One of the main reasons I don’t have a wall mount for my TV is that I don’t want to deal with the mess of installation. The dust, the drilling, the permanence – it all stresses me out (I know, I know, I’m more sensitive than most people). So when I heard that the Displace Wireless TV could be attached to any wall or surface without a stand, I was very excited. It’s a 55-inch 4K OLED display that uses active-loop vacuum technology to vacuum itself into place, and the company has built handles into the frame for easier lifting. The Displace also has four built-in batteries that eliminate the need for a power cord, and they’re hot-swappable so you don’t have to wait for one to recharge before you can watch your TV again.
Because the prototypes we saw in Vegas were custom-built for CES, the company says details on battery size and charging time are not yet available. But they said they expect users to get a month of battery life if they watch six hours of TV a day. Part of the reason the Displace can go without a power cord is because it doesn’t do super heavy onboard processing. It basically involves streaming media from a base station that comes with the device and does the rendering.
My favorite thing about the Displace TV is how easy it is to set up. I wasn’t allowed to try it myself as the prototypes were quite valuable, so I could only watch the company CEO slip his hands through the two slots and lift the screen. According to Displacement, each unit weighs less than 20 pounds, which is incredibly light.
The CEO took the TV to a window, and when the suction loops on the back detected it was touching a surface, the mechanism came to life and started sucking itself onto the glass. After about 8 seconds it was silent, indicating that it had settled down and was secure. I was then able to try shaking the device and see if I could get it out of place. I didn’t try very hard, as I was afraid of damaging the prototype, but I will say that the screen seemed pretty solidly attached. I’d say I used the equivalent force of opening a fridge door to try to get the suction to move and it didn’t.
To disassemble the TV, you need to press and hold a button on each side, then wait for the suction loops to slowly disengage. The company said this mechanism works with any flat surface, even if there’s a slight texture like drywall. We tried putting the demo unit on another wall, but couldn’t find a spot wide enough to accommodate the 55-inch panel.
The Displace TV also has a pop-up 4K camera built into the top of the frame, and it doesn’t just make high-resolution video calls easier. The company’s custom software powering the TV also allows for some gesture control, which is the only way to interact with the TV as there’s no separate remote. For example, holding your palm while reading will pause your show, while using two hands to mimic a stretching action can zoom in and out of on-screen items. If you have multiple Displace TVs, you can arrange four of them in a square and zoom in on a specific quarter’s stream, for example.
There is also a very Minority report gesture that consists of “grabbing” the content of a screen and “throwing” it on another nearby. And if you point your thumbs-up at the camera, it activates a mode that lets your content follow you as you walk around your house in different rooms. Since they all stream from the same base station, multiple displays can pick up your content where you left off in a different room.
Cherlynn Low / Engadget
If you feel comfortable, you can put four Displace TVs together to create a 110-inch 8K TV. In this scenario, the relatively thin bezels here can help minimize disruption when four screens are playing in one. But Displace told Engadget it’s also working on future models that could be bezel-less to eliminate borders altogether. The company also has many plans, including exploring potential partnerships to create a form of wireless charging, as well as releasing an API to allow third-party developers to build apps for the hardware.
For now, however, I’m already pretty impressed with the concept and want one. At $3,000, however, the Displace TV is quite pricey. Only 100 units are available for pre-order at the moment, and the company has announced that it will start shipping in December. I can’t wait to get one to see how well the vacuum system holds up over time – the last thing I want is to wake up to a crashing $3000 TV that break my furniture, my hopes and my dreams.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices correct at time of publication.
0 Comments