Hands-on: Philips Smart TV

While the user interface of the Philips smart TV system has remained largely unchanged in this year's edition, screen mirroring and second screen functions are now supported, making it easier for users to share content between their Philips smart TVs and Miracast-ready devices.
The Philips TV remote has been enhanced, too, featuring a new "air mouse" capability in addition to a QWERTY keyboard. This is possibly the best smart TV navigational solution so far, providing intuitive onscreen cursor control, text input and access to all TV functions via one controller.

User interface

The above dashboard can be conveniently accessed using the remote or from the TV's main menu. At the top-left corner is a live window to watch TV shows with a little icon that links to Facebook. You probably recognize the other icon, although, oddly, no Twitter app is available at the moment.
All installed apps are organized in a 6 x 2 grid fashion at the bottom. The dots at the center of the screen are used to indicate the different pages of apps. It is possible to rearrange and delete apps, as well as restrict access to selected apps using a password.
Thankfully, it appears that the ad component is limited to promoting available apps for now. But even using a Philips DesignLine TV powered by a dual-core processor, I found the dashboard and onscreen pointer somewhat unresponsive at times.

App store

(Credit: Philip Wong/CNET Asia)

Known as the App Gallery, the TV app store offers only around 30 apps in Singapore at the time of writing. Aside from the YouTube and Viewster video-streaming apps, there is no Netflix-like video-on-demand (VOD) app that provides Hollywood movies and series.
Notice the adult channels? They are subscription based and might not be fully functional in Asia. Nevertheless, you might like to utilize the parental control option to prevent your little ones from accessing them.

YouTube app

(Credit: Philip Wong/CNET Asia)

This is likely one of the more compelling apps available for most users. The leanback edition used by the Philips smart TV is optimized for big screen usage and compatible with HD clips, too. Interestingly, I managed to find some Hollywood films, but whether they have been legally uploaded or face subsequent removal is unknown.

Viewster app

(Credit: Philip Wong/CNET Asia)

With around 800 indie movies, documentaries and TV series, Viewster is another VOD app worth checking out. All the ten titles I randomly picked are free to view with ads. I have previously come across a 24-hour rental option at S$4.20 (US$3.37) each when I was browsing through Viewster loaded in a Sony smart TV, but did not notice this on the Philips.

Facebook app

(Credit: Philip Wong/CNET Asia)

There is a unified social-networking app called Social TV to access both Facebook and Twitter accounts, but it is broken at the moment. Without a Twitter app, this leaves the Facebook app the only popular social-network platform on the TV. Images posted in the feeds can now be displayed properly unlike its predecessor.

Web browser

(Credit: Philip Wong/CNET Asia)

Compared with the browser found in LG and Samsung smart TVs, this version is rather basic. Except for the standard bookmarking, history and zoom capabilities, you can't open multiple Web sites. Flash support has been omitted, too.

Screen mirroring

(Credit: Philip Wong/CNET Asia)

Based on the Miracast open standard, you can now wirelessly mirror any content displayed on a compatible smartphone or tablet to selected Philips smart TVs. Examples of content you can mirror are videos which you have shot using your mobile device and games.
Using a Miracast-certified LG Optimus G Pro smartphone and a Philips DesignLine TV, I was only able to get a 720p resolution at 60fps. In comparison, I've previously achieved up to 1080p with the same smartphone and other Miracast-ready smart TVs, albeit at just 30fps.
There are other problems, too. Not only was a slight lag detected, I also observed there were frequent image distortions. What's more, I was unable to successfully connect a DesignLine TV to an HTC One even after repeated attempts.

Second screen function

(Credit: Philip Wong/CNET Asia)

Instead of pushing content to the TV, the second screen function lets users pull content from the panel to a mobile device. For Philips smart TVs, this is limited to digital broadcast played through a free MyRemote mobile app.
Another restriction is the TV and mobile device can only display an identical TV channel. You have the option to momentarily switch off the TV screen, though. And because our test unit cannot receive the electronic program guide (EPG) from the local broadcaster, "no title" was displayed instead of information about the TV show.

Cloud Explorer app

(Credit: Philip Wong/CNET Asia)

Using this newly introduced app, you can access photo, videos and music files stored in your DropBox account. This puts Philips smart TVs hot on the heels of their LG and Samsung peers and well ahead of other Japanese TV brands in supporting cloud-based online storage.

TV remote app

(Credit: Philip Wong/CNET Asia)

TV Guide and Wi-Fi smart screen are the latest additions for the free MyRemote mobile app, which is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. However, the TV Guide component is not functional due to the EPG problem mentioned earlier. Meanwhile, Wi-Fi smart screen is nothing more than the second screen function.

Conclusion

Overall, the Philips smart TV system felt somewhat unpolished and quite lacking in terms of app selection. Still, the latest Philips TV remote, with integrated cursor control and QWERTY keyboard, is a great idea. In my opinion, this approach is much better than juggling between two controllers and alternatives such as voice and gesture.
TP Vision is aware of the issues I have highlighted in this hands-on and is currently looking into them. Check back for further updates.