An Early Look at LG's WebOS-based Smart TV

@Evleaks is at it again —  this time, posting what appears to be an image of LG’s upcoming WebOS-based smart TV, which will make its debut at CES this month. Though it’s just a single image, there are a couple bits of information we can get from it.

First off, the multitasking function appears to keep the “Cards” idea, though the cards shown don’t share the look as the Cards on some of Palm’s and HP’s smartphones and tablets. They’re more like blades, and they don’t appear to take focus like they did on those earlier WebOS devices. Instead, it looks like the content you’ve selected to play — whether that is live TV or another app — will keep most of the screen real estate in the background as you browse through apps and other content sources in the Cards area at the bottom of the screen.

The OS powering the TV looks pretty slick, but then again, WebOS was never a bad operating system. The platform’s lack of success had more to do with the hardware that both Palm and HP were putting out; you may recall the story of the Palm team inside HP realizing that WebOS ran faster on an iPad than it did on their own TouchPad. WebOS ending up in the hands of LG may be the best thing for it, as LG is typically solid in the hardware department and the smart TV space, while crowded, doesn’t have a clear cut leader just yet.

We’ll keep you updated ahead of CES and let you know if anything else about LG’s set slips out.