A few days ago, I wrote about the new and emerging HD television technology showcased at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show. Samsung and LG were two of the bigger players in this growing arena, but both Korean juggernauts had plenty to offer in other product areas as well.
One Touch Print Screen Samsung Printer
Have you ever wanted to print out a webpage or some other kind of content on your computer but you wished the process was easier? Sometimes, when you try to print out a webpage, the printed copy does not maintain the right formatting or color options. Samsung has overcome this concern by adding a button to its laser printers.
On color laser printers like the Samsung CLP-325, you’ll find an extra button on the top that serves a single purpose: to print your computer screen. When you press this button, it sends a command back to the connected computer and then it prints out whatever you currently see on your screen. That could prove handy!
Samsung Offers Its First E-Book Reader
The Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook certainly have people interested in the emerging popularity of e-book readers. It seems that everyone is getting into this game, including such big names as Sony.
Not to be outdone, Samsung is joining the e-book reader thing with its family of e-ink devices. Whereas the Kindle and Nook use their associated online stores, the Samsung E6 and E101 get their content for free from Google Books.
This grants owners of a Samsung e-book reader access to over one million public domain books and other kinds of content. The various Samsung e-book readers have 3G, Wi-Fi, 2GB of flash memory, handwriting functionality, and more. Some come with physical QWERTY keyboards, including one with a slide-out keyboard.
Single Chip ATSC Mobile Television
We use our smartphones for so much more than just talking these days, so it makes sense that manufacturers are looking for new and exciting ways to give us more functionality and features.
A slightly modified version of the Samsung Behold II is now the world’s first fully functional mobile phone with single-chip ATSC mobile TV technology. This gives you over-the-air access to all sorts of mobile television content.
What’s Going on with LG Electronics?
Even though they may come from the same country and offer some very similar kinds of products, it goes without saying that Samsung and LG have been competing with one another for a number of years. Just as Samsung had some cool things to showcase at the Consumer Electronics Show, LG had a few new toys up its sleeve as well.
This is above and beyond such innovations as the 6.9mm thin full LED high-definition television. That thing really is ultra slim, you know.
LG GW990 Smartphone with Intel Atom Moorestown
It’s not entirely clear when and if it will ever make its way onto the market, but the LG GW990 is an amazing piece of technology for us to consider. It’s officially being called a smartphone, but Frank Lee of LG Canada reminded me that it really fits somewhere between the smartphone and the mobile Internet device (MID). You can catch our quick interview with him on our YouTube channel.
The 4.8-inch panoramic widescreen is certainly attractive, but it does make the device a little bigger than what you would normally expect from a smartphone. The real kicker here is that you don’t get a typical mobile phone processor. Instead, the GW990 gets its juice from the new Intel Atom Moorestown processor. That’s right: Atom for a phone.
With this extra power, the GW990 is said to provide a PC class Internet experience and the ability to run three simultaneous applications. This multi-tasking ability uses something called “Multi-Window” and you swap between the apps by swiping your finger across the screen.
Based on my initial impressions, I expected some variant of Google Android to be found under the hood, but this is not the case. The LG GW990 gets the Moblin 2.1 operating system, which is Linux-based.
More on the Wireless Media Hub
Remember that wireless media hub I mentioned in the TV technology article? I met up with another LG rep a little later on for some more clarification.
All of your input devices, like a notebook computer or an Xbox 360, connect to a wireless media hub, which in turn is connected to just about any wireless router. Their respective feeds can then be redirected to any compatible LG television in the home, being remotely controlled and redirected with an app on your LG smartphone, like the LG Expo.
The app seems very easy to understand and the audio-video feeds can be uncompressed full HD content. By using this technology, you can effectively have the same Xbox powering three TVs in three different rooms around the home.
What’s Next for Samsung and LG?
Product innovation is driven by consumer demand. Is there something you want to see from Samsung and LG? Be sure to visit our forums and let your voice be heard! Who knows? An important engineer or product manager just may be listening. Don’t forget to check out our YouTube Channel for more original Futurelooks videos from CES 2010.
CES 2010 – LG and Samsung Unleash New Gadgets – Photo Gallery
