Samsung announced today at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that their networked "Smart TVs," Blu-ray Disc players and home theaters will get smarter this year with new advanced network features. Included in the upgrade to their already beefy Samsung Apps is a built-in web browser to bring the internet to your TV screen right from the TV itself.
The new features are meant to make it easier to find the movies, photos and music in your home network, recommend movies to watch and bring the whole internet to your TV. Samsung Smart TVs are DLNA certified and have AllShare to make it easy to connect to any DLNA certified or compatible device, including their Galaxy S phones and Galaxy Tab.
"Search All" - With the new "Search All" feature, you can find the photo, music or movie you want to play without having to remember on which computer or device you have it saved.
TwinView Touch Universal Remote Control - It's easier to find the files using the Samsung's TwinView Touch Control TV remote, which can show your media on its 3-inch touch screen through AllShare. This full TV and home theater universal remote control that has a Virtual QWERTY keyboard, so you can type in the search terms to find the files you want to play on your TV. It looks a bit like an iPhone 4. We'll have to wait and see how many people want to watch media or view what's on their TV on a remote control: The benefits will probably become more apparent during actual use.
"Your Movie" - This is described as being able to track your movie-viewing habits. It delivers recommendations based on the movies you have watched.
"One Foot Connection" - Samsung's networked TVs, Blu-ray Disc players and Home Theater receivers can automatically set up a wireless connection when used with Samsung's new CY-SWR1100 wireless router.
The details on all of these features are unclear until we can get a hands-on demo. They should be here at CES, so stay tuned.