Samsung Smart TV Smart Hub Update Goes Beyond Watching TV

These days, watching on the TV, especially on smart TVs, goes beyond the mere act of actually watching something. In addition to gathering content from multiple sources instead of just one live broadcast TV, time on the "tube" is also usually spent organizing those sources, searching for relevant videos, or keeping up to date with various bits and pieces of information. To cater to all those use cases, Samsung has updated its Smart Hub with features to augment your watching experience, be it on the TV itself or even on your smartphone.

As Samsung already alluded to before CES 2017, it was bringing some new features to its Smart TVs, specifically those surrounding sports and music. Especially sports. In Samsung's new Smart Hub experience, you no longer have search each and every channel or streaming service to see where your favorite team is playing. The process actually works in reverse. You let the Smart TV know who your favorite team is and then it tells you the channels, schedules, and even scores.

As for music, Samsung is bringing Shazam to your big screen. The Music section of the Smart Hub will identify the song currently playing and help you find information about the song, artist, and everything related to it. Of course, it is powered by Shazam.

Watching TV hasn't only gone beyond the scope of merely watching TV, it has also gone beyond the TV itself. Our smartphones have become extensions of the TV as much as they have become extensions of us. That's why Samsung has introduced a Smart View app for iOS and Android that lets you do the same convenient searching of content on your smartphone. Even better, it also mirrors notifications from TV to smartphone to make sure you won't miss a beat.

These are just some of the user experience enhancements that Samsung has promised Smart TV users for 2017. More will be coming soon, so better hang on to your couch.

SOURCE: Samsung