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High-def TVs rule the roost at Berlin's IFA
By Daphne ROUSSEAU
Berlin (AFP) Sept 1, 2017


Top trends at IFA 2017
Berlin (AFP) Sept 1, 2017 - With just a few months to go until the high-tech spending bonanza of the Christmas season, Berlin's IFA trade fair is the place to spot the trends that will mark high streets this year. Here are a few of them:

- Ultra-HD TVs -

IFA's aisles are wallpapered with OLED screens this year. The technology dispenses with a backlight as each pixel illuminates itself -- making for a very sharp image with strong contrasts, even in moving images. And the ultra-thin displays can be made transparent or even flexible.

The images buyers will be screening are also getting an upgrade, as the ultra-high-definition 4K standard becomes more widespread with sets starting at around 2,000 euros ($2,370). More video is being filmed in the high-resolution format that makes owning such a display worthwhile, with manufacturers betting public interest will follow.

And more and more TVs boast connections to internet video-on-demand services or applications, like Sharp's latest models with an Android interface.

- Mobiles get chatty -

Manufacturers are still vying to cram as much screen as possible into their smartphones, like LG's LGV30 with its "borderless" 5.7-inch display.

But the action can be found in the guts of the devices, where firms are racing to offer the most intelligent voice-activated digital assistants alongside typical upgrades to storage space or cameras.

This chatty artificial intelligence looks set to implant smartphones even more deeply into daily life, controlling connected gadgets around the home.

Samsung said it would strengthen its work with the Open Connectivity Foundation, aiming to help its voice assistant Bixby to talk more easily to other manufacturers' products. And Chinese giant Huawei said it would join the vocal race with a chip known as Kirin to be built into upcoming smartphones.

- Second wind for smart watches-

Could 2017 be smartwatches' turn to be a hit with the general public after years being seen as a gimmick? Consultancy Gartner expects more the 67 million of them to be sold worldwide this year, more than doubling the 30 million shifted in 2015.

At IFA, makers of high-tech "wearables" are vaunting their water resistance to appeal to fitness fanatics.

Fitbit is offering a large-faced watch with a plastic strap that's waterproof up to 50 metres, while Samsung tempts potential buyers of its Gear Fit Pro 2 with an offline version of Spotify aimed at runners. The business version can be used to control Powerpoint presentations.

Not neglecting accessories to the accessories, the Korean firm also has colourful earbud headphones with simple touch controls.

- AI butlers share the load -

This year has seen tech titans Google and Amazon join the battle over intelligent personal assistants -- voice-controlled AI helpers built into speakers that sit in the user's home, organising online shopping or domestic chores.

And the IFA is a showcase for connected home devices that allow people to control appliances and manage energy usage via a smartphone or tablet.

Tying into Amazon's Alexa assistant, Siemens' "home connect" offers interior views of the fridge at home, one-hour delivery of needed groceries, or the ability to turn on the oven from afar -- all from the driver's seat of the user's car.

Once dinner guests are gone and the crockery is cleared away, a scanner can judge how dirty the tablecloth is and programme a custom wash into the washing machine.

"Robots are arriving in your house, and they're going to know a lot about you," joked IFA co-organiser Roland Stehle.

No-one wants to watch Game of Thrones' bloody fantasy battles on a tiny tablet screen, which is just one reason why cheaper, bigger, higher-definition televisions are the stars of this year's IFA electronics fair in Berlin.

Rather than just fantasise when they gather in front of an imposing 77-inch (195-centimetre) home cinema-style display, gawkers eagerly ask salespeople about the price and when they will be available.

With Ultra-High Definition (UHD) broadcasts set to become more common, "standards and norms are beginning to become established," said Paul Gray of consultancy IHS. "For the first time as a consumer, you can be reasonably sure that a set purchased this year will be usable when broadcasts start in earnest."

Growing confidence about technical standards and intense price competition between manufacturers "is creating a 'must-have' phenomenon" among consumers, said Hans-Joachim Kamp, president of the GFU federation which co-organises IFA.

Increasingly tech-savvy buyers are less interested in the size of the screen and more in its resolution, Gray added.

- High-tech arms race -

In Germany, households own televisions for five years on average, with consumers spending around 600 euros ($710) out of a budget of 800-900 euros on new purchases.

That remains well short of asking prices for the top-of-the-range sets on display at this year's IFA, which start at between 1,500 and 2,000 euros and almost all boast OLED screens.

With individually illuminated pixels, OLED offers a high-contrast image with deep blacks and unprecedented sharpness in moving images.

Only Samsung dismisses OLED as a gimmick, preferring its own invention of traditional LCD screens enriched with extra crystals, known as QLED.

The Korean firm's TV sets produce similar results to its competitors', from dazzling car headlights to hyper-real droplets of blood during a boxing match -- to say nothing of spectacular video game effects.

Far from being befuddled by the high-tech arms race, consumers' interest has been piqued, with UHD sets accounting for 29 percent of TVs sold worldwide between January and June, according to GFU. Sales of OLED TVs have doubled in the same period.

- But what will be on the TVs? -

The incomplete part of the puzzle is perhaps the most important: the content the top-end screens will display.

Most manufacturers brought along one of their new and indispensable best friends to IFA, in the shape of Hollywood studios.

Panasonic announced a partnership with 20th Century Fox and Samsung is to develop a future format known as HDR10+ and put it in the public domain.

How series and films reach TVs is also changing quickly, as an internet connection to access very-high-definition on-demand video becomes indispensable.

"VOD resonates hugely with consumers, from being able to binge-watch a box set of episodes to decoupling from linear delivery of conventional TV," Gray said.

"New providers are emerging -- my teenage sons watch Youtube and Netflix as their default providers, not terrestrial broadcast."

According to GFU, 60 percent of people aged 16-39 are watching more TV than previously as they switch to on-demand viewing, with the very youngest especially turning to the screen in the living room as they tire of tablets, phone apps or the desktop computer.

dar/tgb/hmn/dl/cw/iw

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS

IHS Global Insight

GOOGLE

NETFLIX

PANASONIC CORP.

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