LG Electronics’ upcoming smart TVs will run an upgraded version of webOS that promises better performance and more customization.
The TVs will be launched at the International CES trade show in Las Vegas next month. The improvements on webOS 2.0 include better boot times and faster access to content. For example, when switching from the home screen to YouTube users will see an improvement in loading time of up to 70 percent, LG said without revealing how many seconds it would take.
New features let users access favorite channels faster than before from the main menu and adjust their TV without interrupting the program they’re watching.
WebOS has hopefully found a more stable home at LG, after the company bought the OS from Hewlett-Packard in the beginning of 2013. The OS celebrated its fifth birthday this year, after first being used on Palm’s smartphones.
Via LG TVs, it will be possible to watch content from Netflix and Amazon.com in UltraHD, including series such as House of Cards and Marco Polo from Netflix, or movies including After Earth, Elysium, The Amazing Spider Man 2 and The Da Vinci Code from Amazon, LG said.
Products for watching, recording and making UltraHD content, which has a 3840 by 2160 pixel resolution, are expected to be big trends at International CES. However, even more important is progress on the content front. The availability of content is still very limited, with Netflix and Amazon along with DirecTV and streaming service M-Go (which have exclusive deals with Samsung) offering some movies and TV series in the U.S.