Samsung has always been on the forefront when it comes to entertainment in the home with their line of large screened Smart TVs, so it comes as no surprise that Samsung Electronics unveiled yet another, improved, ‘Smart Hub’ user interface and a new Samsung Smart Control remote at CES 2016. Samsung claims that this will allow customers easy access to all of their favorite TV content in one place and by using only one remote. Won Jin Lee, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics said, “The world of TV is constantly changing, with more choices and more connected devices than ever before, so we have made it easier for people to discover and watch the content they want, when they want. In 2016, Samsung’s Smart Hub and Smart Control remote are providing the most streamlined, convenient and intuitive TV user experience. Together, they offer the choices and performance consumers expect from today’s home entertainment technology.”
Samsung’s new Smart Hub is a departure from their past designs, where you had to search several different screens to find the type of content you were looking for – be it videos, games, movies, TV, etc. The new ‘Hub’ will allow you to seamlessly switch between “linear content, OTT content as well as other connected devices,” and these can include gaming consoles or Blu-ray players. It allows users to reach their favorite content more easily and quickly and by customizing their Smart Hub, gone are any barriers between sources and devices connected to the TV itself. Chris Turkstra, Vice President of the Lab says, “We wanted to offer consumers a new type of experience, integrating live TV with streaming services and other content sources.”
In addition to the new Smart Hub design, Samsung also claims they took care of the need for several remotes – a real frustration in this age of advanced electronics when it comes to entertainment centers. Chris claims that, “No longer will you need to keep track of several remotes to control individual devices. All you need is one Samsung Smart TV.” The Samsung Smart Control remote will serve as a single control and eliminate the need for multiple remotes. It is run using Samsung’s Tizen platform and thanks to its automatic source recognition, it will immediately recognize the many “set-top-boxes, OTT boxes, Blu-ray players, game consoles as well as other connected devices.”