LG at CES 2012: 55-inch OLED TV, Spectrum LTE smartphone, Google TV, and more!

The company had the rest of its 2012 lineup laid out, and we also spotted the LM9600, a slim 55-incher with a tiny 1mm bezel. The image only stops 5mm from the edge of the TV, making for a pretty dramatic black bar-less effect, and the panel features LG's Nano LED backlighting, with the LED substrate directly on the panel.The LM9600, as well as the rest of LG's non 84-inch lineup, are slated for release in March or April.

The Z330 has a single USB 3.0 port on the left edge (alongside the power plug), and a USB 2.0 port, HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, and MicroSD card slot on the right edge. We weren't crazy about the particular aluminum finish on this ultrabook — it has a texture that makes it feel a bit like plastic and it makes the touchpad too "sticky." The Z430 felt significantly heavier in hand (about 0.6 pounds more according to the specs), and adds an additional USB 2.0 port and a pull-down Ethernet connection. Unlike its 13.3-inch brother, there's a full-sized SD card slot on the back. There's still no pricing information yet: all we know is that they'll come sometime in the first quarter of this year. Check our product database entries for each ultrabook to get a full rundown of specs.

Sprint has just announced its LTE launch strategy today: along with the Galaxy Nexus, Sprint will also carry the LG Viper and Sierra Wireless Tri-Network Hotspot. The Viper unfortunately runs Android 2.3 device with LTE, a 4-inch screen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, and two cameras. Just like the Galaxy Nexus, the Viper will work with Google Wallet. It's also an eco-friendly device, with a casing made of 35 percent recycled plastics. As for the Sierra Wireless Tri-Network Hotspot, it runs on Sprint's 3G, WiMax, and LTE networks, supports up to 8 simultaneous connections, and includes a microSD slot for sharing files. These devices are all part of the 15 total LTE devices Sprint plans to launch in 2012. There's no word on when these devices will launch, but we expect it'll be along with the LTE network launch later this year.

LG's True HD IPS display is making its way to Verizon, to do battle with the Galaxy Nexus. The 4.5-inch Spectrum was just introduced at LG's CES 2012 press event, where its 720p resolution, 326ppi pixel density, and 1.5GHz dual-core processor got their chance to shine. Having spent some time playing with it, we can say the display is every bit as delightful as LG claims it is, with the company offering us a handheld microscope to take a close look at the RGB stripe subpixel arrangement — any chance to poke holes in Samsung's armor, eh?

Regrettably, the Spectrum will ship (on January 19th for $199.99) with just Android 2.3 on board, whereas we'd really like to see phone makers move to Android 4.0 full time from here on out. As powerful as the Spectrum may be, we still came across a few stumbles in performance, particularly when using the pinch-to-zoom gesture to bring in an overview of all seven homescreens. That's not exactly awesome, and neither is LG's Android skin.

LG has been tight-lipped around specs, only telling us that this TV weighs 7.5kg and measures 4mm thick on the side (at its thinnest point, naturally). The front bezel isn't all that much bigger, but besides knowing it can handle 3D (and is compatible with current LG 3D glasses), we've got little else to go on. Resolution can be reasonably presumed to be 1080p, though again, the colors, contrast, and viewing angles were too awesome for us to try and count pixels. The release date and price will be the critical aspects that determine the fate of this television. Its desirability is beyond question.

The LG Spectrum, which was leaked fairly comprehensively last week, now has an official launch date of January 19. The photos below are our first images of the 4.5-inch Verizon LTE phone, which LG has confirmed will have a 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and an IPS Gorilla Glass screen with True HD. The front-facing camera is 1.3-megapixel, with an 8-megapixel rear-facing one capable of recording in 1080p HD. As rumored, it's going to be shipping with Android 2.3, but will upgradeable to 4.0 in the first half of 2012. We've also got a little more information on the ESPN ScoreCenter app, which comes pre-loaded on the Spectrum and will offer 720p video playback, a first for ESPN. The phone will cost $199.99 with a two-year contract.

LG's here at CES 2012 showing off VMware virtual Android machines running on a Verizon Revolution — you can have a "personal" phone that you manage yourself, and then hit a button and click over to a totally sandboxed "work" phone that's managed by your employer. We've known LG and VMware have been working on this since February, but the big news today is that Verizon and Telefonica wil be launching a phone with the tech "in the coming months." No one's getting more specific than that, and we're told it'll be on new LG devices only — the Revolution you see here is just a proof of concept. Still, it's interesting, and should make that whole work phone / personal phone split a little easier to manage.

One of the most anticipated devices of CES 2012 is LG's 55-inch OLED TV. Here it is in LG's booth in Las Vegas just waiting for its moment to shine. Announced on New Years Day, LG claims that its 4-mm thick 16.5-pound WOLED television is capable of producing more natural colors than traditional OLEDs that tend to suffer from oversaturation. What's more, LG claims to be able to produce its new TV at a much lower price point than would have previously been possible. An important development for the company that plans to put it on sale in the US by Q4 of this year.

Eric Schmidt predicted last month that the "majority" of TVs sold by summer 2012 would have Google TV, and the company's certainly signing up the partners to make that a reality: Google just announced that LG, Sony, and Vizio will be showing off Google TV devices at CES 2012, with additional devices from Samsung coming later in the year. Google's also partnering with MediaTek and Marvell to provide the next generation of ARM-based chipsets for Google TV — Marvell already announced that its new Armada 1500 chip would support Google TV devices. The news isn't really a surprise; we've long suspected the platform would move to ARM, LG rumors have been swirling for a couple months, and Samsung's deal to use the platform was news in November as well. Google also says there are now over 150 apps for Google TV in its app store after the platform was updated to Honeycomb in late October, and it says it says its activations rates have doubled since the update.

That's all good news, but Google's got a lot to prove this time around: the first wave of Intel-powered Google TV devices flopped so hard that former partner Logitech ended up firing its CEO and calling the entire effort a "mistake of implementation of a gigantic nature." We'll see if Google's learned from those mistakes and — most importantly — if it's made any progress integrating its platform with TV and content providers since last year. Onwards to CES.

LG Electronics just announced its 55-inch OLED television — the inevitable home for the world's largest OLED TV panel revealed last week by LG Display. The TV will be featured at CES 2012 where the world's tech media will busy themselves photographing pencils, Moleskins, and Droid RAZRs next to the TV's 4-mm thick profile in an attempt to convey just how thin this 7.5-kg (16.5-pound) beauty really is. Better yet, unlike the overly saturated OLED panels we're accustomed to seeing, LG claims its image processing features combined with the WOLED panel produce "the most natural colors of any TV set" and at a "much lower price point" than OLED panels of this size would traditionally command, and its Color Refiner helps ensures consistent color across a wider viewing angle. All very important developments in LG's march to make WOLED "the future of home TV entertainment." Yet for all of its teasing, LGE's still not offering a ship date or suggested retail price.

Update: LG USA's Tim Alessi, director of new product development, told the Associated Press that the TV is likely to go on sale in the fourth quarter of the year.

An Intel and LG partnership isn't without precedent — but it also isn't without disappointment. Back in CES 2010, the LG GW990 was supposed to be one of the first MeeGo devices, but those plans were nixed. Although Android was mentioned, the Korea Times report also cited anonymous LG executives who said rather bluntly, "personally I doubt that LG Electronics will release phones on Android software based on any Intel platform," adding that it was more likely for LG to "push Intel reference mobiles but with huge subsidies from Intel for promotion" — possibly Tizen, the platform borne of MeeGo's ashes. We've reached out to Intel and LG and will let you know what we hear.