I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
Groucho Marx
Not so Smart Hub: My frustration with my so-called smart TV has reached a breaking point. I have a Samsung TV and their Smart Hub software is awful. Since Smart Hub is proprietary, the apps have to be specially written for it, so the quality is hit or miss. The performance of Smart Hub itself is also sketchy at best. Smart Hub updates all the time and I am always hopeful that this will be the version that works. But no it usually just means I have to reconfigure / reinstall the apps I use; that is if the WiFi connection works. Why Samsung spends so much money developing bad software is beyond me. Do they think it is a differentiator when someone buys their products? I can assure you it will be on the next TV I buy.
The Solution: That concludes my rant on Samsung's Smart Hub. I hate it when people complain but provide no possible solution, so let me propose how smart TVs should perform. Currently smart TVs are designed to be a television with some software that allows you to consume web based content. It should be just the opposite. It is quite simple actually. We already have the example in our pocket. Our phones act as portable TVs (in a way) so why not duplicate that experience on the big black screen in our living rooms. What I mean is the TV should be another device designed to consume web based content and the regular TV content should be just another app within that context. When I pull up Netflix on my tablet, I can still browse the web in a separate window. Why does it have to be an either / or proposition?
Its the Remote Dummy: Of course the answer is the remote control. How will I move windows, click on icons, type text? Let's face it the current remote designs are terrible. Again the answer is in our pockets. Why not mirror the screen on our phone or tablet via a simple app. There are tons of these apps available already, but they mostly just duplicate the remote on your screen. I have one of those already and I hate it, why would I want a virtual one? What I want is my TV screen duplicated on my phone? Then it becomes a sudo touch screen for my TV. I can do this through Chromecast screen mirroring. This should be the way I interact with the TV all the time. Just imagine how powerful this would be as I watched my regular TV shows. Currently shows provide content while the show is airing, but I have to use my tablet. What if I could pull it up next to the window running my TV stream? Imagine watching the live stats for a football game or scores from other games on the side. I could also run multiple games at once, moving from one to another as I liked. It would be easy to navigate as I just move the apps around on my phone. And I could use my phone / tablet's keyboard for typing. That alone would be worth not using the regular remote. Flip the Paradigm: One last big idea for those who find this interesting. Companies could change the way they advertise. Instead of commercials that interrupt the program, ads could be displayed next to the TV window and you could purchase items from your remote app while the show is running. Following the lead of mobile games, product placement would allow for in program purchasing. You like the geek shirt Sheldon is wearing on this episode of The Big Bang, just click on the ad and buy it. It would not be that difficult to use episode metadata to feed the ad stream and those ads would be available even during the re-runs. The pizza ad make you hungry? Just click on it and order. All without interrupting the program.
Everything I proposed is available with current technology. As users, we are already very comfortable with the UX. I imagine the amount of money Samsung spends on Smart Hub could be much better spent creating my vision of a smart television. Then maybe my family could spend a quiet evening without listening to me swear at the TV, well at least until football season.
