LG to bring eye-tracking “Smart Video” and other features to Optimus G Pro soon

LG has announced that they will be bringing their truly innovative and advanced eye recognition technology to the Optimus G Pro — and future phones — soon, one that allows for a virtually hands-free video playback.
Dubbed as “Smart Video”, the feature will automatically pause a video if the phone – well, its front camera – detects that you’re getting distracted and that your eyes are wandering away from the screen. The video playback will resume once you look at the screen back.
Samsung calls this “Smart Pause”, and it’s very likely we’ll be seeing it officially unveiled alongside the Galaxy S4 in a few hours.
But back to LG, Smart Video will be arriving on the Optimus G Pro as a Value Pack upgrade starting next month, but it has only been announced for the South Korean market for now. The update will also enable the phone’s Dual Camera feature, which basically lets you take pictures using both front and rear cams at the same time for a “picture-in-picture composition”.
Hit the PR below for more exciting new features heading to the Optimus G Pro.

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LG mimicks Samsung Galaxy S4 Times Square ad campaign, makes it about the Optimus G instead

It was pretty bold of Samsung to pick New York City as Galaxy S4’s debut stage, but after the booming GS3 and Note 2 hits we expected nothing less. Sammy is going after Apple again and what better way to start a global charge than subduing the “enemy” on its home turf?

You’d think the entire NYC was drooling over the S4 prospect by now, given the mighty ad campaign kicked into gear a while ago in Times Square. However, if Apple doesn’t usually like to engage in bitter anti-competition marketing, someone else does – LG.

And you know what they say, it’s all about location, location, location. Case in point, even if LG is the one mimicking Samsung’s ads, the Optimus makers might look better in the eyes of unsuspecting New York locals just by having their billboards placed on top of the competition’s.

Of course, the increased brightness also helps, making Samsung’s “Be Ready 4 The Next Galaxy” message look old and dusty. It’s almost like the below ad is on the verge of being removed, while the one on top is flashy and shiny enough to make you think of the future.

Now, don’t get us wrong. We’re not defending LG. In fact, that “LG Optimus G is here 4 you now” message is pretty bland and unoriginal. We’ve also stopped caring for this kind of trolling marketing a while ago (unless Apple is the one being trolled, in which case all bets are off).

But will it be effective? Most likely, yeah. Even if we’re talking about no more than a dozen people who’ll be seeing both ads and think “hey, how about I look into that Optimus G some more?”. Or another few hundreds who’ll simply miss the S4 ad because of the shinier LG one.

And at the end of the day that’s all that matters in this “take no prisoners” smartphone war. It doesn’t have to be elegant or classy if it works. Agreed? Is LG a clever or a lame troll?

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