Samsung plans to unveil new Bada phones; LG readies smart 3-D TVs with new content


Local firms are preparing to showcase a wide range of wireless gadgets as well as 3-D TVs for the global trade show IFA which is scheduled to be held from Sept. 2-7 in Berlin.

LG Electronics, which is expected to concentrate on promoting its film-type patterned retarder technology 3-D television, said Tuesday that the company will unveil for the first time the videos of Korean pop stars which will be loaded on the firm’s Cinema 3-D Smart TV at the trade show of consumer electronics and home appliances.

Some 260 music videos of well-known Korean singers including Seo Tai-ji, girl groups KARA and 4Minute, as well as boy bands Big Bang and Beast, as well as shot during concerts and fan meetings will be available, according to LG officials.

The K-pop content service will be launched in Korea and the U.S. next month, and will be expanded to 25 nations including France, Italy, Brazil, Indonesia, by the end of this year.

“We believe the high quality K-pop content will play an important role for us in leading the smart TV market since the demands for such content is on a high rise,” said Seo Young-jae, head of the smart TV team at LG Electronics.

LG also said it prepared up to 100,000 pairs of 3-D glasses for the trade show, so that visitors can experience the firm’s 3-D TVs during the six-day show.

In a related effort, LG Display chief executive Kwon Young-soo will come out to the show in Berlin to engage in talks with overseas partners and LG Electronics CEO Koo Bon-joon will also take part in the event and hold a series of meetings.

Samsung Electronics, on the other hand, said Tuesday it plans to present a new smartphone running on the latest version of the company’s proprietary mobile operating platform Bada 2.0 at IFA 2011.

The mobile phone, dubbed Wave 3, will feature a 4-inch Super AMOLED display screen and a 1.4 gigahertz processor as well as a 5 million pixel camera, said Samsung officials, adding that the device will support Flash.

The social networking service function has been improved, enabling the new smartphone owners to chat on Samsung’s ChatON service with users of feature phones, other types of smartphones and tablet PCs.

The world’s No. 2 mobile phone manufacturer will also unveil two other Wave smartphones ― Wave M and Wave Y ― both running on Bada 2.0 platform to strengthen its Bada phone line-up.

The showcasing of smartphones operating on its own mobile OS follows Google’s recent acquisition of Motorola. In the merger, the local industry has felt the threat, witnessing Google’s willingness to jump into the mobile phone manufacturing business.

The company’s vice chairman Choi Gee-sung and Yoon Boo-keun, chief of Samsung’s TV division, will join the event, with a global press conference planned on Thursday.

In the meantime, the country’s mobile carrier KT Corp. will also participate in the trade show for the first time, with plans to display a smartphone called Spider phone, running on Google’s Android platform, which could be plugged onto laptop computers, tablet PCs and gaming devices, KT officials said. The smartphone screen and its contents are projected to be shared on the other devices.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)