LG recently took to the stage during MWC 2016, where they introduced their LG G5 flagship smartphone along with many accessories. The G5 features a modular design itself, so many accessories can be attached to its bottom. Yet, other accessories like the 360 Cam or the Rolling Bot are controlled wirelessly with the smartphone, so it is clear that LG is focusing on the interoperability between all of these devices. Now, LG Uplus, a South Korean cellular carrier owned by LG, has announced a few smart-home products to further increase connectivity around their new devices.
The IoT Hub is an always-on, always-listening smart speaker which offers much of the same functionality that you will find on the Amazon Echo speaker and its digital voice assistant Alexa. LG’s speaker is also able to detect voice commands from long distances thanks to its far-field voice recognition technology and it features a light colored ring at the top that changes color according to different situations. The IoT Hub can control connected lights, thermostats, locks and other appliances within a network. The second device that was announced is the tvG Woofer Set Top Box, it looks like a soundbar that is meant to be placed underneath a TV. It features a four-channel speaker, two subwoofers and microphones to hear users from anywhere within a room, even with some background noise. This speaker can be used to improve the sound of your home entertainment system while also providing additional functionality using voice commands.
There is no information regarding pricing or availability of either device, in fact, the information is pretty scarce at this point, so there’s no way to confirm their individual functionality. For example, it is unknown if the tvG Woofer will be able to control smart appliances just like the IoT Hub and it is also uncertain if these devices will feature a digital assistant with a quirky personality who is capable of providing additional information through its voice. LG announced the SmartThinQ Hub speaker back at CES, but it didn’t feature far-field voice recognition, so these new devices are a clear sign that the company wants to improve on how users control everything around their homes.