Samsung Smart View turns Galaxy S2 and Tab into TV
With a 7000- or 8000- series Samsung TV, you can use your Galaxy S2 or Tab to watch live TV
Similar to Apple’s Remote app for the iPhone and iPad, Smart View provides full control over the TV so you don’t have to reach for the remote. We tested out the app with a Galaxy S2 and 7in Tab on a 55in D8000 and found it highly responsive. Menus were swift to navigate and programmes played without stuttering – even those on BBC HD. The ability to use the Galaxy S2’s keyboard to enter text is a real boon, and makes searching, plus entering text into the Facebook and Twitter apps far easier than using the stock remote’s number buttons.
For those without a smartphone, Samsung will be bundling the Smart Touch Remote with the D8000 series as a promotion starting on August 1st 2011, and there will be similar deals with the D7000 models. Prices were not confirmed. The remote has the same features as the app, allowing you to control the TV, use the Smart Hub interface, watch TV and enter text via an on-screen Qwerty keyboard.
Expert Reviews was told that the Smart View app will be made available to Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy S owners in the future, but no timescale was given. We were shown a beta version of the app on the 7in Galaxy Tab – this should be made available in the autumn. It remained unclear whether owners of other Android handsets would be able to use the app in the future, but there are certainly no plans for an iOS version.