- The new LG TV has a simplified user interface
- LG Buddy for the help of friends and family
- The remote control has a greater police and may be an emergency alarm
LG launched a brand new TV designed for a very specific demography: seniors. The easy new television is launching into Korea, but LG intends to bring it back to other countries with “a demography that ages quickly, including the United States and Japan”.
There is a little joke online on the visit of older family members and sorting their smart televisions, but like many jokes, there is a grain of truth: Smart TV software is often not very simple. Like many people with older children, I cursed interfaces, controls and too complex menus on the best televisions, so I’m here for what LG does.
And let’s face it, smart televisions can be too complex even when you are relatively young. I am not entirely the target demography here – although I am really in my glasses “removing my glasses to read my phone” – but I still had to invoke my child of 12 years the other day to discover which buried menu parameter would allow me to connect my airpods to my Samsung set.
So, what is LG doing to make his smart televisions a smarter purchase for the elderly?
LG Easy TV: key features for older viewers
The easy TV is delivered with a modified version of the webos system with a simpler navigation and a larger font, and you can use their live alert voice commands to configure reminders to make your daily medicines. There is a new remote control with a brighter backlight and larger buttons, including a large help button.
This button invokes LG Buddy, which allows friends, parents or caregivers to take control of the TV remotely to adjust the parameters, modify the inputs or plan the programming. It also allows vocal and video calls – the latter via the integrated camera of the TV – and the exchange of photos and YouTube videos.
The help button can also be used to summon aid in emergency situations where the person cannot make a telephone call, such as falls: press the help button three times or keep it down, it alerted the designated contact. LG plans to provide this functionality to other televisions, not just easy television.
Looking at the remote control, I would have liked a simpler – something more like the Apple TV 4K or the current Fire TV has extended a little – but compared to the other LG remote controls that I used, it is certainly a great improvement.
It is easy to make jokes on our loved ones and their TVs too long with a moving movement on the maximum, but today’s technology can really help people: improvement in dialogue can make programs easier to hear, visual adjustments can make emissions and films that are easier to see, and vocal agents and intelligent assistants can make our devices much easier to control.
And without becoming too morbid, the best scenario for all of us is that we will live to take advantage of these accessibility characteristics ourselves. Hoping that more companies will do what LG does – or maybe a simplified version of the interface could become an option on each TV …
