Samsung lets you control apps on your TV with Galaxy S smartphone
Samsung said today that it will let you control apps on your web-connected Samsung TV with the company’s latest smartphone.
Samsung is moving aggressively to market its web-connected TVs and believes that its Samsung TV apps will help differentiate its products from rivals, much like Apple’s App Store sets apart the iPhone. So the South Korean electronics giant is emphasizing the fact that the same apps can run across various Samsung devices and that those devices can interact with each other when it comes to the control of apps.
You can sit on your couch and use the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone as a remote control for apps on a connected TV. Oliver Manuel, director of content at Samsung, said at the company’s TV app developer event that the smartphone is another option for controlling apps on a TV, in addition to the remote control.
The good thing about the smartphone control is that it has a touchscreen. That user interface may be far more approviate for apps such as games, compared to a remote control with buttons. You can also imagine apps that take advantage of the second screen, said Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics America, in an interview. He said that it could be possible to display the card table in a Texas Hold ‘em game (pictured). Then each player could peek at their own cards by looking at their phone screens.
Samsung announced its app platform in January and expects to have 200 TV apps by the end of the year. In a demo of the TV apps, Manuel showed how consumers can easily navigate through app screens using the remote. He showed how you can see a news ticker roll across the bottom of the screen. If you click on it with the remote, it can blow-up and occupy half the screen, but the TV show you’re watching will still play in a window on the left side of the screen.
Next Story: VMware outlines strategy for iPad-friendly IT
Previous Story: Samsung really, really wants to sell web-connected TVs with apps this year
About the Author, Dean Takahashi
Dean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
-
http://refurbishedflatscreentvstore.com/2859/samsung-tries-to-woo-tv-app-developers-cnet/ Samsung tries to woo TV app developers – CNET | Refurbished Flat Screen TV Store
