There are two trends gradually emerging at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. From our perspective here at Fudzilla, these trends were fully expected to be realized for production before the end of 2011, with actual products being unveiled at the show throughout the remainder of this week.

As some may have guessed, the first of these major trends is the inevitable "rise of the ultrabook." Nevertheless, the second major trend we can safely take away from CES 2012 is the "rise of the Smart TV." Today, Lenovo has unveiled the K91, a 55-inch Smart HDTV equipped with Google's latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system that almost completely eliminates the need for a home-theater PC or other similar equipment functionality.



No, this is not a Google TV in the traditional sense of running Chromium OS. This HDTV set is much more powerful and packs a larger punch. The Lenovo K91 55-inch Smart TV features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8060 1.50GHz dual-core processor, a 1920 x 1080p IPS-based LED backlit LCD display (glossy), 3D FPR technology for a "flicker free" viewing experience, a 240Hz maximum refresh rate, integrated 802.11b/g/n WiFi support, DLNA support, HDMI 1.4 ports, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and includes a slew of Android 4.0-optimized applications from both the Android Market and Lenovo's own app store.



Lenovo aims to “unite three major smart TV functions” with the K91. By opting for Google's Android 4.0 ICS operating system instead of Chromium OS, Lenovo was essentially able to embed facial recognition features for screen unlock, natural language processing (NLP) features and video interaction features thanks to its integrated 5MP webcam.



The remote control for this Smart TV is no slouch either. It incorporates not only a touchpad, but also a 5-way direction pad and a motion sensor for optimal tactile control.



Lenovo has stated that the K91 will only be available in China during initial production launch. Worldwide availability and pricing information will be given at a later date.