Back in my day, we watched TV—and we liked it. Now your TV is watching you, at least if you get a new Samsung Smart TV with improved “finger gesture” motion controls. On Monday, Samsung announced new features for its 2014 Smart TVs that it plans to show off at CES 2014 in January.
The new finger gesture features added to Samsung’s motion control will let you change the channel, raise or lower the volume, and navigate the guides with just a finger. And you can go back a screen or stop a video by rolling your finger back counterclockwise. Yes, this sounds a little like you’ll be making the “cray cray” gesture at your TV screen.
Samsung’s voice interaction isn’t new in 2014, but Samsung plans to improve and expand it to 23 countries; currently, voice interaction is available in 11 countries. The feature lets you change channels by just saying the channel number, instead of the two-step process (saying “Channel change” and “channel number”) required by the 2013 models. You’ll be able to use your voice to search for weather, stocks, and sports news too.
Samsung’s CES press conference is scheduled for January 6, and we’ll be there to bring you more details on the 2014 Smart TV models and the rest of Samsung’s lineup.