It's time to talk to the telly, says Samsung

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 10 January 2012 16:23

Your IT - Entertainment

Samsung's CES announcements include a raft of new products heading for Australia this year. Heading the list are TVs with voice and motion control plus face recognition, somewhat reminiscent of Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360, but there's a lot more in the company's latest home entertainment ranges.

Following all the rumours about Apple preparing a voice-controlled TV, it seems Samsung has beaten it to the punch. The Korean manufacturer is using CES to announce a range of new and updated products, including TVs with 'Smart Interaction' technology that incorporates motion control, voice control and face recognition.

Details are sparse at this stage, but it appears that Smart Interaction is intended to augment rather than replace the remote control. It initially allows spoken commands to turn the TV on or off, activate selected apps or search for content in the web browser. There's no indication that you can tell the TV to change channel or input, or adjust the volume setting.

Similarly, motion control is apparently limited to web browsing. Certain wireless keyboards and mice can also be used with the new TVs.

Other new features include multitasking for apps (so there's no need to quit one before running another), AllShare Play (for playing content from other compatible devices such as Samsung smartphones, tablets, computers and cameras), a parent-controlled Kids interface (is this where face recognition comes in?), an interactive fitness program, photo management, and memo and reminder sharing with other Samsung devices.

A particularly interesting part of Samsung's plans is that its 2012 (and presumably later) TVs will be upgradable each year to add new features.

Samsung's local announcement did not specify exactly which of its new TVs will include the Smart Interaction features, but new models include Super OLED, LED and plasma screens.

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