Matching Up SW with HW
LG Electronics is strengthening its cooperation with Google in various business sectors including smartphones and consumer electronics.
According to industry sources on August 23, LG agreed with Google to apply a Korean version of the Google assistant to the V30 announced later this month. Google originally planned to start the Korean service of Google Assistant by the end of the year. However, it is said that the service schedule has been advanced at the request of LG Electronics. Google has been testing some users for the launch of the Korean version of Google Assistant since last month.
With Google Assistant, you can make phone calls, play music, check weather, search the internet and etc. with your voice even when the smartphone screen is turned off. As Google Assistant is loaded with machine learning, smart phones can learn by themselves and provide customized services by talking with users.
Google Assistant was also included in the premium phone G6 which LG Electronics introduced earlier this year but has only been available in English and German. If the Korean version is added, Korean users will be able to use Google Assistant conveniently in the future. LG Electronics is planning to compete with Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 and Apple's iPhone 8 with the V30 loaded with the Korean version of Google Assistant.
The alliance between LG Electronics and Google has been significantly built up this year. In March, LG Electronics introduced Google's wearable operating system (OS) 'AndroidWare 2.0' for the first time in the world in its two next-generation smart watch models (LG Watch Sports and Style). At a Google Developer event in Mountain View of California, in May, it announced a refrigerator, a washer, and an air purifier loaded with smart home service 'Google Home'. "We already launched home appliances loaded with Google Home functions in the US market," an LG official said. "We will continue to expand our services to various home appliances."
LG Electronics is also known to manufacture a next-generation model of the Pixel series, a Google’s own smartphone. The next Pixel model is divided into the basic model 'Pixel 2' and the larger screen 'Pixel 2XL'. It is expected that the Pixel 2 will be manufactured by HTC in Taiwan and Pixel 2XL by LG Electronics. "The Pixel 2XL will have a very thin screen bezel like the G6,” said Android Authority, an information technology (IT) media firm.
In April, Google announced a plan to invest one trillion won in LG Display in order to secure organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays for the Pixel. "The cooperation between Google and LG Electronics is expanding in the field of electric devices such as those for autonomous vehicles," an industry official said. "Google is developing software such as AI, and LG Electronics is bringing out hardware loaded with the software."