LG kicks off CES in Las Vegas, launches phone that heals itself

THE self-healing phone and the washing machine that does whites and colours at once are just some of the mind-blowing pieces of tech revealed at CES.

KICKING off the annual Consumer Electronics Show for the big guns, LG has revealed new TVs, phones and even washing machines that let you wash your colours and whites at the same time.

But the big emphasis out of Las Vegas overnight was on how our lives are somehow about to revolve even more around the internet.

With a tagline “Innovation for a better life”, the company showed off its “Internet of Things” ecosystem.

The term is being used to describe how our devices will react if something else happens within your tech environment.

LG’s example of this was its Wellness system, which after monitoring your sleeping habits, heart rate and movement, can make your living environment better. It does this by controlling your lighting, appliance settings and air conditioner to the ideal settings for your body and health.

An updated Homechat system even lets you communicate from your phone to your other appliances or devices and tell them what to do using everyday language.

Emphasis was also put on cars, where LG will be focusing on creating a customisable in car entertainment system to go head to head with both Apple Car Play and Android Auto, supporting both iPhone and Android devices.

If you’re prone to dropping your phone, LG’s self-healing rear cover could be your saviour.

Following up from 2014’s G Flex, LG announced the G Flex 2 smartphone. It features a 5.5-inch curved 1080p display, smaller than the original’s 6.0-inch display, but with a higher resolution. Considering one of the biggest complaints from the original device was its size, this is a good move. It also packs the same camera from the G3, which is a welcome addition over the horrendous one on the original. The self-healing rear cover is also back, and can repair scratches in seconds. While not as quick as the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 or Oppo Find 7, it can also charge from 0-50 per cent in around 40 minutes.

Of course, TVs were also a big focus for LG. Particularly their high-end OLED variants, which LG is investing big time in, with the company expecting to ship more than one million units by 2016.

They introduced the world’s first 4K OLED TVs, which results in a clearer picture with richer colours than any TV before it. Samsung and Sony are also expected to announce similar TVs later today, however due to LG’s ability to produce them cheaper, it will be interesting to see the price differences when that gets confirmed.

For Aussies keen on Netflix, the two companies emphasised their partnership, with Netflix confirming that 4K streaming will be coming to LG TVs later this year. Just in time for the March launch of Netflix Australia. It’s yet to be seen whether our broadband connections here will be able to handle that though.

Other devices shown off included a washing machine with a separate smaller washer to allow you to do your colours and whites at the same time. A new door in door fridge was also shown off, however as hard as the company tried to convince us it was a good idea to have essentially have a fridge inside a fridge, many struggled to see it as anything other than a gimmick.

Harry Tucker is attending CES 2015 as a guest of LG Electronics.

Never lose things in the back of the fridge again. Doors within doors allow you to store all your essentials in one place, and everything else in the main compartment of LG’s new fridge.