A device to make any TV smarter

SMART TVs have become all the rage now, but like most new tech gadgets, the latest products always come at premium prices.

Smart TVs in Brunei are going at $1,500 and beyond, whilst an LED TV is going at half the price.

My top-of-the-line 32-inch Samsung Series 5 LCD TV, bought in August 2009 for $1,100 is now available for a measly $400-$500.

However, a project by UAE's Infinitec will allow you to transform any TV with a HDMI port into an Android Smart TV.

The project, which I discovered at the very awesome kickstarter.com site, has already been fully funded by people who were interested in purchasing the item, everyday you and me people.

Before I go into this nifty little device, a brief introduction of kickstarter.com is due. It's a site that allows a project creator to put their ideas for sale and if people like it, it will get funded via their credit cards.

The categories range from music to design, art, technology and the list goes on.

Project creators set their project's funding goal and deadline, and if 'backers' like you and me, who want to buy or is interested in helping the project succeed and help it reach the funding goal, the backers' credit cards will get charged at the due date.

If the project succeeds, you pay and the creator makes, if it fails, backers aren't charged, the product doesn't get sent to you.

Anyway, Infinitec's project is called The Pocket TV.

The project has received US$501,321 worth of funding, five times the goal of US$100,000 set by the project's creator.

Each of these 'Pocket TV' converters are priced at US$99 ($129) for the device alone.

For US$110 you get the device with an infra-red remote, whilst with US$119, you get the device with an 'air remote'. However, the funding period for this project has closed, so you may not be able to get them at those prices anymore.

What is The Pocket TV?

This dongle is a Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with a 1GHz Cortex A9 CPU.

It has 1GB of RAM and only 4GB of internal memory, with the possibility of a 32GB expansion slot.

By connecting the dongle to your TV's HDMI, it will essentially turn the TV into a, for example, 32-inch Android device.

With it, you can chat with your friends on Facebook, surf the web, update Twitter, Skype, play Angry Birds, stream YouTube, download apps from the Play Store, basically, almost everything a Smart TV can do.

Anything your phone can do, it probably will be able to do as well, (minus the 3G voice calls).

It's very similar to a pocket PC that I've once written about, but this is specifically targeted at televisions.

Imagine you're watching a show via your Pocket TV, and maybe surfing on the side using the Pocket TV, and then you've got a flight to catch.

Just bring the Pocket TV along, and in the hotel room, you'll be resuming your tasks.

Much like bringing a laptop around, but it's so much nicer to have Android on a big screen in a room.

Inifinitec has also created a basic IR remote which has the usual on/off, and directional keys, but the Air Remote included has a gyroscopic sensor like a Nintendo Wii controller, which you can use to control the Smart TV. You can move it with your hands, in whatever direction and the cursor will move with you, where you have a single-click button to select your options.

Furthermore, it has a QWERTY keypad that allows you to type.

So the idea of it is really nice, you're browsing on your TV, you search a YouTube video from your couch, then you get a Facebook update, you just multi-task over, reply, or check your updates, whilst still typing from your Air Remote.

If I had a room big enough for a couch, the Pocket TV will definitely be a must-buy.

Being Android, of course, you can control the whole thing with your iPhone or Android smartphone.

By downloading an app for the respective smartphone, you can then use it to control your the transformed 'smart' TV as well.

The views expressed by the author are his own and do not reflect those of The Brunei Times.

The Brunei Times