Samsung has announced that all of its 2016 smart TVs will be ‘Internet-of-Things ready,’ meaning that they can acts as a hub for connected home devices from Samsung and third-party devices and sensors that use the company’s popular SmartThings system.
This means that you’ll be able to use any new Samsung TV to control everything from your lighting to your heating and smart locks. However, to allow it to play nice with the entire range of SmartThings devices, you’ll need to plug in a ‘SmartThings Extend’ USB adapter.
It makes a lot of sense to have the family TV as the center of a connected home. We’re likely to see a lot more efforts like this in the future. Apple TV already works in conjunction with Siri to achieve a similar result when remote-controlling devices from outside the home.
We’ll hear more about Samsung’s new TVs at CES in Las Vegas next month.
➤ Samsung Reveals Entire 2016 Smart TV Line-Up will be IoT Ready [Samsung Newsroom]
Samsung has shipped 10 million Galaxy Note 3 devices since its launch 2 months ago
Samsung announced today that the Galaxy Note 3, its latest large-screen so-called ‘phablet’ device that follows on from the successful Note and Note II, has just surpassed 10 million units in shipments since its roll-out to international markets on September 25. This means it has taken just slightly more than two months to reach this sales mark.
The Korean company typically doesn’t provide actual sales figures — only channel sales, or what is better interpreted as shipments — but it is still a good gauge of the Note 3’s popularity, considering that the Note I took nine months to hit the 10 million milestone, while the Note II took four months.
Samsung unveiled the Note 3 in early September, an improvement over the Note II with a mammoth 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display, backed up by 3GB of RAM and either a 2.3GHz quad-core processor (LTE version) or 1.9 GHz eight-core processor (3G-only version), as well as a 3,200mAh battery.
(Hat/tip @WhatTheBit )
Xiaomi launches its second smart TV set, which notably includes 4K support, for $640
Xiaomi stepped into the living room space last year when it unveiled a smart TV. Today CEO and co-founder Lei Jun took to the stage at a launch event in Beijing to announce the second generation of the TV, which most notably supports 4K resolution.
Coming in at $640, the Mi TV 2 is extremely affordable, aligned with its aim to launch devices that undercut the prices of other similar products on the market.
The 49-inch Mi TV 2 has a screen that is two inches bigger than its predecessor. It also improves on the first generation product’s specs in a range of areas. Coming in at 12.9kg, it weighs 30 percent less than its predecessor. It measure 15.5 mm thick, which is around one-quarter thinner than the first generation smart TV.
Lei Jun told an audience of media that the size of the TV takes into consideration the size of the living rooms of young Chinese people today. With that, he touted the Xiaomi TV 2 as a product that caters to the needs of the younger generation in China.
The TV uses an LG display, and Xiaomi has added a nifty search feature for the remote control. The control will ‘ring’ (like a phone) when activated, while voice search can be used to find movies and TV shows. Lei Jun added that the recently launched Mi router includes support for the Mi TV 2.
Other than that, the Mi TV 2 comes with a set of standalone speakers that can be connected via Bluetooth.