Major LeEco launch covers phones, TVs, VR and a self driving concept car

Source: LeEco. Jia Yueting (left) and Ding Lei demonstrate the self-driving functions of the LeSEE concept car by using a Superphone to control the car remotely.

LeEco, formerly LeTV, has held a major cross-category product launch in Beijing, China during which the company introduced four new device families: Le 2 Superphones, a Super TV, the Le VR virtual reality set and the self-driving Super EV connected car. While traditionally placed in different categories, the four families share the same ecosystem, the company said.

Source: LeEco. The Le 2 (历2, literally Power 2) is the world's first flagship phone to support the LeEco-initiated Continual Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) standard.

The Le 2 is the world's first flagship phone to support the LeEco-initiated Continual Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) standard, which is accredited by the Chinese Musicians Association and takes the music industry into the continual digital lossless audio era.

The Le 2 series is available in three variants: the Le 2, Le 2Pro and Le Max2. While maintaining the first generation's popular features such as boltless exterior design, bezel-less display, Type-C USB support, and a metal unibody, the second-generation series is thinner and has a longer battery life. In particular, the 3.5mm earphone jack has been eliminated to provide users with a Type-C digital lossless audio experience.

The flagship Le 2Pro, treated with a three-level anodic oxidation process for the first time in the industry, gets a new refresh with new bezel-less ID 3.0 screen to provide an immersive visual experience. The three-level anodic oxidation process is the result of ten months of intensive R&D efforts with a total investment of more than RMB20 million, including personnel, material and equipment costs. The top-of-the-line Le Max2 continues Le Max's symmetrical design in the unique "dopamine red", created by applying insights from colour psychology to be emotionally appealing. Le Max2 is also among the world's first smartphones to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and the world's first commercially available metal-body phone to offer the ultrasonic fingerprint scanning feature.

The Le 2 Superphones are offered at "negative profit for hardware", basically priced so low that the company may have no profits from the sale, or may even lose money. The company is promoting the "hardware freebie model" to encourage a new ecosystem consumption pattern, LeEco said.

During the launch event, LeEco also unveiled its fourth-generation Super TV lineup. The Super 4 X50 Pro (RMB2,999), Super 4 X50 (RMB2,499) and Super 4 X50 CSL Edition (RMB2,699) are also offered at prices below their mass production cost, being subsidised by larger LeEco ecosystem.

The highlight of the launch was LeSEE's first self-driving concept car, which was put through its paces by Jia Yueting, LeEco founder and CEO of LeEco, and LeSEE co-founder and Global VP Ding Lei. The concept car's self-driving functions were demonstrated using a Superphone to control the car remotely. Positioned as an intelligent Internet car, it can drive and learn autonomously with capabilities such as face recognition, emotion recognition, environment recognition and road recognition. The car has received 804 patents worldwide, part of the 10,000 patents submitted worldwide to cover the products showcased at the launch. 

Source: LeEco. LeEco launches VR support.

At the event, LeEco's new VR product also made its debut, in addition to the latest EUI 5.8 operating system, which supports nine-camera live videostreaming, a step above the triple-camera live videostreaming support introduced last year. 

Source: LeEco. The new EUI 5.8 OS supports nine-camera live videostreaming.

The Ecosystem without Borders launch event set a number of records, LeEco added. The VR-enabled event was streamed live around the world on nearly 100 online video sites. The event was also the world's first product launch to be livestreamed on Facebook, a LeEco cloud-sharing distribution channel.