LG to launch AI into wider range of smartphones at Barcelona congress

Johannesburg - South Korean electronics manufacturer LG is expected to launch a range of artificial intelligence (AI) features for its smartphones at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, later this month. 

LG’s V30 smartphone, which was launched last year,  will be the latest recipient of the new technology for its 2018 version, scheduled to be showcased at the world’s largest smartphone gathering. 

At the Consumer Electronics Showcase (CES) earlier this year, LG announced that it had been researching how AI should be implemented into smartphones through LGThinQ.

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The company’s research found that AI-based solutions should deliver an intuitive user experience, focusing on the camera and voice recognition. 

Through its dual camera and Vision AI, the V30+ will automatically analyse objects and recommends the best shooting mode from among eight modes: portrait, food, pet, landscape, city, flower, sunrise, and sunset. 

The feature is similar to that of Huawei’s recently-launched Mate 10 Pro smartphone. 

LG said that Vision AI takes into account the angle of view, colour, reflections, backlighting, and saturation levels to apply the best setting. 

Another new feature is Voice AI that allows users to run apps and change settings through voice commands alone. Working alongside Google Assistant, the 32 LG-exclusive Voice AI commands – up from 23 commands in 2017 – eliminates the need to search through menu options and allows for direct selection of specific functions.

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LG said that certain AI features will not be limited to new LG models only, but also to existing LG smartphones via over-the-air updates, taking into consideration various hardware specifications and stability of LG smartphone models for maximum user experience.

“As we communicated last month at CES, the future for LG lies in AI, not just hardware specs and processing speeds,” said Ha Jeung-uk, senior vice president and business unit leader for LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. 

“Creating smarter smartphones will be our focus going forward and we are confident that consumers will appreciate the advanced user experience with the enhanced V30+ that many have been asking and waiting for,” he added. 

MWC 2018 will take place from February 26 until March 1.