LG announced it will introduce its own Google TV-equipped HDTV at CES 2012. The company says its “LG Smart TV with Google TV” will be an all-in-one unit , although it didn’t reveal the screen size yet.
The 3D HDTV will use LG’s Cinema 3D technology that uses lightweight glasses that don’t require batteries. Along with that, LG touts its “magic remote QWERTY,” incorporating a small keyboard and controls to operate Google TV’s updated Android-based user interface.
With LG announcing its version of Google TV, it joins Sony, Visio and Samsung with hardware supporting the format. After Logitech announced that it’s bowing out of the Google TV fold, it appears that a few more manufacturers are stepping up to take its place in short order.
We’ll have a chance to see LG’s new Google TV-equipped HDTV when we go to CES 2012 next week, and we’ll give you a full report as soon as we take a closer look.
Keep in mind that the main challenge with any Google TV announced in the next few days will have to do with content, not hardware. Google’s biggest stumbling block is getting production studios and content creators to allow their movies and TV shows to be accessible from Google TV. We’ve tested the early pre-Android version of Google TV, and found its main weakness was the lack of quality programming.
Now that the user interface is based on Android, it’s more pleasant to use. But the fact remains: The strength of the platform is its ability to sort through all the TV programs available at the moment, and offer them up to the viewer. If studios won’t let their programs be accessible from Google TV, its power won’t be evident to anyone. In this situation, it’s more important to watch what the studios will do than what LG, Sony, Visio and Samsung will do.
Here’s a new video from Google showing off its new Google TV interface, along with another pic of LG’s Google TV:
