LG has taken the wraps off its new Signature series of appliances and, we we largely expected, there wasn’t much that isn’t available elsewhere and seems more of a PR stunt than much else.
In the appliances (we’ll ignore the TV) there is a washing machine, an air purifier and a fridge freezer. There’s an oven as well allegedly but that wasn’t on show today at CES in Las Vegas.
So here’s what you need to know about the latest not-so-revolutionary stuff:
Fridge Freezer
It’s pretty nice looking depending on your tastes of course but, at least it isn’t completely ugly.
If doesn’t have door handles as such, far too upmarket for that. But what LG have done is to rip off the idea of waving your foot at the base to open the door, something that VW, BMW, Mercedes and others have been doing for years to open a door so, not exactly “innovative” other than, this is the first we’ve seen it on a fridge.
It has a big panel that, when you knock the door, become transparent and the interior lights up. Okay, so the notion of a blacked out panel that clears is new but you could wave your foot an look inside so we’re not really seeing the point of that. But a glass fronted fridge, come on LG, it’s hardly a new idea.
Not a bad as Samsung’s huge TV and cameras but still not exactly wondrous.
It has a WiFi display in it. You can see it through the window.
Who knows, your guess is as good as ours, just looks like a display to us.
Air Purifier
It purifies air LG say, who are we to argue.
It has a blue light so, it must do something really good to have the blue lights.
LG say it can filter out particles as small as one micrometer.
It looks like a distant (ugly) cousin of R2-D2.
Washing Machine
It’s actually a washer dryer we’re told.
It washes clothes and reputedly dries them as well, it’s all black plastic and stainless steel. Okay, so far nothing new.
It is using the twin wash type system so it has a baby washing machine underneath and therefore we will likely never see one on European soil let alone the UK. And, it has LG’s “Centum” system to (LG say) reduce vibration and noise.
Direct drive, looks like 10 year warranty on the rotor as usual, the bit that hardly ever breaks.
Innovation
Really, we don’t see it. And, we can’t see people paying much, if any more, for the limited extra features that these products have to offer.
Of course if you want the look or the exclusivity of these products, that’s a different conversation but, solely on merit of what we’ve seen, we couldn’t advise people to splash out the extra cash on these products.
