These days, every HDTV seems to have some type of Smart TV features. That makes your old HDTV seem, well… kind of dumb.
However, a company named Infinitec says that it can smarten up that TV with a dongle called Pocket TV. It looks like a USB stick, but this little item plugs into any HDMI port. From there, it uses the power of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) to add all of those extra goodies.
According to the company, the Pocket TV makes it so users can tap into the Google Play Store to stream videos, play games, connect with your friends on Facebook, catch up on news, and do everything else the web offers. If you add in a video camera, you can even Skype friends and foes using that big screen.
Another nice little perk is that the Pocket TV is so darn small, you can take it with you and transform any TV at any time. Hotel rooms, conference rooms, and even the local retail store (well, maybe not); just plug in it and start streaming.
“Our motivation to create the Pocket TV was that we found ourselves with too many gadgets. Nowadays we had a smartphone, a tablet and a laptop and we thought wouldn’t it be great to have one small portable solution that did what all these gadgets do but on a big screen TV,” says Ahmad Zahran, founder of Infinitec. “Pocket TV will give users a simple solution to accessing their digital life, surfing the internet, streaming video, playing games, doing video-conferences and much more from anywhere and on any TV or monitor. Unlike with smartphones and tablets they will be able to do all this on a large screen with something that literally fits into their pocket.”
The Pocket TV ships with a standard IR remote or you can opt to buy an Air Remote, which adds in a gyroscopic sensor for gesture-based control. Infinitec says it will also work with smartphones and universal remotes, if you want to go that route. It also has a Micro SD Card slot and a USB port, for adding in a mouse, a video camera, a keyboard or an external drive.
Infinitec is going the Kickstarter route for orders, but the company has already surpassed its $100,000 goal. If you want to snag one for yourself, the pre-order price is $99 (down from $160). Until it ships in October, you can get a closer peek in the video below.