LG's Smartphones Will Gain Improved Vision, Voice AI Capabilities

LG announced that it will launch a brand-new suite of AI technologies for its high-end smartphones, such as the 2018 version of the LG V30, at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Spain.

LG AI Suite

The new AI suite from LG includes the “Vision AI” and “Voice AI.” Vision AI is a technology can that automatically recognize objects through the camera and select the proper shooting mode for that scene. LG’s camera software includes eight shooting modes: portrait, food, pet, landscape, city, flower, sunrise, and sunset. If the Vision AI can accurately match a scene to its corresponding shooting mode, then users should benefit from better-looking pictures overall.

LG said it collaborated with an unnamed partner to analyze 100 million pictures, organize them into 1,000 unique photo categories, and then develop the necessary algorithms to match those categories with one of LG’s eight shooting modes.

LG’s Vision AI can also provide shopping advice through smart image recognition. Once users point the camera at an object, the Vision AI can automatically scan its QR code, do an image search, or provide users with places where they can buy that product.


The company said that the Vision AI will also improve on its camera app’s low-light mode by analyzing the light inside the image that will be recorded and then adjusting accordingly to improve it. This is unlike conventional methods for low-light shooting, which measure external light levels. LG said its new method can improve lighting by a factor of two through its Vision AI algorithms.

The Voice AI works with voice commands to make it easier for smartphone customers to look through the phone’s menu using only their voice. LG has a set of 32 exclusive voice commands that will work alongside the Google Assistant.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
 FEATUREVOICE COMMAND(PRECEDE WITH “OK GOOGLE”)
1Wide-angle photoTake a picture on a wide angle
2Wide-angle selfieTake a selfie on a wide angle
3Wide-angle videoRecord a video on a wide angle
4Wide-angle selfie videoTake a selfie video on a wide angle
5Cine VideoOpen camera on Cine Video
6Expert Photo ModeOpen camera on a manual mode
7Expert Video ModeOpen camera on a manual video
8Cine Video (Romantic)Take a romantic Cine Video
9Cine Video (Melodramatic)Take a melodramatic Cine Video
10Cine Video (Thriller)Take a thriller Cine Video
11Cine Video (Beauty)Take a beauty Cine Video
12Cine Video (Blockbuster)Take a summer blockbuster Cine Video
13Cine Video (Romantic Comedy)Take a romantic comedy Cine Video
14Cine Video (Documentary)Take a documentary Cine Video
15Cine Video (Landscape)Take a scenery Cine Video
16Cine Video (Drama)Take a drama Cine Video
17Cine Video (Historic)Take a historical Cine Video
18Cine Video (Mystery)Take a mystery Cine Video
19Cine Video (Noir)Take a noir Cine Video
20Cine Video (Classic)Take a classic Cine Video
21Cine Video (Flashback)Take a flashback Cine Video
22Cine Video (Pop Art)Take a pop art Cine Video
23Expert Mode (Graphy)Open camera with Graphy
NEW FOR 2018
24Panoramic PhotoPending
25Food PhotoPending
26Time-lapse Photo (Video)Pending
27Slow-motion VideoPending
28Low-light PhotoPending
29AI Cam PhotoPending
30Image SearchPending
31QR Code ScanningPending
32Shopping SearchPending

New AI Tech Coming To Older Smartphones

LG assured its customers that some of the new AI features will be available not just for upcoming smartphones, but also for some of the old ones, too, via over-the-air updates, as long as they don't need particular hardware capabilities.

“As we communicated last month at CES, the future for LG lies in AI, not just hardware specs and processing speed,” said Ha Jeung-uk, senior vice president and business unit leader for LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company.“Creating smarter smartphones will be our focus going forward and we are confident that consumers will appreciate the advanced user experience with the enhanced V30 that many have been asking and waiting for, he added."

LG invited MWC attendees to visit LG’s booth in Hall 3 of Fira Gran Via from February 26 until March 1 for more information.

Lucian Armasu
Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers software news and the issues surrounding privacy and security.
  • bit_user
    LG V30 seems to use the Snapdragon 835. So, I'm guessing they're probably building this atop Qualcomm's Zeroth stack. ...except for the part about supporting older phones - I'm not sure how old or low-end its support extends.

    Anyway, the casualty of all this "smart" functionality might end up being battery life. Though I'd happily be proven wrong on that.
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