The 2016 CES tide of tech innovation news has already begun with the announcement from Korea's LG that it will soon present its updated webOS 3.0 platform for smart televisions.
Among the platform's new tools are three primary features: an upgraded Magic Remote, Magic Zoom and Magic Mobile. The improved Magic Remote tool offers the ability to control DVR functions and it also adds "power" and "menu" button options. Magic Zoom gives users the ability to enlarge letters and objects on the screen without experiencing any noticeable degradation in image quality.
But the most powerful update is Magic Mobile, which lets LG smart television users connect their mobile phones to the television via the LG TV Plus app. Once connected, you'll be able to view your mobile apps directly on the television screen.
The updated webOS will also include a range of other features, including Channel Advisor, which monitors your viewing habits and then notifies you of upcoming programming you may like, and Channel Plus, which combines broadcast and digital content viewing options and offers free digital content from the likes of the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Politics, Time and Condé Nast Entertainment.
Based on the feature set, it seems the updated webOS is specifically designed to compete with some of the more popular set-top boxes on the market like Apple TV, Google Chromecast and Roku.
Whether LG's update is enough to be a viable alternative to the aforementioned players is something we'll only know for sure when we get to test the system out in a couple of weeks at CES.
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