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Samsung TVs The Frame: NFTs in focus soon
Photo: Samsung
At the Buzzword Bingo at CES 2022, Samsung qualified for one of the top places early on.
In a press release, the company writes about its new Neo-QLED televisions that they have a “multi-intelligence algorithm for image quality”.
The devices are supposed to create a "feeling of depth" in the TV pictures.
What is more exciting, however, is that Samsung has implanted functions in the new devices that were previously more familiar from smartphones. An »EyeComfort mode«, for example, which reduces the brightness and the proportion of blue light when it gets dark. Something like this is known on cell phones as night shift or night light, it is supposed to be easy on the eyes and ensure better sleep.
But elsewhere, Samsung's new televisions are becoming even more similar to smartphones. For some of the models now presented there are wall brackets and feet as accessories that turn the TV 90 degrees at the push of a button. Moved to the vertical in this way, smartphone apps like TikTok and YouTube fit better on the screen. Even upright videos you have shot yourself fill the display better than on conventional televisions, on which such films are greatly reduced in size and framed by thick black bars.
Samsung had tried this concept two years ago with the Sero television and apparently found a target group for it.
But there is also a new version of the Sero, which differs from its predecessor mainly through a matt and therefore anechoic screen.
The new lifestyle TVs in the series "The Frame" are also equipped with such matt displays.
Their special feature is that you can hang them on the wall like picture frames and display works of art when you are not watching TV.
NFTs on TV
The images that The Frame then displays are mass-produced, digital copies of famous works.
But with many of the new devices you can also buy digital one-offs and look at and demonstrate them on the screen.
An »integrated NFT platform« should make this possible.
The abbreviation NFT stands for - Caution, Buzzword - Non Fungible Token.
The term describes a technology that makes it possible to provide digital content with a one-time certificate of ownership.
The data for this are saved in a forgery-proof manner via blockchain - again a buzzword.
It is still unclear whether you can show off to your guests, for example, the original SMS that you purchased for 107,000 euros or the 750,000 dollar first Wikipedia entry.
Apparently, Samsung wants to open the way for its TV customers to online trading venues where they can buy digital works of art that can then only be seen on their Samsung TV and nowhere else.
Electricity from the WiFi
Incidentally, there is no reliable information to be found anywhere on the new remote control with which Samsung intends to equip the new televisions. Apparently this is a new version of the solar remote control that the group introduced a year ago. Just like that, the new variant should also be able to be charged either via USB-C or via a solar cell in the back. In addition, however, US media report that they should also be able to use the energy of the radio waves sent by a WLAN router for power supply.
Because Samsung has not yet given any precise information, there is wild discussion on the Internet as to whether something like this is even possible.
The idea is not quite as absurd as some believe.
It was only last year that researchers from Singapore and Japan showed that the energy of such electromagnetic waves can actually be used.
Not much should come of this, but a remote control is also a frugal consumer.
What might be more important than the conversion of radio waves: Samsung's engineers were apparently able to completely do without batteries or rechargeable batteries in the remote control.
Instead, the electricity is stored in a capacitor, as is also the case, for example, in solar wristwatches.
So far, Samsung has not said anything about when and at what prices the new televisions will go on sale.
