LG always insures that it has a lot of floor space and presence at CES, and at CES 2015, they intend to unveil new televisions that feature their newest webOS 2.0.
According to PC Mag, this webOS 2.0 has some excellent new features such as reduced boot time, improved loading time when switching between content, and a new My Channels feature. It also allows users to customize their favorite live TV or set-top box channels on the Launcher Bar, and use the Quick Settings and Input Picker functions to make adjustments and syncing even easier. These webOS 2.0 televisions will also support 4K streams, which will allow users of Netflix and Amazon to stream 4K content.
In addition to these features, SlashGear reports that WebOS 2.0 will have a 2015 New Magic Remote. This will be the size of a normal remote control, and it will have a numeric keypad to allow the user to key in your channel manually. This controller will be able to work on all LG devices. It is possible that this remote could be used with LG's webOS SmartWatch, which was leaked two months ago by The Verge.
CNET states that these new functions are "intuitive and convenient". They also say that the loading times have been reduced by 60 percent from the original webOS, and the conversion time for apps takes less time. For example, the YouTube application will occur 70 percent faster compared with webOS 1.0.
The source code, development infrastructure, and other related specifications of webOS were acquired by LG in February 2013 from HP. Nearly one year later, LG introduced their webOS-powered smart TVs at CES 2014, and has since sold 5 million of these webOS 1.0 powered smart televisions since their release date in March of this year. So far, there is not any word on whether any of the WebOS 1.0 smart TVs will be getting any updates to WebOS 2.0. Hopefully, that will be the case, or the 5 million LG sets sold this year will be made outdated and possibly obsolete.
It is odd that LG has made this information known about their webOS 2.0 smart televisions. Normally, CES 2015, the large consumer electronics show held in Las Vegas every year, is the time to make announcements such as these. CNET speculates that LG's move is to compete with their arch-rival Samsung, who plans to display their own smart televisions at CES 2015. Samsung's smart TV's will be powered by Tizen.
