CES 2014: LG reveals plans for webOS TV platform

LG’s Korea division has already revealed the webOS TV ahead of the opening keynote from the company at the ongoing Consumer and Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The company has revived Palm’s mobile operating system webOS for a television interface. LG’s webOS will be used in over 70 percent of the company’s 2014 Smart TV models. LG had acquired webOS in March from HP. With webOS for TV, LG is revamping the interface. According to a press statement, it’s now all about Simple Connection, Simple Switching and Simple Discovery. Simple Connection is all about making it easy for first time users to learn how to operate their smart TVs. When you turn on your TV for the first time, animated characters ‘binbeodeu (Bean Bird)’ appear in the initial setting to help those users who aren’t so familiar with smart devices. [caption id=“attachment_1325027” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] LG’s webOS tv is seen in this press release photo.[/caption] Simple Switching lets users navigate different apps on the Smart TV. It also allows users connect devices like smartphones etc, while watching TV and do real-time search on the TV without switching screens, and has support for recording the Live menu. Simple Discovery allows users to keep summary of most watched TV shows, the most popular content on the TV, etc. A full-scale app store is also available for the Smart TV with webOS. The press release also states that voice and gesture-based controls will be supported by webOS TV. webOS TVs will appear first in Korea, and to US and Europe.