LG Electronics is targeting a very specific demographic with its newest Easy TV – it’s aimed exclusively at senior citizens who struggle to get to grips with today’s Smart TVs.
The LG Easy TV has launched in South Korea, and it will soon come to other markets it has identified with “rapidly aging demographics”, such as Japan and the United States.
If anyone has the pleasure of visiting their grandparents regularly, they’ll probably be only too aware of the need for the Easy TV. Modern televisions with their “smart” operating systems conjure up wickedly complex menus that are nothing like the straightforward cathode ray tube-based tellies of yesteryear. What’s more, even the remote control is beyond some old folks, with those familiar numbered buttons having been long since replaced by an array of icons for different streaming services and apps. Of course, there are no buttons for switching inputs, play/pause, or fast forward/rewind, either.
The difficulty of operating a modern TV is a common complaint from senior citizens, and no doubt there are plenty of younger folk around who have to deal with requests from their grandparents to come and “help” them figure out how the hell they’re supposed to watch Coronation Street and other old-fogey favourites.
Which is why the LG Easy TV looks like a really good idea. It’s based on the LG QNED Evo QNED85A Mini LED 4K Smart TV, with exactly the same display and specifications, but it has been tweaked quite a bit to make it easier for elderly users. Among other things, the company said it has made the picture brighter and more colour-saturated to help those with failing vision, and the audio has been enhanced so that dialogue is louder and easier to hear.
LG said the Easy TV comes in 65-inch and 75-inch sizes, so the target audience is getting a nice, big picture to see things clearly. In South Korea, they’re priced at 2.769 million won and 3.869 million won, respectively. That makes them a tad more expensive than the regular QNED TV on which they’re based, with prices translating to around ₤1,469 and ₤2,050, respectively.
In its Korean language press release, LG said more than 70% of customer support inquiries in South Korea came from senior customers, and the vast majority were related to troubles operating the TV.
So what has LG done to make the Easy TV easier to operate? Quite a few things, actually. In addition to the aforementioned tweaks to the picture and sound, it has adapted its webOS operating system to make the menus much easier to navigate. The menu is placed at the button of the screen, so it doesn’t block the content being watched at the time, and is focused on “five senior-specific features” and the user’s favourite applications. There are larger fonts for easier reading, too, and there are bigger buttons on the remote control, including one massive “Help” button.
When you press that button, it brings up the AI-powered LG Buddy, which allows friends, relatives and carers to control the TV remotely. Those remote users can adjust the TVs settings, change the inputs, find the correct programme and so on. The Buddy also enables voice controls, so senior users can simply tell the TV what they’re trying to do, and allows them to make video calls just by specifying “call John”, or whoever else is in the TVs contacts book.
The help button also provides emergency help, such as if someone falls and can’t get up again. Simply press on it three times or hold it down, and it will send an alert to a designated contact. Helpfully, LG said it’s also planning to bring this feature to its other TVs, including its OLED lineup. By all means LG, it’s a great idea.
There’s also a Live Alert feature that can be set up with voice commands to do things like reminding the TV’s owner to take their daily medication – another very welcome addition that we also hope will come to other TVs. There are some simple games too, aimed at “maintaining brain health,” LG’s translated press release says.
One let down is the remote control, which is probably still simpler than LG’s modern Magic Remote, but still has a lot of buttons that might feel overwhelming for your poor grandmother. Still, with its numbered buttons, plus play/pause, or fast forward/rewind, mute, zoom, and bigger labels, it’s definitely an improvement.
Technology is a funny thing. On the one hand, it can be extremely confusing for older people who grew up in a largely analog world and don’t have the familiarity with computers that younger generations do, making it harder for them to learn how to operate things. But at the same time, modern tech can make things easier and more helpful too. Dialogue enhancement makes it much easier for those who are hard of hearing to understand what’s being said, and visual enhancements can make content easier to see. Moreover, voice-powered AI assistants can aid tremendously in navigation. LG has realized this and made the most of it with the Easy TV, and it may well prove to be a big hit if it means the elderly no longer struggle.
The LG Easy TV brings new meaning to the idea of accessibility features, and just think – one day, we might be able to benefit from them ourselves when it’s our turn to be grandparents.
