Samsung Electronics vows to ship Google TV-based Blu-ray players and companion boxes later this year, but it is still mulling whether or not to build a Google TV set.
Samsung Electronics Jan. 7 joined Sony, Logitech and Vizio as a hardware
partner for Google TV, unveiling a new Blu-ray Player and companion box for the
Web TV surfing service at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.
The new Blu-ray player and companion box was available to
test at CES throughout the show. Google TV users will access the
Samsung devices via a special Google TV remote control with a full QWERTY
keypad and voice search supported through an internal microphone.
While the new appliances will be part of Samsung's smart TV products when
they roll out in the first half of 2011, Samsung Electronics Visual Display
President B.K. Yoon said the company has not decided whether to construct a
Google TV set or not.
Samsung's approach is a cross between those of its rivals. Sony is currently
selling Google TV-loaded sets and Blu-ray players. Logitech sells just a
companion box loaded with Google TV. Vizio
showed off its Google TV sets and Blu-ray players at CES.
The company is enabling new Android smartphones and tablets to operate the
company's Google TV appliances via a built-in IR blaster with a universal
remote control app.
Google TV is the search engine's Android-based platform
to allow consumers to surf the Web through the Chrome browser and manage their
television and DVR content through one interface, complete with search and
applications.
Users can, for example, watch a football game and then pop open a Web
browser to tweet about it while continuing to watch the contest in a small
dual-window, which they may move around the TV screen.
The service has taken its lumps for being slow and buggy-the integrated
Netflix app was a chore until it was refreshed last month-and reviews have been
poor to lukewarm by experts turned off by the quirks, laborious setup and
product price points.
Reports of Google TV hardware delays were exaggerated.
Google remains on track to release a special Android SDK for Google TV to
enable developers to write applications for the larger screen.
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