The meaning of television has progressed remarkably since the beginning of the TV era. Ideas that looked crazy, say, in 1986 are now an everyday fact. For example, it was hard to imagine that cable together with satellite TV will completely eliminate the broadcast television.
In Economics these processes are labeled as “creative destruction” due to a famous economist Schumpeter. What creative destruction essentially means is that new technology over time eliminates the need in the out-dated.
There was a fear also that television will no longer be the most important device in a house that unites the family. Marketing experts expected that TV sets will eventually become optional extras to other gadgets.
However, television sets quickly acquired very specific features and turned into something unique that is actually quite different from all-in-ones or notebooks. Some of the most interesting new TV functions appear in so called Smart TV concept that is currently offered by Samsung, LG, Apple and Google.
It seems that Samsung was the first company that offered a device remotely related to Smart TV back in 2007. The concept from Samsung appeared in 2011 under the name of Smart Hub. Smart Hub offers an updated interface in addition to a fully functional web-browser with global search.
As an optional feature, a client can use a Samsung smart phone as a remote control with the help of AllShare interface. Unfortunately, there is no convenient gadget included with Samsung Smart TV and a buyer is forced to buy also a smart phone from Samsung such as Galaxy II S vs iPhone 4.
This scheme is also realized in Apple TV Samsung has copied. In order to enjoy all the advantages of Smart TV technology from Apple the user must be subscribed to iTunes Store or get only free content otherwise.
Apple TV also prevents users from connecting USB flash drives and content can only be obtained through Wi-Fi. The remote control has only three buttons which is a bit unusual compared to a typical Smart TV.
LG has just presented its own concept of Smart TV , however, LG applications store is not currently localized in all countries. Instead of a dull remote control one can use Magic Motion for LG Smart TV that will capture viewer motions to switch between channels.
Google TV is available as a new electronic device from Sony. Logitech Revue can serve as a TV controller including multimedia buttons. Unlike Apple TV one can watch videos from USB drives using Logitech Media Player.
There is also a possibility to watch Google podcasts available as Queue option. Many customers complain that remote control is not very well organized because it has too many buttons.