LG garnered a lot of attention from press and public alike for its LG TONE Studio concept: introduced at CES, the device is a speaker neckband and it is a forerunner to a new category of wearable devices. LG has now announced that it will roll out in the coming weeks all over the world, starting this week with the Middle East and then at the end of March in North America, in Asia and Latin America in April and in Europe at the beginning of May. The suggested retail price is 229.99$.
A strange mixture of a speaker and Bluetooth headphones, the LG Tone Studio (HBS-W120) is called a “personal wearable speaker” and is aimed at recreating 3D surround sound around the listener in a more personal way than it is currently possible through traditional speakers.
What worries me the most is that people could actually use these things on the go, as suggested by the company – imagine what subways and pubs could become if everyone wore one of these things! When used indoors, however, the surround nature of the sound could be interesting to enhance games, movies and other contents.
One interesting feature is Dual Play, which allows two TONE Studio users to listen to the same content: this may be the killer feature for movie-watching couples or cooperative players! Anyway, the device will finally launch in just a few days: will the market react positively? Will the LG TONE Studio herald a new era in personal audio (as the JBL Soundgear launch seems to hint at) or will it be a “one hit wonder”? We won’t have to wait too much to learn.
