On the CES in Las Vegas we can once once more admire exciting innovations from the world of technology this year. The world’s first television that is completely wireless is also part of the party. The device, which goes by the name of Displace, offers an OLED panel and should be able to get by for almost a month without an external power supply with average use. But then you have to accept some setbacks.
Displace comes in a completely wireless design
It’s impressive just looking at the Displace. After all, the television does not require a cable at all, which is why you can hang it up wherever you want. However, if you take a closer look, you have to realize that the wireless design also has some weak points. But let’s stay with the positive for now. So that the television can be supplied with energy at all, the manufacturer equips it with a total of four batteries.
If these are fully charged, the Displace should be able to last a whole month with an average daily use of almost 6 hours. The waiver of cables does not only affect the power cable. There are also no other cable connections on the TV. Instead, the television comes with an external box that provides the appropriate ports. The box should then be able to send its signal to a maximum of five different Displace in the household. This is reminiscent of multi-room concepts from the hi-fi world.
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Suitability for everyday use is questionable
Another cool feature that the manufacturers promise from the Displace is the extravagant holding capacity. So you should be able to save yourself a classic wall bracket with the somewhat different TV and it should also be possible to hang it up at lightning speed. The Displace would like to enable this maximum flexibility with its vacuum holder. A vacuum is formed between the back of the device and the corresponding wall, which means that the TV is held in place as if by magic. This feature might also be admired at the technology fair in the Nevada desert. However, one must doubt their transference into reality. The people behind Displace used a glass wall to mount the TV as part of their demonstration.
Of course, it is extremely easy to create a vacuum on this surface. What that looks like on a classic wall is once more extremely questionable. Especially if it’s not particularly smooth. So the system doesn’t seem to be really suitable for everyday use. On a classic wall you will probably not be able to avoid a standard wall bracket, which then puts a spoke in the wheel of the flexibility of the system. A far greater problem, however, is the fact that the vacuum can only be maintained when the TV is powered. In other words, you always have to keep an eye on the battery capacity. If the battery dies, the expensive piece of technology falls off the wall.
Incidentally, the operation of the Displace is anything but classic. Apparently no conventional remote control is used here. Rather, the user himself should become the remote control. Wants to mean that the TV is controlled using gestures. In order to recognize the user, the television has a camera on the top that should be able to recognize the movements of the user. Since the camera is not optional, but without alternative, it must also be switched on the whole time. This means that while you are watching TV, the TV is eyeing you the whole time. Who would want that in times when data protection plays a major role?
Connection box from the Displace is a question mark
Probably the biggest question mark so far is the connection box. After all, this ensures that source devices can be connected to the TV. At least the manufacturer did not show any pictures of the box at CES. The experts from 4KFilme.de were also present at the presentation of the completely wireless TV. And they were anything but convinced of the new device.
The OLED panel is said to have delivered an astonishingly poor picture performance. This is certainly due to the fact that the Displace wants to work as energy-efficiently as possible. However, since OLED TVs are not usually known for their energy-saving work, parameters such as brightness have been reduced to a minimum. This means that the image quality has to suffer in favor of the battery life.
price and availability
As cool as a cable-free TV may sound, the Displace is ultimately unsexy. After all, you just have to make too many compromises to be able to do without the power cable. By the way, TV sets already offer wireless transmission of signals from end devices via a suitable connection box. Consequently, the power cable, which is becoming thinner and less conspicuous anyway, must be very annoying. It is not yet clear when the Displace will go on sale. Perhaps the manufacturer should take a little more time for fine-tuning anyway. But the price is obviously already fixed. The wireless TV is said to cost an impressive $3,000.