The company's clicker for its 2014 Smart TVs supports more gestures, offers a smaller trackpad and has more dedicated buttons than before--including actual DVR controls. by Ty Pendlebury January 3, 2014 1:47 PM PST The new 2014 clicker has a smaller touchpad and more buttons than the 2013 version. (Credit: Samsung) Samsung Electronics has announced the release of its 2014 Smart Control, the remote control included with most of its new Smart TVs. The updated clicker now supports more gestures--not by waving it around a la a Nintendo Wiimote or LG Magic Motion wand, but via its much smaller track pad. The touchpad is a fifth of the size of last year's, and while Samsung says it offers enhanced usability and ergonomics, we tend to think a larger pad would be better for that. We'll see. Last year supported gestures included the ability to "draw" channel numbers on the 'pad, and swipe and scroll using bars along the side. The bars are now gone. This year the 'pad supports a swiping left/right gesture to flick between Samsung Smart Hub panels or content listings across multiple pages. It's now bounded by four directional buttons enabling users to "access their content more accurately". For reference, Samsung's 2013 remote. (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET) We complained quite a bit about the lack of dedicated, DVR-friendly "transport" controls for play, fast-forward and rewind on the 2013 remote, and once again Samsung listenined. The updated clicker returns with these old faves, although it's still missing forward and reverse skip. Maybe a custom gesture can fill that void. One notable dedicated button is for Multi-Link Screen, said to enable "users to watch multiple contents simultaneously on a single screen." It sounds hauntingly like split-screen, perhaps with live TV on one side and an app or web page on the other. Samsung says the new remote also brings up the virtual remote keyboard more easily than before. Arguably the biggest change is the new shape which mimics the pebble design of Samsung's old mini-remotes and comes with a textured grip on the underside. Like previous years the remote includes a microphone for content searching and playback control using "natural language." Like, you know, "Hi TV!" It's also Bluetooth, so you don't need line-of-sight to the TV. Bizarrely, though Samsung is not an official sponsor of the 2014 World Cup, it includes a dedicated button to enter "Soccer Mode", which optimizes picture settings for soccer, though it would probably work just as well for the NFL or croquet. Seriously? They'll waste a button on a sports-themed picture mode but can't find a spot for forward-skip? We'll have more on Samsung's 2014 Smart TV releases at CES.
The company's clicker for its 2014 Smart TVs supports more gestures, offers a smaller trackpad and has more dedicated buttons than before--including actual DVR controls.
The new 2014 clicker has a smaller touchpad and more buttons than the 2013 version.
(Credit: Samsung)
Samsung Electronics has announced the release of its 2014 Smart Control, the remote control included with most of its new Smart TVs.
The updated clicker now supports more gestures--not by waving it around a la a Nintendo Wiimote or LG Magic Motion wand, but via its much smaller track pad. The touchpad is a fifth of the size of last year's, and while Samsung says it offers enhanced usability and ergonomics, we tend to think a larger pad would be better for that. We'll see.
Last year supported gestures included the ability to "draw" channel numbers on the 'pad, and swipe and scroll using bars along the side. The bars are now gone. This year the 'pad supports a swiping left/right gesture to flick between Samsung Smart Hub panels or content listings across multiple pages. It's now bounded by four directional buttons enabling users to "access their content more accurately".
For reference, Samsung's 2013 remote.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
We complained quite a bit about the lack of dedicated, DVR-friendly "transport" controls for play, fast-forward and rewind on the 2013 remote, and once again Samsung listenined. The updated clicker returns with these old faves, although it's still missing forward and reverse skip. Maybe a custom gesture can fill that void.
One notable dedicated button is for Multi-Link Screen, said to enable "users to watch multiple contents simultaneously on a single screen." It sounds hauntingly like split-screen, perhaps with live TV on one side and an app or web page on the other.
Samsung says the new remote also brings up the virtual remote keyboard more easily than before.
Arguably the biggest change is the new shape which mimics the pebble design of Samsung's old mini-remotes and comes with a textured grip on the underside.
Like previous years the remote includes a microphone for content searching and playback control using "natural language." Like, you know, "Hi TV!" It's also Bluetooth, so you don't need line-of-sight to the TV.
Bizarrely, though Samsung is not an official sponsor of the 2014 World Cup, it includes a dedicated button to enter "Soccer Mode", which optimizes picture settings for soccer, though it would probably work just as well for the NFL or croquet. Seriously? They'll waste a button on a sports-themed picture mode but can't find a spot for forward-skip?
We'll have more on Samsung's 2014 Smart TV releases at CES.
