LG Electronics did not want to miss a trend. Just like Apple, Google and Microsoft, which are offering cloud computing-based services, the South Korean company also launched a similar product. LG has announced the launch of its cloud storage service, LG Cloud, in beta testing starting first of May.
The news surprised many and seen as direct competition to Samsung’s proposed cloud service. The maker of Galaxy S2 smartphones is expected to launch their cloud storage offering in the upcoming London event this week, dubbed S-Cloud.
LG Cloud service is a cloud storage that enables access to content across all three platforms – smartphones, televisions and computers. To connect to the new service, the user must install the appropriate application from Google Play or LG SmartWorld, or directly from LG Cloud site www.lgecloud.com.
LG Cloud automatically syncs content from a smartphone to your PC or to LG Smart TVs instantly, allowing you to view, share and play photos and multimedia contents immediately.
“Most companies today only see the cloud as a storage device or in the case of YouTube or Flickr, only for one type of content,” said Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG’s Home Entertainment Company. LG makes the devices that millions of people watch content on so we can set a new yardstick for ease of use by setting up our own cloud service. Tomorrow’s consumers don’t want to go to one cloud for music, another cloud for video, another location for photos and yet another cloud for their office files. In the end, our solution is about making life more convenient.”
LG Cloud will be initially available on Google Android 2.2 and higher, Windows XP, Windows 7 and LG smart TVs with Netcast 2.0 and higher. In addition, LG will be starting the service in North America and South Korea and will later expands to other countries.
The cloud storage service will offer 5GB of free storage, but for user’s who has LG Smart TV or LG smartphone or who buy products from LG will get 50GB of free storage for six months. LG said the pricing of the paid services has not finalized yet and will be announced separately as the service becomes available in more countries.
LG Cloud – Class Apart from Competitors?
LG claims their offering is more than just a cloud storage service. The cloud provider will differentiate itself as storage plus multimedia oriented service as it adds Real-Time Streaming Transcoding technology. The technology allows files conversion directly on the server, and users don’t have to download codec and other supported files to play video.
“The difference is in LG’s Real-time Streaming Transcoding technology. The conversion happens on the server in real-time, not on the device,” LG said in a released statement. “There is no need to worry about installing codecs or converters, everything happens seamlessly and in the background with no involvement from the user.”
For example, if the user is using the Android smartphone but want to see an Mkv file format in Full HD, the contents will be automatically converted to suitable formats and then stream to the device. Moreover, the service will also works with 3D contents.
In recent months, the cloud and mobile manufacturers are busy either offering their own cloud storage solution or up-gradation of their services. Google introduced Google Drive recently; Microsoft has upgraded its SkyDrive service for greater synchronization abilities across mobile, new apps and PC devices. Acer revealed a similar service last year called AcerCloud.