BERLIN, Aug. 31, 2011 -– At IFA 2011, LG Electronics (LG) is showcasing its vision for smarter lifestyles with the European debut of its smart home appliances. Taking centre stage will be its smart refrigerator, which combines the world’s first Smart Eco Door on smart fridge with a series of functions that stand to transform how customers manage their food and their entire kitchens.

LG differentiates its smart appliances with two separate but highly complementary sets of technologies. LG’s four Core Technologies -– the Linear Compressor, Inverter Direct Drive™, Lightwave technology and KOMPRESSOR™ technology – enable a superior performance, while Smart ThinQ™ technologies -– Smart Manager, Smart Diagnosis™, Smart Access, Smart Adapt and Smart Grid -– bring greater connectivity that unlocks the appliances’ full potential.

“We see European customers as being very conscious of leading a responsible lifestyle, and LG is well placed to meet these demands,” said Young-ha Lee, President and CEO of LG Electronics Home Appliance Company. “The combination of our Core Technologies and Smart ThinQ™ technologies not only reduces energy and water usage, but also saves customers’ time and energy. The combination of the two means previously unimagined levels of convenience and energy efficiency and a fundamental change in the way people manage their homes.”

Underpinned by the company’s signature 10-year-warranty Linear Compressor, LG’s showpiece smart side-by-side refrigerator comes with the full range of Smart ThinQ™ technologies.

Key among those smart technologies is Smart Manager, which transforms the appliance into a complete food management system. Customers can use the fridge’s LCD panel or their smartphones to check what food is inside, where it’s located and when it will expire. Customers can also set specific periods of time for their products, with Smart Manager’s freshness tracker alerting them when that time has passed.

To help keep food fresher in the fridge, Smart Manager offers a food guide option that provides detailed information about specific fruits and vegetables. The smart refrigerator even functions as an infotainment centre with access to digital photo albums, calendar, memos, news reports or an actual PC monitor, and letting customers check their social networking services, watch movies or listen to music via YouTube. By dragging and dropping food icons on the refrigerator’s LCD display or by using the voice recognition function, users can easily find out what food they have and its location, as well as its expiration dates.

LG’s Smart Diagnosis™ feature helps customer service representatives to quickly and efficiently troubleshoot mechanical issues. Once the customer contacts the LG service centre by phone, a technician will direct the customer to press the Smart Diagnosis™ button, which then triggers a series of signals that the service centre uses to determine what’s wrong and whether a service call is required. Customers will also be directly alerted about minor issues, such as the door being open or the ice-maker switched off, via an application on their smartphone.

The Smart Access feature lets customers check, also via their smartphone, what’s running low in their fridge while they’re shopping at the local grocery store. It even provides interesting recipe options for whatever food is left in the fridge. With Smart Access, accidental double purchases are a thing of the past, less food gets wasted and customers never run out of mealtime options.

The fridge is Smart Grid-ready, meaning that once local utility companies begin offering Smart Grid-compatible, differentiated energy-rate time slots, the refrigerator will automatically re-adjust its temperature and function settings to take advantage of optimum energy rates every day. In this way, the fridge saves its hardest work for time slots when energy is at its cheapest, delivering significant reductions in utility bills.

Powered by the Linear Compressor, LG’s smart refrigerator offers a smart saving solution to save energy while keeping food fresh. Smart saving provides a “Night Saving Mode” that reduces energy consumption for up to four hours at nighttime and a “Customize Saving Mode” that cuts back on energy use during periods pre-set by the customer. LG has also added the ingenious Smart Eco Door – a world-first door-in-door system – to make the overall configuration more convenient and less prone to energy loss.

Another Smart ThinQ™-enabled highlight at IFA 2011 is LG’s smart washing machine, which incorporates Smart Diagnosis™, Smart Access, Smart Adapt and Smart Gridready. The washer is also equipped with LG’s Inverter Direct Drive™, which eliminates belts and pulleys so the motor can deliver power directly to the drum. In doing so, it reduces vibrations and extends the life of the motor and the washing machine. LG backs the motor with a 10-year warranty.

Should a problem occur with the smart washing machine, such as water supply issues, Smart Diagnosis™ quickly and efficiently helps fix it, limiting costly, inconvenient service calls and in-home visits. Also, a downloadable smartphone application alerts customers to simpler problems, such as a door being left open. Like the refrigerator, the washing machine uses Smart Access to keep owners connected wherever they may be. If the customer needs to leave the house, he or she can leave the washing machine on with no worries at all: Smart Access makes it possible for the customers to monitor the wash cycles and operation of the washer, wherever they are. Customers can also remotely control some functions, such as changing the time setting time or adding wrinkle care function. Furthermore, pop-up messages conveniently inform the customers when the wash cycle is finished. Smart Adapt lets customers download new washing cycle programs such as Super Rinse or Baby Sanitize, enabling access to new, advanced programs and customized, quality wash cycles. Smart Adapt also lets customers update software, providing customers with all the benefits of LG’s latest developments without needing to buy a new product. In this way, customers can update and download the latest features throughout the lifetime of their LG washing machine. Also smartphone applications give customers smart know-how and useful day-to-day information such as how to tackle stains and what washing symbols mean.

LG’s smart washer is also Smart Grid-ready, meaning that in the near future the washing machine will be able to automatically readjust its settings to choose the optimum energy rate at the most efficient time of the day. This process will result in savings in electricity, and reduced electricity bills for the customers. Eco Sanitize courses with low energy use will also be made possible. It will also enhance energy efficiency for “Eco Sanitize” cycle with low energy consumption.

LG’s Lightwave Oven comes equipped with Smart Access, which opens up a whole array of revolutionary cooking possibilities. Customers can access the LG Server through a smartphone application and download delicious international recipes which guide them to prepare their meals. When a menu is selected, the recipe, the required time and the temperature are all set automatically, so all the customer needs to do is to press the START button.They don’t need to remember or look at cookbooks anymore. The smart oven is also equipped with LG’s Charcoal Lighting Heater™, a world-first heater made from a purely natural element that cooks food more naturally, deeply and evenly while saving time and energy. The Charcoal Lighting Heater™ is a new, tastier and healthier way to make convenient, gourmet cooking.

More impressively, the Smart Access feature lets customers order their Smart HOMBOT to tidy up their home, and monitor how the cleaning is progressing remotely via their smartphones. The smart robotic vacuum cleaner is an example of how LG is helping customers save time on chores while making it easier to control their house work. LG plans to offer even more convenient options through Smart Access in the future.

# # #