As rumors of Apple’s mythical “iTV” with Siri swirled in mid and late 2012, Samsung looked to get the jump on its rival by introducing a range of voice and motion controls alongside its 2013 smart TV lineup, which debuted just over one year ago at CES 2013. The new controls felt a bit rushed though, and they didn’t work as well as they should have in some cases. We saw this happen elsewhere in Samsung’s 2013 gadget lineup, of course, but it looks like the company will look to make amends in 2014.
According to a post on Samsung’s blog on Monday morning, the company’s Smart TV lineup is about to get “easier and more convenient to use.” That means more intuitive and responsive voice controls that will, for example, let users change channels and launch apps with simple voice commands. Enhanced gesture controls are also on the way that will apparently support a variety of finger commands such as the ability to change channels, adjust the volume or select on-screen items with a single finger. Another example Samsung provided: Going back a screen will now be as simple as rotating a finger counterclockwise.
“Samsung’s 2014 Smart TV models deliver significantly improved voice interaction and motion control features so that our consumers will be able to enjoy our Smart TV more intuitively,” said Samsung’s Senior Vice President of the Service Strategy Team of Visual Display Business, Kyungshik Lee. “We will continue to develop content that integrates voice and motion recognition for added convenience.”
Samsung’s new Smart TV line will debut during the company’s press conference next month at the annual CES trade show in Las Vegas.
