Doubtless you have heard the 1961 Ben E. King classic Stand by Me, or any one of its myriad covers. If you haven’t, the song is an impassioned plea to quite literally stand by the singer through thick and thin, set to a simple but instantly recognisable bass tune. It’s infectious.
This new LG StanbyME Go, on the other hand, is nothing like that.
It is, instead, a fairly mediocre 27-inch Full HD LCD touchscreen, coming with a 60Hz refresh rate and Dolby Vision support. Like the original StanbyME portable TV (which actually deserves its name, since it’s literally affixed to a stand), it runs on LG’s webOS smart TV platform, supports AirPlay and wireless Android screen mirroring, and comes with a built-in battery that provides up to three hours of use.
But it’s the stuff surrounding this display that’s the bizarre part. See, for reasons unbeknownst to us, LG has stuffed it inside a large metal briefcase. Pop it open and you’ll find the screen just sitting there, although you can prop it up and raise it by up to 18cm on the included height-adjustable stand. You can also rotate it 90º for portrait viewing, just like on the regular StanbyME. The briefcase incorporates storage for the the remote and power cable when not in use.
The company is positioning the device as a sort of camping/picnic accessory. To that end, it has added some recreational features to use when the screen is laid flat, letting users play board games like chess and put on a turntable screensaver when playing music. And yes, you can play music on the StanbyME Go, thanks to the built-in 20W speaker with Dolby Atmos support. The device also supports voice control for functions such as changing channels, raising or lowering the volume and search for content.
For now, the StanbyME Go will only be offered in LG’s home market of South Korea, and it’s pretty pricey at 1.17 million won (around RM4,147). Despite the high price and the questionable usability, LG claims it sold out its first allocation within ten minutes during a live broadcast on its online store yesterday. Full-scale sales in the country will start tomorrow, June 9.
