The "silly box" has changed. Gone are the televisions that only served to see "what they were watching" at that time. Currently streaming services are the kings and we increasingly enjoy television "on our air". For this reason, for some years, television manufacturers have turned these devices into smart equipment . Computers equipped with a processor and an operating system capable of running applications . From that moment everything changed.
One of the manufacturers that has always bet the most on its Smart TV system has been Samsung . The Korean company negotiated with many companies some exclusive deals for its platform , and these deals have been maintained over the years. Samsung's system has always had the best applications , even before moving to Tizen OS . Most applications have been moved to the new operating system that Samsung uses in its televisions, so Samsung Smart TVs come equipped with very interesting applications. And this year, in addition, the main screen and some functions have been renewedto improve the user experience, as we saw in the in-depth review of the Samsung UE65KS9000 . We are going to review what the new Smart TV system of Samsung televisions of 2016 can offer us .
The new Tizen OS interface is divided into two large blocks . On the one hand we will have the main bar , where the shortcuts to the most used applications are located . And every time we go over some applications or options on this bar, we will have a second bar at the top with direct access to some functions . For example, if we are on the Netflix icon , we will have direct access to Continue watching , as well as Recommendations , thus being able to play this content quickly without having to search for it within the application. If we go over the YouTube application, the upper box will show Recommended Videos . It is worth noting that not all applications use this second panel .
In the main bar we will have direct access to the sources that we have configured, such as a satellite decoder in our case, and another to Live Television . Just to the left of these two accesses, we have three icons . The first one, located further to the right, is Search . If we click on it, a search engine will appear that will allow us to enter a keyword to perform a search. On the same screen a keyboard appears or informs us that from the Smart View application we can also perform the search. This search is global, that is, it also searches for applications or content on the net that has to do with the keyword we have written, but the truth is that most of the content it shows is from the YouTube application .
Right next to the search button we have the Source button . With this option we can switch between the different inputs available on the television. When we pass over an entry, if we press the Up button , we will also have the possibility to Edit that entry . We can change the Icon of the device (being able to choose between HDMI, Cable set-top box, Game console, PC or Blu-ray player) and also the name . However, the TV will automatically detect the type of device connected and apply whatever name it deems correct.
The last button we have is the Settings button . When hovering over it, in the upper part, it will show us some accesses for a quick configuration , such as changing the Image Mode , the Sound Output or the Sound Mode . If we want a deeper configuration we will only have to press Config .
We can configure the main bar with the shortcuts to the applications to our liking . When we are on the icon of an application, we can press down and the options of Move and Delete will appear .
To add an application to the main bar we will have to enter Apps , put the cursor over the application in question and click on the Options button , located in the lower right part. The first option that appears is Add to the main page .
As you can see, the new Tizen OS interface that the new Samsung televisions for 2016 incorporate is very visually attractive and highly configurable . We can organize the accesses to the applications as we want, being able to even access our favorite videos in a few seconds. In short, a fast, intuitive and very complete system.