Mobile gadget mavens have urged Samsung to ditch its proprietary smart TV operating system in favor of Android TV, a move which would be in line with Samsung smart phones and their allegiance to the Android mobile platform.
But the latest version of Samsung's Tizen OS, being presented at the intrepid live CES 2022 event in Las Vegas this week, reveals that the No. 1 supplier of smart TVs is still more interested in beating Google than partnering with it.
Case in point is the new "Media Screen," a Google TV-like feature that Samsung says is designed to "put all of your streaming service content into one, easy-to-browse place."
Also read: All You Need to Know About Samsung TV Plus
Not only does the new content hub display all of the user's SVOD and AVOD options, it also surfaces relevant content from the services they have access to.
The OS upgrade includes several other features:
> Gaming Hub aggregates all of the user's gaming options, much the way Media Screen does with streaming.
> Watch Together splits the screen up to let users video chat with family, friends and hangers-on as they watch the same content together in different locations.
> NFT Platform features an integrated platform for "discovering, purchasing and trading digital artwork through MICRO LED, Neo QLED and The Frame."
Beyond software features, Samsung is also showing off a nifty new remote control that charges itself with built-in solar panels, as well as a feature called "RF harvesting." The latter takes ambient radio signals from devices like Wi-Fi routers and turns them into low-volt electrical power.
Samsung has yet to make clear if the new remote will be packaged with its smart TVs or sold separately as an accessory. ■
