CES 2011 – LG conference throws up Optimus Black, Optimus Pad, 31 inch OLED and more!

Day one of the big CES press conferences has kicked off, with LG the first to tout their brand new wares.

LG cranked through their smartphone announcements at a pretty rapid pace, with the Optimus 2X dual-core superphone taking centre stage. LG’s Dr Skott Ahn described its HD playback abilities as the first phone to be “a true cinema in your pocket”.

This was followed by the reveal of the Optimus Black (pictured), packing in a Nova display with 700 nits of brightness into a 9.2mm handset, tapering into 6 mm at its super-slimmest point. Android 2.2 is the OS of choice, with Gingerbread on its way, with a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls.

The 4G Revolution handset teased yesterday was sadly absent, but hints of an Optimus Pad tablet, hitting the show floor tomorrow, more than made up for it. It’s expected to be a Honeycomb deal, with an 8.9 inch display, squeezing it between the Galaxy Tab and iPad. Dont rule it out being dual-core too, alongside the Optimus 2X.

Smart (aka connected ) tech is making its way into pretty much every bit of LG gear, including home appliances, and their 3D TVs and Smart HD TV ranges were no exception. Content, connectivity and ease of use were top of the agenda.

Perhaps the pick of the Smart TV bunch was the ST600 Smart TV upgrader, letting you access connected TV content from any set with a HDMI port. As well as apps, you’ll be able to grab Vudu, Netflix, YouTube, CinemaNow, Hulu Plus, Amazon Video on Demand, NHL Gamecenter, NBA Game Live and MLB.tv content using it.

The LW9500 and LW7700 Nano Full HD 3D LED TV models got US release confirmation, with news that they’ll be using polarising glasses rather than active shutter. 13 new LED LCD models will hit stores over the coming year in total, with 9 featuring LG’s connected Smart TV platform.

Plasma fans will be happy to hear of the launch of the 1080p Infinia PZ950 and PZ750 lines. Available in 50 or 60 inch variations, each can be controlled with LG’s Magic Motion Wii-style remote or an Android smartphone app. Tech-heads favourite, the OLED screen, also made an appearance, with the promise of retail sizes reaching 31 inches in the near future.

A 3D mobile TV prototype was also teased in a slide, though no more was mentioned of the device.