LG unveils at new category of devices for fitness

LG Electronics has taken the wraps off LG Lifeband Touch and LG Heart Rate Earphones, two wearable products that mark the company’s first foray into fitness tech.

Unveiled at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, both products incorporate comfortable designs and compatibility with other devices so that monitoring one’s health requires no additional effort beyond strapping on a watch and inserting a pair of headphone ear buds.

Lifeband Touch is a smart activity tracker that incorporates a bold yet comfortable design and is compatible with heart rate monitors (HRM) as well as smartphones. Meanwhile, the innovative Heart Rate Earphones’ unique dual-function design offers a convenient way for users to measure their heart rate while exercising.

 

Both devices are designed to help users take greater control over their health. Lifeband Touch and Heart Rate Earphones can wirelessly link up to each other, creating a seamless wearable ecosystem.

Connected to smartphones (Android and iOS supported), the devices can transmit data to the intuitive, easy-to-use LG Fitness app, or to a number of other third party apps such as MyFitnessPal, Runkeeper or MapMyFitness.

Bend over, here comes the LG G Flex

The smartphone  with "self healing" healing ability

You may longer have to worry about your smartphone getting scratches at the back no matter how rough the surface you place it. LG says the G Flex, a curved screen smartphone, uses "self-healing" technology that the press is increasingly comparing to Wolverine from X-Men: a special protective film on the back cover is designed to get rid of scratches on the phone within minutes.

That's the kind of feature that is hard to vouch for without seeing the phone in person, but those outside South Korea will have to wait — although the G Flex is coming to all three major carriers in LG's home nation next month, the company only teases an expansion into additional countries at some point in the undefined future.

The phone, which uses flexible OLED screen technology to allow for a dramatic curve on the horizontal axis, is between 7.9 and 8.7mm thick at various points, weighs 177g, and has a 6-inch 720p display. Inside there's a 2.26GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel camera, and a 3,500 mAh battery.

Although Samsung touted certain software features designed for its Galaxy Round Smartphone, which has a display that curves on a different axis, LG hasn't done much to exploit the potential UI benefits of its own screen technology; instead, the company calls the G Flex the "world's first 'real' curved smartphone," claiming better ergonomics when making phone calls, a more immersive video experience, and a brighter and more precise display thanks to its "Real RGB" pixel configuration.

What the G Flex shows however is a glimpse into the future around human-centric smartphone design – in particular, the shape of the human body. In terms of form, the vertically curved LG G Flex reduces the distance between one’s mouth to the microphone when the device is held against the ear.

In addition the same curvature arc is optimized for the average face, to deliver improved voice and sound quality. The curved design also offers a more reassuring grip and fits more comfortably in one’s back pocket.

The G Flex does include a "swing lock screen" feature, which moves the wallpaper in response to tilting motion and produces different unlocking effects when the user touches different areas of the screen. Another feature lets users pinch from the lock screen to open certain multimedia apps directly.