LG to unveil its smarter V30 powered by AI-camera in MWC

LG to unveil its smarter V30 powered by AI-camera in MWC. February. 14, 2018 07:51. by Dong-Il Seo dong@donga.com.
LG Electronics has released the AI tech that will be featured on the 2018 version of its flagship phone V30. The AI will power the camera, the most often used part of the phone, to increase usability. LG Electronics will unveil the product at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018, the world’s largest mobile conference, on Feb. 26 in Barcelona, Spain.

The South Korean tech giant refers to the AI to be featured on the V30 an “empathetic AI,” since it analyzed all the features that are used the most before introducing the AI technology. While competition in the mobile market was centered on hardware specifications such as the size of the screen and high resolution camera, it is now centered on increasing user usability powered by AI. LG’s new V30 reflects this trend.

The 2018 model of V30 has automatic image analysis for shooting mode recommendations. The AI chooses from eight different modes such as portrait, flowers, food, scenery and sunrise, by using image recognition. If user turns the camera on to take a picture of food such as pasta, the camera will increase saturation levels and apply warmer hues to recommend settings more appropriate for food. “We have analyzed more than 100 million images to create an object identification algorithm,” LG Electronics said. “The V30 recommends a shooting mode by recognizing features of the object captured by the screen in real time.”

The AI-powered camera will be able to conduct search, read QR code and give shopping suggestions. If user shoots an image of a watch, the V30’s camera immediately provides the search results of the same product, similar products and also compares prices among commerce sites. In other words, the V30 enables using images to search the Internet as if users were using keywords.

LG Electronics has increased the number of voice commands, by expanding the Google Assistant commands from 23 to 32. “Optimized camera mode,” “image search” and “shopping recommendation” have been also added so that users will be able to use the AI powered camera conveniently using voice commands.

The company is promoting open strategies, such as open platform, open partnership and open connectivity, in the AI field. “We plan on sharing our strengths and concerns as a manufacturer of mobile phones, TVs and consumer electronics with many more partners and will strive for attaining ‘synergy through collaboration,’” said Sohn Ju-ho, head of the Artificial Intelligence Lab Team at LG Electronics.