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LG's latest fridge will open at your command
How much longer 'til my kitchen can just cook french toast for me?
Smart appliances are nothing new, but it's a rare treat to find one that does something we can actually call smart. LG will demonstrate a series of new features coming to its line of refrigerators during the virtual CES 2021 conference in January, and among the highlights will be an automatic door that opens in response to voice commands. This will enable users to simply voice the command, "open the refrigerator door," and they'll be able to drop off or pick up items without touching a handle.
As LG continues to roll out Android 10 to the G8 series and sets its sights on the upcoming G9, now is a lucrative time to pick up some of LG's previous flagship hardware for cheap. Today, you can buy a brand new, factory unlocked LG G7 ThinQ for only 4.99 — the lowest price we've seen — at Amazon.
LG is getting set to roll out an update to its SmartThinQ app that could change the way people use its smart home appliances: it will incorporate Google Assistant to recognize vocal commands for its Wi-Fi enabled laundry machines, refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, air conditioners, and other devices.
Phones are usually discounted several months after they're released, but the LG G7's price started dropping only two months after it hit the market and continued on the same trend over the past year. The company's 2018 flagship has now hit a new low, as it's now selling for almost half is original MSRP.The handset features a 6.1" 1440p IPS display, a Snapdragon 845 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage, dual 16MP rear cameras, an 8MP selfie sensor, and a 3,000mAh battery. It's also water-resistant and has wireless charging, but didn't have any singular features versus the competition to justify its high price when it came out.
LG phones probably haven't been getting much love on Project Fi, especially with the introductions of the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, so the Google MVNO has decided to spice things up a bit. Both LG flagships are now being offered for $200 off, bringing the G7 down to $549 and the V35 to $699, with $150 free Fi service credit to sweeten the deal. This beats last month's deal out by $50.
You've already got the Google Assistant on your phone, and carry it pretty much everywhere as a result, but don't for one second think that means Google and its hardware partners are any less interested in making Assistant's reach positively ubiquitous. It's on speakers, it's on headphones, it's on countertop displays — and if you've got a new LG smart TV, you may be about to get Assistant there, too.
Google Assistant is currently baked into LG's 2018 ThinQ AI TV lineup and all generations of the DISH Hopper DVR set-top box. This means owners of these devices with Assistant built in can command their TV, call up information, manage tasks, control smart home devices, and more with the power of their voice. However, this also means you're granting Google and the device manufacturer access to some of your personal information. If you don't reckon that to be a worthwhile trade-off, there's a simple way to shut off access to this information on non-Android TV devices.
Late last month, Project Fi announced that the Moto G6, LG G7, and LG V35 would be added to the lineup. The Moto G6 went up for pre-order that same day, but the G7 and V35 were said to be coming "next month." Well, it's now the next month, and the G7 and V35 can now be pre-ordered from Fi.
LG's mobile business has been doing some questionable things lately. It all began to go downhill when it released a V30 with slightly better specs as the "V30S ThinQ" for a whopping $929.99 (which it has since lowered by $200). It then updated the existing V30 with "ThinQ" branding as well. The company now seems to be doing the same thing with the G6 for some reason, despite the phone being over a year old.
The last 3 or 4 years in LG's history have been nothing but baffling to me. I have difficulty understanding how the company that caught my heart with its G2 and G3 smartphones fell so badly in the me-too camp, trying to emulate what has worked for others (mostly Samsung) and hoping that would be a recipe for success. The latest ThinQ brand and push is one more symptom of the same ailment: LG saw that AI was everywhere and wanted to get it on the game. Forget about useful AI, it's another "we have smart things for the sake of smart things" gimmick. Sigh.
Right at the end of 2017, and prior to CES 2018, LG announced a new Google Assistant speaker as part of its ThinQ smart lineup. Then, at CES, the company followed up by adding the ThinQ View (pictured above), its own take on Google's Smart Displays with Assistant integrated. At the time, the pricing and availability of these wasn't clear. Now, we know just a little bit more.
Back when LG still hadn't officially announced the interestingly-named V30S ThinQ and was merely teasing it, the company mentioned that the new features might trickle down to existing V30 devices. At MWC, LG confirmed that the V30 and V30+ would in fact get ThinQ features. In keeping with that promise, a reader in South Korea who owns a V30+ (a V30 with 128GB of storage) recently received an update that included a few interesting additions from the ThinQ.
In the TV segment, LG has a great leg up Samsung's. Its OLED TVs have been praised for many years for their excellent displays and beautiful colors. Now LG is taking another step toward improving its product lineup by introducing ThinQ AI. ThinQ has been the company's smart home brand for a few years already, starting with the SmartThinQ Hub and ending recently with the announcement of the ThinQ speaker with Google Assistant.