Wearables Will be Big at IFA

Archos will show new Android and Windows Phone mobile devices in hall 12, at stand 103. The 50B Platinum (£100 ($165)) is an Android 4.4 smartphone with a quad-core processor and IPS panel. The 5″ device will support dual SIM cards. It will be launched alongside the 45C Platinum, which does not have confirmed specifications yet. It will be a smaller version of the 50B, costing £85 ($140). An Android tablet will also be shown: the 101 Oxygen, due to be launched in October. Running on an ARM Cortex A17 quad-core processor, the 10.1″ tablet will have 1920 x 1080 resolution.
In terms of Windows Phone, both of Archos’ products will run v8.1 of the OS. The 40 Cesium smartphone (£65 ($110)) features a 4″ display and Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 quad-core processor; it will be launched in September. A tablet, the 80 Cesium, will feature an 8″ display with IPS panel and 1280 x 800 resolution, running on an Intel quad-core processor. It will be available in October for £110 ($180).
The smartwatch under development by Asus (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 11) will be revealed at IFA, with a curved display. The company accompanied the news with a teaser image that appears to show a curved display – although it is concept art. Previous rumours have suggested an AMOLED display and a price point between $100 and $150 (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 27).
A YouTube video, first spotted by an Engadget source but now live on LG‘s own account, has been posted showing a circular G Watch. The company’s first G Watch (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 12) had a square face, but the sequel – the G Watch R – will be more akin to the Moto 360 from Motorola. Several new face designs are shown, as well as a step counter, distance meter and compass. The video (http://tinyurl.com/let4dru) closes with the words ‘@IFA 2014’.
The day that we went to print with this week’s issue, LG announced more details about the G Watch R. It will run Android Wear on a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC and use a 1.3″ plastic OLED display (320 x 320). The company took a dig at the Moto 360 here, saying that the watch will use 100% of its face (Motorola’s watch has been criticised for the black bar at the bottom of the screen – TA). It is IP67-certified, and will operate under 1m of water for up to 30 minutes.
Additionally, LG will show a phablet intended to challenge the (rumoured) Galaxy Note 4. The G3 Stylus is based on the G3 smartphone, with a 5.5″ display (surprisingly, only with 960 x 540 resolution) and stylus. The product’s screen can be divided to show two apps at once. Features common to the G3, such as Knock Code, Gesture Shot and Smart Keyboard, are also built into the G3 Stylus. Android 4.4.2 will run on a 1.3GHz quad-core processor. The 3,000mAh battery is removable.
Panasonic‘s stand (hall 5.2) will be split into five areas, dedicated to the 4k World; Digital AV; Home Appliances; B2B Solutions; and a concept area called Better Living Tomorrow. The company will show its UltraHD consumer product line (TVs, tablets, digital signage, camcorders and cameras), as well as a variety of Viera TVs. These will include the SAT>IP models announced earlier this year (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 15).
The opening keynote of IFA will be delivered by Samsung president Boo-Keun Yoon. Boo-Keun will give his speech, titled ‘Bringing Your Future Home’, at 10.30am on the 5th September, in the CityCube Berlin Level 1, Hall A. It will focus on Samsung’s vision for the ‘Home of the Future’ (anyone willing to bet that the SmartThings acquisition (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 32) gets a lot of screen time? – TA).
According to Yonhap, Samsung will show a 105″ bendable UltraHD TV, around a month after it launched a similar 78″ product (UN78S9B) in Korea (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 30). First seen at CES 2014 (Display Monitor Vol 21 No 3), these TVs can be flat or curved, switching between modes with the press of a button. The 105″ will apparently be called the UN105S9B.