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Have you been laying around your living room thinking that your smart TV isn't smart enough? Samsung's 2013 TV lineup includes an updated smart TV platform that features a redesigned Smart Hub interface, new ways to search and discover content, plus improvements to its gesture and voice control.
At a press event this morning, the company also provided more details about its Smart Evolution Kit, a $300 module that can upgrade higher-end 2012 smart TVs to current-model standards.
At the heart of Samsung's new smart TV platform is a redesigned Smart Hub interface, which now uses five "panels" to organize content, so that users can find and manage similar content from a single location. The five panels are:
- On TV, which shows what's currently playing, plus some recommended shows and a program guide;
- Movies & TV Shows, which lists all the available movie and TV services, including Internet-based ones, from various content providers;
- Music, Photos & Clips, for accessing personal content, such as photos, videos and music, stored on the TV or a USB drive;
- Social, which provides access to social-media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Skype;
- and Smart TV Apps, the home for all the downloaded Samsung apps and recommendations.
Also new this year on some models is a recommendation engine called S-Recommendation that sends you suggestions about movies and TV shows. The feature monitors and analyzes your viewing habits over a period of six months to "learn" your preferences, and then recommends similar content—both broadcast TV and streaming services—it thinks you'll enjoy.
Voice, gesture get a makeover. Last year Samsung pushed the envelope for new ways to control your TV using voice and gestures; frankly, we weren't impressed. This year, though, the company has updated these features (called Advanced Smart Interaction), moving to more natural-language voice commands and adding more casual hand movement such as swiping to navigate through screens. The company also has a feature called Smart View, which lets you move content back and forth from a mobile device to the TV using its DLNA-based AllShare technology.
Find the right model for your needs and budget: Check out our TV buying guide and Ratings.
The new Smart Evolution Kit, available in May for $300, will work with higher-end 2012 sets, including 7500- and 8000-series LCD TVs, and 7000- and 8000-series plasma models. The kit, which includes a quad-core processor, a faster graphics processor, and more memory, fits into an evolution slot on the back of the TV. It also comes with a Smart Touch remote control. Once connected, the TV will be updated with many of the features found on newer models, including the new Smart Hub interface. All 2013 F7500-series and above LCD TVs, plus F8500-series plasma sets, will include a Smart Evolution slot for future upgrades.
In recent years Samsung TVs have done very well in our TV Ratings, so we're looking forward to getting some of the newer step-up models into our labs so we can evaluate some of the new features.
