Just came from Samsung’s office. Doing a really cool speaking / presenting gig for them across some locations in the country. Sitting inside their offices were several new Smart TV’s. If you don’t know what these are, they’re basically the love child between a television and a smartphone. And they’re elegant. And epic.
We did some tests with Skype calls, app downloads, “Social TV” updating (that’s your Twitter, Google Chat and Facebook right beside your picture), web browsing and of course a lot of Blu-ray watching.
For this flat TV segment, connectivity is key. Apart from being able to connect to the Internet and do your standard browsing, you can also use your Android device or iPhone as a remote controller via Bluetooth. If you don’t own any of these, you can also buy a QWERTY remote controller that connects via Bluetooth. That means you can have a QWERTY / smartphone side by side your IrDA remote control.
Just like a smartphone, you will be required to create a Smart TV account using an email address and password. Afterwards, you will be able to link up Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Picasa (pre-Google+ days heh), and Google Chat. OF course, since this TV is pretty much a computer, automatic updates will be released in the future. Whenever you turn off your TV you will automatically be logged out. New sessions will require you to login to access web features but of course, the TV will work even without Internet. 🙂
There are two current lines, the Series 7 and Series 8, differentiated mostly by the size of the screen and price. This is best in class. If you check retailers, they usually sell these about PHP 200,000.00. The one in the photo is a Series 8 60 inch Smart TV that retails for PHP 320K. Yes so it isn’t for everyone. Some would rather get a more affordable LED or Plasma and a computer.
The current promo includes a 3D Blu-ray player with a Blupass rental card, HD USB webcam for video calls and a Samsung Galaxy Tab.