Masking up is one of those things you just might have have to do until the coronavirus is quelled, but if you don’t like the air quality, you might like LG’s latest gadget.
2020 might not have been the year everyone expected, but it’s definitely clear that it represents change. Whether or not that change is something you like remains to be seen, but it definitely offers changes of many types.
Changes in phones, in cameras, in computers and sound and more, and changes in the sort of things we wear.
Namely face masks. Most of us are masking up when we have to, donning a face mask to face the outside world, doing what we can to avoid a virus that won’t respect boundaries and could leave you in a worse condition. Technology isn’t coming to the rescue immediately, and until there’s a prove, tried, tested and true vaccine, masking up and social distancing appears to be the strategy that will help humans best until this thing is conquered.
But technology may be able to help, as scientists and engineers work together to come up with masks that can help us survive the day to day better throughout this. Recently, we saw what researchers at MIT could come up with in a transparent and reusable face mask, and now it’s time for LG to show what it has in store.
Perhaps rather unsurprisingly, LG is taking a decidedly consumer electronics approach to face masks, though it’s one we’re rather surprised not to have seen by a big tech company sooner.
Set to launch at IFA’s mid-year consumer tech show in Germany — the second tech show of the year now that coronavirus has practically put to rest everything else — LG’s PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier is a face mask with electrical components. Inside are two H13 HEPA filters, two three-speed fans, and a patented “Respirator Sensor” to detect the air cycle and volume being breathed, all to keep face mask air clean, rather than the air current face masks keep us recycling.
Powered by an 820mAh battery, LG says the PuriCare Wearable Air Filter is good for up to eight hours in low power mode and up to two in high, and it’s not just fans the electric mask has. There are also UV LEDs in the case for the mask, able to kill some germs (though not likely coronavirus), and the case can also send notifications to iOS and Android about when the mask’s filters need to be replaced.
In truth, LG isn’t the first company to pitch a personal air cleaner, and there’s been talk about Dyson’s patent application in the past highlighting an air purifier built into a pair of headphones, however that predated the pandemic we’re all in now, and so wouldn’t be surprised if Dyson has gone back to the drawing board for something new.
For now, there’s as of yet no word on whether this LG gadget will materials in Australia, but if we’re all going to keep masking up over the next year, there’s a good chance that you’ll see this as the masks of many, with more possibly from other brands to come.
