Last year, I reviewed the LG55EA9800, a 55-inch curved OLED HDTV. To my utter shock, it managed to produce perfectly dark black, a holy grail of HDTV testing and the only
The 55EA9800 was no slouch in design, but the 55EC9300 manages to one-up it by replacing its wide, clear acrylic base with a single curved slab of metal. The matte silver-colored metal base is built directly into the screen, with no need for assembly, and while it has a relatively small, oval-shaped footprint, it holds up the HDTV without a hint of wobble. The base sports a glossy metal "OLED" logo, and is given a bit more distinctiveness (which arguably spoils some of its elegance) with a round bump protruding from the bottom of the screen toward the base with LG's own logo.
The screen itself is curved and incredibly thin, measuring less than 0.2 inches along the chrome-framed edges. The display is nearly completely bezel-free, with only a hint of silver peeking out as a millimeter-thick border. It thickens to about two inches at the middle third of the panel to hold all of the electronics necessary to run it. Because the edges are so thin, the EC9300 has to be moved by the base and middle part to avoid risk of damage.
hree HDMI ports and three USB ports sit on the back of the screen, facing left. A fourth HDMI port, an antenna/cable connection, component and composite inputs (3.5mm ports with adapters), an optical audio output, and an Ethernet port face downwards. A combination power button and control stick sits on the lower-right corner of the back of the screen. The ports and control stick are all located inward, on the thicker part of the display that houses the electronics; the side thirds of the screen are nothing but slim, flat OLED panel.
