CES is right around the corner and LG's wasting no time announcing a few of its upcoming products early.
The Korean electronics giant announced on Wednesday the SmartThinQ Hub, a cylindrical smart home device that connects with other smart appliances and and sensors that work with the company's SmartThinQ platform.
At first glance, the SmartThinQ Hub looks like an Amazon Echo, but with a 3.5-inch screen (not a touchscreen) on top. It has a built-in speaker for streaming music from a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth, but that's where the similarities between the two end.
Though the SmartThinQ Hub is arguably more advanced -- it connects to smart washing machines, refrigerators, ovens, robotic vacuums, air conditioners and more that work with the AllJoyn Alliance open-source framework via Wi-Fi, Zigbee and Bluetooth -- it doesn't appear to be as intuitive to control as the Echo, which understands voice commands.
Instead, all smart home gadgets and appliances are controlled through a smartphone app and the SmartThinQ acts as sort of a bridge and notification panel on what's happening.
LG didn't announce pricing or availability, but we'll have more details when we get to try it out at CES.