Less than two decades ago, watching television involved switching it on only at 7 p.m. to watch the day's news and religiously turning it on every Sunday morning to watch Chitrahaar or Chandrakanta .

Fast forward to twenty years later, and there's so much going on the television that every time you switch it off, there's inadvertently a sigh of relief that escapes you. And at a time when you thought the TV was over-saturated with content, companies are trying to come up with even more stuff for you to do on your telly.

Recent launches not only let you connect to the Internet via your brand new TV but also have a bunch of apps and games which are exclusively designed for it. So, now you not only have the option of getting to check your e-mails on your desktop, laptop or smartphone but also on your telly in the living room.

And of course, you now have an extra platform to be addicted to Angry Birds on.

Long way to go

The experience is still a far cry from those on slick smartphones and tablets. The real question here is – do you really need those options on your telly? As of now, India doesn't even have the requisite internet penetration to facilitate the optimal usage of platforms such as smart TVs. Content in the form of movies, sitcoms or music are not exactly easily available for picking up and watching on these devices in India. The “interface” on Smart TV is in a state of flux with biggies such as Google working on a more ‘friendly' way to present their Android and Chrome OS interfaces on larger screens.

While there are several applications common to both, the way we interact with a television is drastically different from that of smartphones and netbooks. For a start, the interface's which are currently being squeezed onto television were meant for much smaller devices. But the space is ripe for action. The rumour mill is working at a frenetic pace trying to guess if Apple will actually move into the space with an actual television and improved interface (the company has categorised its current Apple TV box as a hobby).

There's possibly a day in the near future when your television will be a seamless way to buy and watch from a huge catalogue of movies, tellies and play some music at a party. It could even make for an immersive browsing experience on a big screen. We're just not there yet.

>mahananda@thehindu.co.in

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