For months, technology blogs and news sites have been speculating about a television from Sony that could enhance your TV experience with the power of the Internet. Today Sony Corporation’s Chairman, President and CEO, Sir Howard Stringer along with partners from Google and Intel announced just such a set at a press conference at Google I/O, the official Google developer conference in San Francisco.
“The combination of Sony’s industry-leading product design, engineering and development expertise with the flexibility and growth potential of Google’s innovative, open-source Android platform will provide consumers with a world of new and exciting Internet user experiences.” said Stringer.
For the first time, consumers will be able to access the entire web just as easily as they can on a computer, using the Android based Google TV Platform. Imagine easily browsing for and watching the latest YouTube video on your television or chatting with faraway friends on your social networks while watching the season finale of your favorite TV show.
The lineup, which will be available first in the US this fall, will feature a standalone TV and a set top box Blu-ray player that would add the features to an existing TV. If you’re not convinced this is something for you, here’s a breakdown of the benefits of television meeting the internet:
An HDTV that searches. The Sony Internet TV makes searching for content faster and simpler than ever before. Looking for a channel, show, or website, will be easier than ever.
An HDTV that’s smart. Access to the ever growing library of Web content lets you customize your experience and automatic upgrades help keep the software powering your Sony Internet TV is up to date.
An HDTV that’s powerful. Imagine the performance with Intel Inside®. The Sony Internet TV has enough processing power to easily load sites and stream videos, while a wireless handheld QWERTY remote will make navigation simple.
For the latest information on Sony Internet TV with Google, look at Sony.com/InternetTV. And last, a note to developers, you can start building websites and apps enhanced for the TV! Find more information from the Sony Developer www.sonydeveloper.com.
I like Sony TVs (I own some). I also like the idea of “GoogleTV”, and I’d buy a Sony InternetTV. What’s holding me back is the fact that the replacement cycle for my TVs is FAR longer than my phone/computer… you may not like it, but let’s face it, I’m not going to buy a new TV every year-and-a-half. So I’m worried that the current hardware will be deprecated in a few years.
I don’t think the blu-ray player is the good solution, either. I like my TV to work independently.
So here is a suggestion on how to make a killer internet tv (IMO): Put all the required/typical accessories (IR receiver for the remote control (*), wifi, maybe even some storage) inside the TV itself. But don’t build in the processor/memory!! Instead, make a sort of “replaceable drawer” on the side of the TV, where you put the CPU, GPU, memory, maybe even some flash/hdd storage – on short, all the parts that I may want to upgrade. It’s no rocket science, desktop computers do this for quite a while. You can sell this “TV motherboard” very cheaply (Apple TV is $100, so this “replaceable drawer” could presumably have a similar price), and I’d rest assured that my 1000$ tv won’t become obsolete in a few months (I don’t trust you to be able to keep doing software upgrades on old hardware; sorry, but I don’t :) ).
Best of both worlds: my TV now continues to be an elegant piece of furniture, AND I am sure that I’ll be able to easily upgrade it as technology improves.
(*) Oh, btw, forget the fancy remote controls. Give me a basic remote, that makes TV navigation easy even if internet navigation is incredibly hard. Then provide software to allow me to control the TV from a fancier remote control, or a smartphone, or e keyboard (any Bluetooth keyboard should do!). The remote is incredibly useful for turning the volume up/down in the dark, without looking at it. Make it small & easy to use in this scenario. Then enable me to use other accessories to search/browse… but keep my remote control simple/small! After all, an “internet TV” is still primarily a TV, don’t forget that. Don’t mess up the primary usecase just to enable other usecases.
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Great read, really enjoyed it. The pace that most of the technology is moving at now is really incredible, Sony has always been a top of the line brand but with google its scary what they could come up with. My only complaint about sony products is we had to replace our xl2400 lamp and get a new one. Other than that they’re very durable.
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Thanks for the awesome comment Metadhia! I agree, but even beyond having the internet while on TV, I’m finding I love to use it for watching my favorite web shows and YouTube videos. Take care!
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