasses that came with most sets. So when I found out the LG set I was going to get to test drive would use passive lens glasses, I was happy.

I count myself among the masses of you out there who can’t stand the idea of a) paying $100 or more for a set of 3D glasses you’ll use only every once in a while; b) having yet one more gadget to recharge; and c) sitting there and getting a headache after watching 30 minutes of content. I’m happy to tell you that the LG Cinema 3D set I tested has none of these problems. LG’s Cinema 3D displays use a special set of polarizing layers which allow you to use the same sort of cheap polarized glasses you get at the movie theater. In my experience with the display, I found these to be far more pleasant than any of the other 3D glasses I’ve tried on at various trade shows and at the store when checking out 3D sets.

See, don’t I look stylish in my 3D specs? Ok, not really. But the real question is, how good is the 3D? Well, I’m happy to say that the LG Cinema 3D display produced tremendous depth with original 3D content, and I was able to sit for long sessions without a headache the sort of general discomfort the flickering active lens 3D glasses cause for me. Now, there is a trade-off with this technology – horizontal line resolution is cut in half for each frame, sending only half the display’s 1920×1080 resolution to each eye (540 lines). What I noticed was that when watching content in 3D, it was slightly softer than in 2D and on active lens systems, but for the most part I’d say it was worth the trade-off. I’d rather be able to sit through a movie without my eyes killing me than to be able to see every pimple on the actors’ faces.

I tested the LG display with a variety of 3D content, including Blu-ray discs, Satellite 3D content, and 3D video games. Images in movies like Alice in Wonderland and Despicable Me jumped far off the screen, and made me feel like I was in the theater (without all the screaming kids and sticky popcorn goo on the floor). But I’ll be honest, 3D sets are only as good as the content, and at this point, the selection and variety of quality 3D movies and programs is still pretty limited. Never mind the fact that you’ll be paying a premium for 3D discs. Most 3D Blu-rays (when you can find them) will set you back around $40 instead of the regular $20-$25. On the other hand 3D gaming seems to be the most promising use for these displays at the moment. I hooked up my PS3, and had a blast playing Killzone 3, Super Stardust HD and the beta of Uncharted 3 on this set and they all looked great. Here’s a shot of Drake’s Deception running in 3D mode. Of course, it’s always hard to glean anything from a 2D photo of a stereoscopic image, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it looks good.

There’s no way I could have survived my 5-hour FPS 3D gaming session with active shutter 3D glasses. I think I would have hurled. Sure, I took a couple of 2 minute breaks, but was able to get right back to it with the lightweight and comfortable passive lenses.

The display also offers a 2D-to-3D mode, which manages to extract simulated depth from any source material (although it doesn’t appear to work with content in the Smart TV application.) Depth was definitively less pronounced and realistic than with true 3D source material, but I’m still always amazed that they can even provide the illusion of 3D depth from random content. It’s more of a novelty than anything else, but if you want to wear your 3D glasses all the time, there’s a way you can do it.

So with all that said about the 3D aspects of the 47LW5600, here’s a rundown of some of the other features of the set. Since it’s an edge-lit display, it’s super thin (just over 1″ thick when hung on the wall,) and looks great from the side. In general, I didn’t see too much in the way of cloudiness or variance in brightness that edge-lit displays often exhibit, except on a pitch black screen. And if that bugs you, LG does offer a version of local-dimming to increase contrast and black levels, but I found the feature to be annoying at times, causing occasional jumps in intensity and too much blooming in really high contrast scenes. With an edge-lighting setup, it’s tough to pull off true local-dimming anyhow. Colors on the set were vibrant, and contrast was as good as any of today’s better LED/LCD sets. That said, I still prefer the more natural contrast you get out of a plasma screen – but that’s just me. Refresh rate for the display is 120Hz, which is plenty for eliminating blur on fast motion. Gor those of you who balk at anything less than a 240Hz refresh rate, get over it. Human eyes can’t tell the difference. You only really need higher refresh rates for active lens 3D in order to decrease flicker and blurring in fast-moving 3D scenes. Since this set doesn’t work that way, you won’t miss it.

The set also features LG’s Smart TV suite, which offers access to Netflix, YouTube, FaceBook and other web apps. I found that these apps generally loaded much faster than on my 1-1/2 year old Samsung, but I still prefer the versions of these apps on my PS3 and Apple TV over the ones built into displays at this point. You can also stream media from your DLNA-capable home computer (LG includes a copy of Nero MediaHome Essentials for streaming from Windows PCs).

Each set includes a Wi-Fi dongle for connecting to your network (I wish this was built-in), but it doesn’t protrude from the back of the set, so it’s really not a big deal.Inputs are plentiful with 4 HDMI, 2 component, 1 component, and one RF port on back. There are two USB ports as well – one for content, and the other that’s occupied by the Wi-Fi dongle. They also include 4 sets of 3D glasses (along with protective microfiber pouches.) Additional glasses retail for $12.50 a pair, but you can find them for a few dollars less online.

The LG Infinia 47LW5600 set has a list price of $1699 (USD), but you can find it online for as little as $1000 to $1200. It’s definitely not the cheapest 47-inch display on the market, but if you want a 3D TV and think there’s enough content out there to justify a purchase, it’s definitely worth considering the LG Cinema 3D display or one of its larger 55″ or 65″ brethren. Until such time that someone makes a glasses-free display that actually works without major artifacts and distortion, I’m putting my vote in the passive lens camp.

The skinny phone weighs in at just 109g, and at it’s thinnest point is just 6mm thick. Under the hood, the Optimus Black runs on the Android 2.2 Froyo platform, but will be upgradeable to 2.3 Gingerbread soon.  There’s also a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chats. While it’s definitely not as speedy as the forthcoming Optimus 2X, it’ll surely beat it for battery life.

LG expects to ship the Optimus Black worldwide by mid-year 2011.

[Press Release]

The test pits the Optimus 2X and its zippy dual-core Tegra 2 processor against the iPhone 4 and its 6+ month old A4 CPU. I’m not sure if the page rendering improvements in the Optimus 2X come from the faster CPU or the GPU differences, but either way, it’s clearly much faster at rendering web pages. See for yourself:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Never mind the fact that the LG phone is running Flash 10.1, so Apple’s position that Flash would weigh down the iPhone really is a little questionable, IMHO. I’m still convinced it’s just due to a political battle between Apple and Adobe.

I expect to get my hands on LG’s new mobile handsets at CES this week, and will let you guys know how things perform up close and personal.

[via Phone Arena]

The new LZ9700 is a THX certified set, and offers 480Hz “true-motion” technology, which is designed to not only make for smooth motion, but to reduce flicker in 3D programs.

At this point, LG hasn’t announced pricing or a release date for the LZ9700, but it’s expected to hit stores in early 2011. I’ll try and get an eye’s on look at the set when it debuts at CES in early January.

[via TechTree]

I have seen some phones that have camera sensors that can take decent pics, but those devices are rare. LG has unveiled a new device that is only on DoCoMo for now that may well be one of the first phones we can truly call a camera phone. The device has a 12.1MP image sensor and looks more like a camera with a phone crammed inside than the other way around.

It also sports an ISO range up to 3200 and has a Pentax 1:3.6-5.5 lens with 3x optical zoom. Camera phones generally have crap digital zoom that makes a bad picture look even worse. The LG L-03C also can record 720p HD video and has GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and 3G capability.

[via Akihabara News]

Just to be clear, the image above is by yours truly; surely you know by now that not even the best of LG’s designers could match my photomagicking skills. The TV has a USB port, so you can save more shows and presumably watch them on another media device (although the profile didn’t describe the format that this conceptual TV uses to save video) . For someone who’s never used a DVR before, I think it’s a neat concept, although if this TV ever sees the light of day I’ll probably never be able to afford it. Check out the link below for more info.

[via AIDA]

What are some of the advantages of HDBaseT? Well for one, it uses Ethernet cables, which are dirt cheap. The cost of a 5 ft. HDMI cable could probably buy you 80 to 120 ft of Ethernet cable. Also, as you can see in the banner above – it’s from the HDBaseT website – HDBaseT not only transmits uncompressed audio and video, it can also be used to link devices in your home network, as well as transmit power, kinda like a USB cable. Here’s a more detailed comparison between HDMI and HDBaseT, along with DisplayPort:

I’m really interested in seeing the new A/V devices that use HDBaseT; the ability to use long cables and transmit power and data over one cable sounds sweet. Check out the link below for more info.

[via Digital Trends]

Notice that, for all the wildness of it’s shape, the interface is almost exactly the same as the iPhone’s, except this one’s radial. It certainly is an attention-grabbing design though; which I guess is appropriate since the phone gets to appear in a “future blockbuster film” as reward. I bet it’s a sci-fi thriller about a robot serial killer that hunts down teenagers who text while driving. This will be the phone of the first victim.

[via Core77]

The retro-styled LG Serie 1 television doesn’t just look like an old set, it actually uses good old CRT technology. No schmancy flat screens here, just a old-fashioned 4:3 aspect ratio cathode ray tube for you to watch your reruns of I Love Lucy on.

The set features a 14-inch diagonal screen, complete with rabbit-ear antennae and chrome legs. It even has old-school knobs for changing channels and adjusting volume. However, this set has a modern digital tuner, composite video for your retro video game console, and a wireless remote so it’s not completely antique tech.

For extra fun, you can flip the television between full color, black & white and sepia tone modes:

The sets are available in the orange color shown above (model 14SR1EB) and a dark brown (model 14SR1DB). At this point the LG Serie 1 Retro Classic TV is currently only available in Korea, where it currently retails for 249,000 KRW (appx. $216 USD).

[photos: EarlyShop]

The Skiff Reader has a huge 11.5″ diagonal touchscreen, and a native resolution of 1200×1600 pixels at an astoundingly sharp 174 pixels-per-inch. Just how sharp is that? The screenshot below is only at 72 pixels-per-inch, and it’s already pretty impressive.

The next-gen metal-foil e-paper display (made by LG) is also shatterproof and crackproof. With a screen like that, this is truly the first e-reader that I’ve seen that could give newspapers and magazines a run for their money.

While it has a great large screen, it still has a super svelte thin profile magnesium body that’s every bit as nice as anything you’ve seen on any e-reader before it. The reader can run for about a week on a single 2 to 3 hour charge, and has built-in Wi-Fi connectivity and 4GB of on-board storage (and an SDHC slot for additional memory). In addition, Skiff has signed a deal with Sprint to provide 3G network access for downloading content, and they also will sell Skiff Readers in Sprint stores.

No word yet on pricing or a release date – only “later this year”, but the Skiff is definitely one to watch.

From the looks of this manual, as well as a number of devices recently submitted on the site, LG plans on a major refresh of their display line, with 21 new display models mentioned on the front cover, along with a couple of others I managed to scrounge up. The new models include:

• LCD TVs: 32LD550, 42LD550, 46LD550, 60LD550, 52LD550, 47LD650 and the 55LD650
• LED-lit LCD TVs: 22LE5300, 26LE5300, 42LE5400, 47LE5400, 55LE5400, 42LE5500, 47LE5500, 55LE5500, 60LE5500, 42LE7500, 47LE7500, 55LE7500, 47LE8500 and 55LE8500
• Plasma TVs: 50PK750 and 60PK750

With displays ranging from 22″ to 60″, it looks like there’s something for everyone coming out. That 60″ LED/LCD sure sounds nice to me. Woot! The shot below shows a rather unsexy photo of the sexy top-of-the-line LED LCD model, the 55LE8500. Check out how skinny it is. Looks about as thin as Samsung’s super slim LED LCDs…

There’s also a couple of smaller LED lit LCD models which might be nice in a bedroom or used as computer displays – the 22LE5300 and the 26LE5300, pictured below:

And here’s a decidedly unflattering shot of the ginormous 60″ plasma, the 60PK750:

Further examination of the manuals reveal that at least some of the sets will include internet connectivity (although it looks like wireless still requires an add-on dongle), along with Yahoo! widgets and digital streaming of movies from Netflix, Vudu and YouTube. There’s also the ability to view content from your Picasa albums.

If you’re in the market for a new flat-panel, you might want to wait a few weeks to hear when these will be released and how much they’ll cost. I’m assuming that LG will provide more details at the upcoming CES show in early January.

The monitor is meant to be used with a pair of shutter glasses for 3D viewing, but it can also be switched to display good ol’ 2D. LG boasts that the monitor “offers picture quality that is almost twice as crisp as HD 3D displays currently available in the market.” Considering the fact that barely anyone owns an HD 3D-capable display, I’d say that things are really moving too fast right now. Before this monitor hits the market at prices a normal human being can afford I’m sure LG will have already released a 60″ 4D Ultra HD display that’s powered by the viewer’s attention, with built-in popcorn popper and fridge.

[via Digitimes & LG Display]

And no son, LG doesn’t care if you sulk and say that you’re not going to buy this phone because they didn’t put Wumblewee on it instead. According to their press release, the Transformers phone will only be available via “consumer promotions”. LG also said that the characters in Revenge of the Fallen used LG phones throughout the movie, so LG and DreamWorks are just scratching each others’ back.

What the hell. I’d rather have an Autobot on my phone as well. But if this phone can transform I don’t care if its Starscream or Reflector on its case. Unfortunately it’s just a Versa. That’s about all that meets the eye.

[via DVICE]

The first thing you notice when you first look at the ARENA is its unique is its 3-D user interface options. Which offers something like an iTunes cover flow on its side. And it doesn’t just work for your media, but for navigating all of your applications. There’s also a 3-D cube layout which lets you find your way around your media and applications by manipulating a 3-dimensional cube. And yes, Virginia, the ARENA offers tactile feedback under your fingertip as you interact with the display.

The ARENA packs a substantial 3-inch touchscreen display running at super-sharp WVGA (800 x 480) resolution. Oh, and did I happen to mention that the ARENA offers Dolby Mobile surround sound? With a screen like that and surround, if you want to watch movies on a mobile device, this could be the one. There’s also a built-in FM transmitter to send your audio to your car or home stereo without wires.

Looking to take some photos or shoot some video? The ARENA offers a 5-megapixel digital camera, which lets you access the type of adjustments that you’d normally only get on a standalone camera. And you can shoot DVD quality video at up to 30FPS. There’s even a manual focus mode, and you can shoot slo-mo video at up to 120FPS.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The ARENA is a full 3G phone, running on HSDPA 7.2 networks, and also has built-in Wi-Fi and A-GPS. There’s 8GB of onboard memory, and MicroSD slot which lets you add up to 32GB of additional storage.

Want to see it in action? LG has launched the online ARENA emulator, in case you want to see the device in action.

And it packs all of this into a case that measures just 105.9mm x 55.3mm x 11.95mm, smaller than the svelte iPhone 3G. The iPhone might finally have a true challenger. Expect the ARENA to hit Europe this March, then go worldwide later this year.

[LG ARENA Website]

The display is the largest full color (4096 colors) flexible display to date, and is visible from a full 180-degree viewing angle. Since the flexible panels only require power when the image changes, they’re extremely energy efficient compared to typical LCDs.

Displays like these are likely to first appear in advertising and commercial applications, but it’s only a matter of time before we see them in appear consumer electronics products.

[via Akihabara News]