Vizio’s Via Tablet and Smartphone Run Android For reasonable [Tablets]

Hey, look: Vizio’s Android smartphone and tablet , which share an analogous ” Via” name, have gone all official, and are unsurprisingly compatible with Vizio TVs and Blu-ray players-meaning these Via products will act as remotes for Vizio’s Google TVs.

Full specs are yet to be revealed, but which you can have a look at the small print in Vizio’s press release, below.

Irvine, CA-January 3, 2011 – VIZIO, America’s #1 LCD HDTV Company*, announced today the VIA Plus ecosystem, a better generation of VIZIO Internet Apps™ that may provide consumers with a connected CE experience unlike any other. The brand new ecosystem will allow for unified on-demand content and application consumption across multiple consumer electronic devices including VIZIO HDTVs, Blu-ray players, SmartPhones and Tablets.

” The promise of a unified consumer experience across multiple screens and devices has been unfulfilled formerly,” said Matthew McRae, Chief Technology Officer at VIZIO. ” With VIA Plus, VIZIO is delivering the first true integrated ecosystem across multiple classes of devices and enabling an easy yet powerful interface for consumers to enjoy their applications, services, and content.”

VIA Plus expands upon the VIA experience and extends it to new devices creating a global-class connected ecosystem that combines the most recent technologies and a unified user experience to supply the easiest HD entertainment experience. Consumers might be ready to begin content consumption from one device and seamlessly transition the content to another device allowing entertainment to be continuously enjoyed anywhere and anyplace without interruption.

VIA Plus HDTVs and Blu-rays will incorporate Google TV and feature a premium Bluetooth QWERTY universal remote with touchpad, dual-band 802.11n built-in wifi and enhanced onscreen navigation including search and web browser.

The VIA Plus Phone and Tablet will probably be based on the Android Platform and feature built-in IR blaster with universal remote control app, HD playback with HDMI output, and access to hundreds of apps in Android Market.

” Within the upcoming era of connected digital devices, we believe the corporations that stand the appropriate chance of success are people that realize the patron experience isn’t pretty much hardware. Rather, it’s the mixing of hardware, software, and services toward a particular usage model that might ultimately offer a different and potentially lasting consumer experience,” said Richard Shim, mobile computing analyst with DisplaySearch. ” One of many usage models that we believe may be addressed most readily is the consumption of high-quality digital entertainment.”

More Freedom with VIA Plus

With VIA Plus devices, consumers will likely be in a position to search, organize and access their favorite apps more easily than ever. At its core, the VIA Plus experience is a unified, consistent and intuitive user interface that permits consumers in exactly a couple of clicks to quickly group favorite apps by categories, customize the dock with their most frequently accessed apps or switch apps with the multitasking bar.

” We know we’ve tremendous interest and support from our current distribution for brand new VIA devices, but always are mindful of what the top user wants. With the proliferation of platforms and apps now available to connected devices, navigating and learning different interfaces could be frustrating to end users,” said Mr. McRae. ” With that in mind, VIA Plus presents an easy, consistent, and stylish interface so users can quickly access the entertainment they seek on devices from a 4″ cellphone to a 65″ Theater 3D HDTV.”

VIZIO might be demonstrating VIA Plus devices in their private CES showcase at the Wynn Hotel from Janurary 6 to 9, 2011.

*Sources: Q3 2010 iSuppli and DisplaySearch Reports

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This post is tagged: applications services, chief technology officer, consumer experience, content consumption, electronic devices, user experience