Displace came up with a landing gear safety system for its totally wireless TV

Back at CES 2023, we got a first glimpse at a “truly wireless” TV from a startup called Displace. This $3,000 4K OLED TV has swappable batteries that power the screen — and also a vacuum suction system that can keep the display adhered to walls without traditional mounting. And it can stick to virtually any surface, including ceramic and glass. At the time, there were valid questions about what would happen to the 55-inch TV whenever those batteries became fully depleted. Would it just… fall off the wall and come tumbling to the ground?

In Las Vegas, Displace mentioned a built-in safety system that would avoid potential disaster but wasn’t ready to show it in action. Fast forward to earlier this week, and the company offered a live demonstration of several new measures designed to protect the $3,000 wireless TV.

The most critical thing to underline is that the vacuum connection won’t solely depend on those hot-swappable batteries for power. There’s a newly added internal battery system and “updated active-loop algorithms” that, so Displace claims, will keep the TV adhered for 10 months or more — “even without any external batteries plugged in.” The vacuum system itself has been redesigned as part of this process for a “Star Trek-like” external design, Displace founder and CEO Balaji Krishna said during a media briefing.

That is… quite something. GIF: Displace

But what happens if that internal battery fallback does somehow fully drain? What about other unforeseen scenarios like wall cracks? Here, friends, is where Displace’s “self-lowering landing gear technology” comes in. And I’m just going to quote directly from the press release so you can get the full rundown on how it supposedly works:

Sensors within the Displace TV constantly measure the battery level and pressure in the vacuum suction system, analyze the wall’s surface, and check leakage on the vacuum pumps. If the vacuum pumps are in danger of not maintaining a seal or the wall’s integrity falters, the Displace TV automatically deploys four quick adhesives for stability and initiates a self-lowering landing gear system. The adhesives work as anchor points, as the Displace TV begins to lower itself gently on a zipline (from as high as 10 feet) and deploys a reusable foam at the bottom to protect the TV screen. 

When a problem is detected, the Displace attaches an adhesive frame onto the wall and begins lowering the display to the floor (with rope) from that frame. As all of this is happening, the TV generates a lot of sound and even flashing lights in an attempt to keep the area clear of children or animals. Once it’s safely on the ground, you can pull the frame off the wall and reinsert it into the back of the TV.

Krishna said the safety system is “one of the most exciting things he’s ever worked on,” and the company believes this makes its product the world’s safest wall-mounted TV. The self-landing technology works at heights of up to 10 feet. When you’re ready to put the TV back in its place, you just push the foam feet back into the TV, replace the adhesive tapes, and that’s it.

Putting aside the “landing gear” and whether this system will actually work well outside controlled demos, I’ve still got many, many questions about Displace. There’s the obvious one of who this product is for. Displace says it’s received interest from consumers but also from plenty of businesses and corporate use cases.

Then there’s the technology — and I don’t mean the vacuum system this time. The TV is portless and streams all content from a base station, similar to LG’s OLED M. Based on reviews of that TV so far, when done well, this approach can make performance feel indistinguishable from a regular TV with direct inputs. But can a startup replicate that level of reliability?

Where I’m most unsure of Displace’s vision is when it comes to controlling the TV: you can use the touchscreen, voice, or gesture controls — but there’s no traditional remote included. I’ve yet to encounter gesture controls that feel compelling or like something I’d want to use.

You can reserve a Displace TV of your own if you’re willing to fork over what the company says is a fully refundable deposit. The first TVs will begin shipping “by the end of mid-Q2 2024,” according to a press release this week.

This post was modified on 2023-10-05 13:45:10