Leaked photo reveals LG's slick new webOS powered-TV

A photo of what appears to be an LG television set running a slick new version of the company’s webOS operating system has leaked online via Evleaks.

Originally, webOS was intended to power smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices for HP, but with weak sales of HP tablets the company abandoned the operating system. LG then surprised the world when it purchased webOS with the intention of building it into Smart TVs.

From what I can tell from the photo, LG has definitely adapted webOS into something useful for when someone is leaning back watching video passively. (Of course, we won’t really know until we get a chance to play with the OS on an actual TV set, which LG should let us do next week at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.)

I’m guessing that the interface is activated by pressing a down key on the remote, revealing a “piano keyboard” of additional live TV channels and smart apps. And as for apps, the photo shows that webOS will support Skype, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and a few others at launch.

Overall, the operating system looks like it could be a good fit for smart TVs, which is something I was initially skeptical of when LG purchased the OS from HP.