I bought one of these, thinking I’d be sitting there with my 3D glasses on watching some movies on Netflix or videos on YouTube. However, by the time the clunky interface has booted and you’ve sat through a loading screen for 5 minutes it’s painful, so you just end up using your smartphone to send stuff wirelessly to the TV instead, which is a lot less painful.
LG seem to be trying to make things a bit better in their TV’s, with the introduction of something called “multi-device communications”. It’ll mean that you can interact with TV games on your smartphone. It’s part of their “AllJoyn” (see what they did there?) open source framework, and means that there’s a common language enabling your smartphone and TV to talk. It’ll mean that devices and apps can communicate with each other, whether those devices are TV, tablets or smartphones and whatever device the apps are running on.
We don’t have a great deal more information from LG, but it does sound like this could be a step in the right direction. If a TV company could make my smartphone game run on their Smart TV while I control it on my smartphone, I’m interested. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take 5 minutes to fire up.
LG OPTIMIZES SMART TV PLATFORM FOR SEAMLESS MULTI-DEVICE COMMUNICATIONS
Irrespective of OS or Brand, AllJoyn Enables Multiple Smartphones, Tablets, Household Appliances and More to Simultaneously Connect with LG Smart TV
Karachi / Seoul, Dec. 12, 2013 — LG Electronics (LG) will be the first company to incorporate the AllJoyn open source software framework into its Smart TV platform, giving users a new level of interoperability between devices. AllJoyn, developed by Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc., is designed to create a common language that seamlessly connects the Internet of Things, regardless of brand or operating system (OS). This new multi-device environment opens up a raft of possibilities for LG Smart TV owners.
“LG is at the forefront of the device connectivity revolution,” said Richard Choi, Senior Vice President of the Smart Business Center at LG Electronics. “LG will now enable consumers to more effortlessly connect their networked devices in the home and continues to show a strong commitment to the next generation of convergence technology.”
The software’s framework enables devices and apps to freely communicate with one another without the barriers that once kept operating systems and products from different companies separate. It will afford LG Smart TV users a previously unimaginable degree of freedom and generate new opportunities for app developers as well.
LG will incorporate AllJoyn to allow multiple devices to communicate with LG Smart TVs simultaneously, creating an expansive cross-OS environment where users can interact in new ways. Several smartphones or tablets, each running a completely different OS, can participate in the same multiplayer game on an LG Smart TV. In Mini Motor Racing, one person could steer his or her car around the track using the LG Magic Remote while the other players control their vehicles via the LG Gamepad app for mobile devices. Looking forward, LG will continue to drive future innovation in consumer services that leverage the communication between devices and LG Smart TV’s.
“LG sees great potential and huge possibilities in connecting multiple display products with one TV,” added LG’s Mr. Choi. “Facilitating true smart home convergence, LG Smart TVs will now be able to seamlessly connect to devices regardless of brand or OS, a first-of-its-kind milestone in the home entertainment industry.”
