Hands-on: Samsung Smart TV
The upper-left corner displays TV shows, as well as DVD and Blu-ray movies users were previously watching. Moving on to the center, there's a search function and something called Your Video (more details later), while the top-right is where you can download new Samsung apps. The bottom displays icons of apps and other key functions. Up to 300 apps can be installed on each Smart TV.
Irene Ng, vice president of sales and marketing for Samsung, has reiterated that the company's Smart TV feature is not just another attempt at integrating TVs with PCs at a media launch earlier today. Instead, the Smart TV is designed to offer a better home entertainment experience all from the comfort of the couch.
Web browser
The integrated Internet browser for Smart TV is based on Netscape 5.0 and comes with native JavaScript 1.1 and Flash 10.1 compatibility. This enables a full Web browsing experience, ranging from popular mini games to Web videos. Users can open up to three pages at a time with full navigation and bookmarking options. Texts and images here can be enlarged to factor for the TV's longer viewing distance, while data entry and page scrolling are simplified via an Android app for devices such as the Samsung Tab.
You can also watch TV shows while surfing the Web as shown above.
Your Video
In a nutshell, Your Video is a movie and TV show database for facts such as plot summeries and cast details. There're additional snapshots, awards and related movies to check out, too. The information is further categorized into new releases, top 20 films, top 20 TV shows and friends' recommendations with an extra search capability. On the whole, we find this an informative feature, though not exactly something very enticing.
Search function
One of the smarter elements of this platform is its search function, which is capable of retrieving content across different online services, DLNA devices, Your Video, as well as the Internet. However, the Web component is currently limited to short videos and commentaries on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter as there aren't many video-on-demand service providers, such as the US-based Netflix, in Asia. That said, the chaebol is collaborating with Singapore broadcasters SingTel and StarHub to address this issue.
Video-on-demand apps
Come second half of 2011, Samsung Smart TV users can enjoy Singtel MioTV and StarHub Cable TV on-demand services implemented through new Samsung apps. An estimated 22 free Mandarin and English movies will be available from SingTel at launch with HD programs potentially in the pipeline. Still, SingTel will be positioning its MioTV service as premium content in the long run on a pay-per-view basis or with a monthly user subscription. SingTel is also rolling out its exCite TV video search engine--dubbed the world's first 3D-ready search system--that delivers free online 3D videos and a handful of full-length programs from China.
At the same time, StarHub is also planning to offer a subset of its cable TV channels through Smart TVs such as drama series from Hong Kong's TVB station, Hollywood movies and news. These include both HD and free content, though full details will only be available closer to launch.
Social TV app
This app integrates FaceBook, Twitter and Google Talk into a single platform, allowing users to simultaneously blog and chat while watching TV programs. Additionally, the latter is displayed on a larger window compared with some of the other Samsung apps we tried.
Key miscellaneous shortcuts
- Guide: Electronic program guide (EPG)
- Recorded TV: Access video recordings via the personal video recorder (PVR) function
- Schedule Manager: To schedule video recordings
- AllShare: To playback content from DLNA-ready devices
About the author
Philip Wong is an A/V, PC, photography and gaming enthusiast. Besides spending countless days and late nights fiddling with his home theater system and watercooled PC, he also hits the roads frequently on his iron horse to sweat it out. Now, who says geeks don't work out?
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