Gadgetory

the television it's the classic home entertainment electronics relates to everybody's life that's why they devoted zip code to these displays the tablets a different story this is one of the newest pieces of technology does a lot of things well web email games ebooks and all those apps but statistics tell us an awful lot of you are still on the fence about even owning one of these here's one more roll of the tablet I bet you don't know so well that might tip the balance for you and that is as a perfect partner for your television look at where you watch TV probably a big stack of boxes just like this every one of them brings you different content on a different interface a different-looking screen trying to find what you want when you want it how you want it is chaotic at best and even that fancy unified remote you bought and spend so much time programming that doesn't really Corral all that stuff all that well now introduce a tablet and things get interesting not fully baked but interesting all kinds of apps will let you go through programming an electronic program guide that's so much more intuitive than the one on your TV screen that you poke at with a remote look how all kinds of content from air the streaming to cable the discs can all be shown in a nice browsable fashion you flick through almost like iTunes coverflow and most of the big manufacturers electronics now are building these ecosystems for your television your tablet and your smartphone will often talk to each other control each other and share content like this ecosystem from Samsung their tablet can be an elaborate remote for their TV that lets me browse listings for example and then watch them I can also make settings changes on the television right from here and of course it's an android device with a true web browser that has flash support so I can go online to watch companion content without bugginess oh and check this out i'm watching tron on the blu-ray player and I've got the Tron app loaded here on my ipad using a technology called second screen these two stay in sync and I'm getting unique special content on the tablet it relates to exactly what I'm watching on the TV on the movie right now now this may seem like a bit much when all you want to do is sack out and watch a movie seems that way to me but this definitely shows the potential of the TV tablet marriage and of course any tablet can handle the web which means you can jump into chats or fan sites or just about anything else about your favorite show in real time Hanna tablets also great for email Facebook Twitter and all the other things that we are increasingly doing while watching TV consider the research that shows most of us don't just sit down and watch TV anymore we interact with a second maybe even a third device and since the tablet is a great size much bigger than a smartphone but also nice and light much more handleable than a laptop this is kind of the ultimate partner the ultimate use of couch time now given all that goodness there are a few drawbacks first of all this guy doesn't fit in the palm of your hand like a regular remote weighs a bit more too by the way the battery life nowhere near as good as a regular remote and if you have it set properly it's probably always turning itself off every five or ten minutes those can be some drawbacks now so far this has all been about the TV at the center and the tablet kind of in orbit around it but it goes the other way as well for example if you have an iPad with Apple's AirPlay technology and an apple TV hooked up to your television like I do you can be watching a video on your tablet and then decide no I want to watch it on that TV here in the room press one button and it gets bounced over there over your home wireless network the same can work for photos and audio as well and with other electronics gear the supports airplay you don't have to have an Apple TV box by the way this does not use that new apple icloud technology this is over your home network icloud is a whole nother topic finally there are apps from the guys you pay for TV the cable and satellite operators these install on your tablet and roll up TiVo like functions video on demand and remote viewing all through a single app the Achilles heel is often the thicket of limitations on what you can watch where and when for example this time warner app only works when you're connected to your home Wi-Fi connection on their router and these types of apps also require you maintain cable and internet service so while it's not perfect the tablets probably the best partner for your television more elegant than the laptop or smartphone you use already and as you use one of these in the living room more and more you'll start to see the future of the way we're going to watch TV today you