TVs aren’t the most exciting things in the world. They get bigger, crisper and probably a little slimmer but at the end of the day it’s a television and I haven’t seen anything super groundbreaking with TV design in a long time.
Until now. Today, I got to see with my own two eyes what I think is the most stunning television in the world right now. It’s called the LG Signature OLED TV W7, though most of you probably know it as the Wallpaper TV. And let me tell you, it looks more amazing in real life than in any photo or video.
First unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017, LG’s Wallpaper TV blew my mind and seeing it for the first time right in front of me was just as stunning.
The Wallpaper TV is LG’s new flagship under the Signature W7 series where the W stands for wallpaper. It’s LG’s Picture On Wall television and it comes in at a scarcely believable 3.8mm in thickness — that’s slimmer than most smartphones.
How is this possible?
Well, the Wallpaper TV features one of LG’s 4K OLED displays which don’t require any kind of backlight unlike your traditional LCD panels or even something like Samsung‘s QLED technology which still requires a backlit panel to push colour through its layer of quantum dots. This means LG can make the panel way thinner than anyone could with other forms of display technology.
LG also gutted the television and put all the usual internals, I/O and audio in the included Dolby Atmos soundbar. The TV then connects to the soundbar via a flat (proprietary) cable. Its cable isn’t very minimalistic nor is it super transparent, but it is slim so you could probably run it behind your wallpaper for maximum invisibility.
Speaking of the soundbar, the one that comes with the Signature W7 is also packed with theatrics. When not in use, the soundbar is a sleek rounded oblong that looks pretty cool. Once you switch it on, though, the two caps on either end of the soundbar swivel open and two speakers rise up like a missile about to launch from its silo.
We were, unfortunately, not really able to test the audio quality in an ideal condition but from my brief listen to it in the centre court of Pavilion KL, they sounded pretty good. Of course, if you have a proper sound system, you can bypass it but you will still have to keep the soundbar hooked up to the TV.
Self-deploying speakers aside, the real star of the show is the display itself. I don’t think you need me to tell you how stunning LG’s OLED panels are and this Signature W7 is the latest in LG’s OLED TV tech. It’s a WebOS smart TV that’s compatible with the widest range of HDR formats including Dolby Vision all in gorgeous 4K resolution.
Looking at a quality OLED panel is really a treat in itself. Colours pop, contrast is excellent and viewing angles are sublime. But, a panel this thin does have its drawbacks.
First, the only way to really mount this TV is to slap it on your wall, but boy did LG think of something special. The TV is mounted to the wall with magnets. What happens is, you install the wall mount bracket on your wall like you would with a normal wall-mounted television but the only difference is this comes with a set of magnets.
Once that’s installed your Signature W7 television will just snap on to the base like a Moto Mod…or at least that’s what they tell me. I tried to peel the TV off the display wall myself but was very promptly stopped by the staff on duty.
In any case, LG’s Signature W7 4K OLED Wallpaper TV is really a work of art and, I think, a piece of technological brilliance. It’s sleek and subtle but also has enough flair to raise eyebrows while at the same time not compromising on the qualities that make a good TV, at least, not to me.
However, there is a price to all this futuristic tech — a very, very big one. In Malaysia, we will only be getting the 65-inch model for now, in limited quantities, with a solid “maybe next year” labelled over the 77-inch model. And there’s no easy way to say this but the 65-inch LG Signature OLED TV W7 is priced at a wallet-wilting RM44,999.
That is a lot of money.
If by any chance, you’re someone who is willing to drop that kind of dough on a television, the Signature W7 is up for pre-orders now until the 6th of August at a promotional price of RM39,999 (plus a travel voucher worth RM2,000) and will be limited to 10 units. After the pre-order period (tentatively by the end of August), you can buy LG’s new TV at Harvey Normal outlets nationwide.
Want to see what this magical TV looks like for yourself? LG currently has a booth in the centre court of Pavilion KL so you can head on over there to experience it first hand.
What do you guys think of the Wallpaper TV? Let me know in the comments below.