Samsung has made some incremental improvements to its Smart TV platform for 2014. During International CES the company unveiled the Multi-Link feature, which lets you split the screen and use one half to get more information about content you are watching. For example, you can watch live TV on half the screen and get search results from a web browser on the other or seek out relevant YouTube content. In effect, the company is enabling ‘companion’ or Second Screen activities but on the main screen.
On Samsung’s new U9000 Series, viewers have the option of splitting the large-screen real estate into a total of four screens. This may sound crazy but let’s not forget that the company launched a 78 inch version of the U9000, which is a Curved UHD television set, so there is room to spare if you are not in a ‘fully immersive’ viewing mood.
Samsung is using an upgraded Quad Core processor on new models. The QuadCore Plus is up to twice as fast as the previous processor, resulting in faster loading and navigation. There is also an Instant On feature for faster boot up.
The company also promised significantly improved voice interaction and motion control features on its 2014 models. One of the improvements is the addition of finger gestures. Now you can change the TV channel, adjust the volume and find and select what you want to watch just by using your fingers. That should avoid arm fatigue after a long day in the forest chopping wood. [Editor – in all seriousness, it is annoying how much effort it takes just to fast forward and rewind the TV with a Wii controller when viewing connected content through that games console].
Post-CES 2014 debrief:
Videonet is hosting a webcast to look at the lessons learned about the future of TV from CES this year. It is live on Friday, January 17 at 2pm GMT/3pm CET and our expert analysts are: David Mercer, VP, Principal Analyst, Digital Consumer Practice, Strategy Analytics; Jon Watts, Director and Co-founder, MTM; and Jeff Binder, General Partner, Genovation Capital, LLC. It is chaired by John Moulding, Editor, Videonet.
The webcast is free and you can also listen to it on-demand after Friday. Register here (free)