Hands on with the new Samsung ES8000 Smart LED TV

I brought my husband and daughter along for a product review of Samsung’s latest Smart TV offering. These are not your ordinary smart LED TVs, I told them. The new market-revolutionizing features available in 2012 are Smart Interaction, Smart Content, and Smart Evolution. Arriving at the Maxim Hotel in Resort World Manila, I quickly got my orientation with a tutorial from Samsung Philippines. I guess I needed this tutorial to eliminate frustration.

First impression: “wow, how thin?” , my daughter exclaimed as she looked towards the side of the Samsung smart TV.

I was already aware of the features of this Samsung Smart TV during the 2012 Samsung AV roadshow but never actually handled the remote controls and the menu. I’ve seen how one can turn the TV on or off, activate selected apps or search for and select content in the web browser—all without touching the remote.

I urged my husband to listen so I could get impressions from a technophobe. This latest Samsung Smart LED TV uses voice and motion control to perform basic TV functions such as changing channels and adjusting the volume. It also can access your personalized Smart Hub Account through Face recognition via a built-in camera. I’ll show you some of these features in a while.

There are two types of remotes: Smart touch remote control and more standard remote. If one is not used to the Samsung TV remote, it can be quite a challenge so I prefer the user friendly smart touch remote control
.

This Smart touch remote control has an easy to use touch pad (in the center of the gray area) featuring “Edge User Interface: technology.

There are all sorts of menu that pops up pressing some keys in the simple remote control.

There is an upper menu that pops up from the remote control.

Let us start with the Smart Interaction.

Motion control

Hand gestures can turn the TV on or off, adjust volume, activate the Samsung’s smart hub and selected apps, search online, browse and select links. One has to get used to hand position to select choices. The TV is activated by waving one’s hand side to side 3-4 times in front of the TV.

My daughter tries it out herself. She closes her hands to form a fist which is needed to click on a selection.

Voice control

Just say “Hi TV” to turn on the Smart Interaction feature. There is a camera/microphone at the top center of the TV. The room should not have no other ambient noises so the “TV can hear you”. It takes getting used to . To show how this is done, I took a vide of my daughter and myself. It’s quite easy but takes getting used to. Sometimes the TV can’t hear your commands so use the mic in the smart touch remote control.

Voice control : Channel controls and turning off the Samung LED ES 8000

I practically yelled to turn on the Samsung Smart TV after my daughter failed to turn it on.

Voice control- Turning the Power on of the Samsung LED ES 8000

Face recognition

Smart TV can recognize your face and automatically log you in to your Smart Hub account. I decided to use a wireless keyboard (not yet available in the Philippines) to create a Smart hub account but first it needed to sync with the TV.

The keyboard has a trackpad on the right side of the keyboard.

I just needed to position my face within the green space provided. A video tutorial shows how to do this.

So I tested it and voila…position my face on the prompt and got logged in to the Smart hub.

It was time to log in to my twitter account (@momblogger) and the fitness app.

I wanted to watch 3D movies but unfortunately there was no DVDs made available unlike the last product review I did on the Samsung Smart TV.

It was time for my husband to do a smart interaction. But of course, the voice control was the easiest to do. With his booming voice saying “power off” , the TV responded and shut down.

By midnight, we called it a night. None of us wanted to turn off the TV but my daughter got up from her bed and called out “TV Power off”. This time, the Samsung TV heard her voice control command. Quite useful when one can’t find the remote control, huh?

Smart Evolution

Will I buy this TV?

I just bought a Samsung LED TV last July so I don’t think I will upgrade this soon.

The suggested retail price of this Samsung Smart TV UAES8000 55-inch model is 279,000 pesos . The 65-inch model is 359,000 pesos but you’ll have to place a special order for this model.

Before I bought my new Samsung LED TV, I owned a Sony TV that lasted me for 10 years. If only this Samsung ES8000 came last year, I would have bought it.

Why?

Samsung’s Evolution Kit is an industry first. With a simple slot-in at the back of the TV , I can keep pace with rapid advancements in both TV hardware and software—without needing to purchase a new set every year. It might even last me for 10 years.

Maybe when it gets more affordable, perhaps I will buy this and give the old Samsung LED tv to my daughter who will move in to her new condominium.

You might also want to read Carlo Ople’s unbox.ph review or Abe Olandres at Yugatech for their own experience.

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