#MissionSamsung Blogger Challenge: Mission 3

It's the 3rd and final week of the Blogger Challenge and with it bring the final mission, well it isn't really a mission, more of a recap on how the Samsung LED Smart TV was the ultimate guest at my place. I'll be honest, when the TV first arrived at my place, I was a tad bit disappointed. Why? well I own an older generation 50" Samsung Plasma TV so to down grade to a 40" was a massive adjustment for me but then again I was judging the TV before I even switched it on and that's exactly what changed my mind about it.

The sleek sexy design and smart chrome stand was nice but striaght away the clear crisp, full high definition LED display mesmerised me, clarity of such high quality, it felt as though I was looking at a photograph. After setting up the internet connection which can be done either with a LAN cable or via WiFi, the Smart TV then prompted me to do a software update, it was a bit new for me to see a TV asking for such a command but after 5 minutes, it had the latest update and I was ready to go. 

Software update

The Smart Hub is where the magic happens, with various apps available to download, your hub is fully customisable by you, the user. From social media applications, video streams, to an internet browser, it was all there at a touch of your remote. Updating your Facebook status or reading your Twitter time line on the big screen was a treat! But the best for me was definitely watching YouTube and Vine videos, searching and streaming to your heart and minds content. 

Smart Hub

With the TV we were given a Samsung S4 Active mobile device, it was meant more for capturing moments with us using the TV but because of the ease of intergration Samsung has with their devices, the phone was synced to the Smart TV by means of the WatchOn and Smart View 2.0 apps. both of which are available on the Samsung App Store for free. WatchOn enabled me to control the Smart TV with my cellphone, so if you cannot find the remote or it's out of reach, all I had to do was whip out my phone and BOOM! remote on my phone!

Using my Samsung mobile device as a TV remote

Samrt View 2.0 was another app that came in very handy, ever take pics and videos on your phone, then want to show them to various people but because of the size of the phone, only a few of them can view it at a time? Well with this application, all you had to do was sync the devices , scroll through your phones gallery and by means of a swipe gesture, flick the picture onto the TV screen for everyone to see! The screen sharing didn't stop there with this app as it worked both ways, I could view what was on the Smart TV, on my Smart Phone! That way I never missed any second of the action!

Viewing pictures from your Samsung mobile device on the Smart TV

I could go on and on about how this TV has made my life so much easier over the past 3 weeks but one really needs to exprience it to believe it, the picture quality is like nothing I've seen before. When viewing full 1080i high definition videos or playing HD console games, the TV exceeded expectations on clarity and refresh speeds. From my experiences with the challenges from Movie night with mates to exercising in the comfort of my home, every one of them has been enjoyable.

streaming Live TV to your Samsung mobile device

To end off, a TV used to be a means for people to watch what was broad casted by their various service providers and for a long time it remained that but like technology evolved with the cellular phone, so it did with the television set, like smart phones, I foresee Smart TV's to be a necessity for all house holds in the future. People are tired of being forced what to watch, they want choice, they want options and with the Smart TV they are getting that and so much more. With the internet being a key part of our daily lives, seeing the merger onto this platform is like a match made in heaven. It truly is the Smart way of watching TV.

Reading my Twitter feed on the Smart TV

#MissionSamsung Blogger Challenge: Mission 2

It's the second week of the #MissionSamsung Blogger challenge and after the first mission of the viewing party went well, the competition just got a whole lot hotter! ...well sweatier. In this weeks challenge contestants were asked to download one of the many fitness apps on the Samsung Smart hub and choose from a variety of exercise programmes to partake in. Seemed simple enough right? Well, it was, to a certain extent, here's why. 

Most of us go to gym regularly, or at least try to go to gym, as with many of us leading busy lifestyles we find it hard to get in that balance of work and exercise. When we do manage to get into the gym, it is often very busy and one finds them self spending more time queueing to use a machine than actually getting a work out done. Then there is the personal trainers, we see them at the gym, we know they would be helpful in our quest to lose those extra kilo's but it is always daunting to go for a session with them in fear of us dying on the gym floor. What if I told you, that you could have your own personal trainer at home?

Day 1

Well with the fitness app on Samsung's LED Smart TV, that is exactly what you are getting! Once downloaded, all you have to do is input your details and your measurements, including weight. The app then calculates your BMI. From there you can set yourself goals, my goal was to loose a kg of weight in 8 days. It calculated an 8 step program which required me to burn just over 1100 calories with various exercise routines. One step 1 per day, equalled to three 20 minute videos which helped me burn approximately 65 calories per video. The videos were great, each of them starts off with a mild warm up and works their way into a rigorous workout, by the end of it you will be enjoying it so much that you actually forget about the intense workout you're getting!

Day 2

After the success of day 1, I was keen to get onto day 2! Well first I had to get out of bed! You see, my gym routines has remained the same over the past 3 years so I was only focusing on a few areas of my body, with this 8 step program, it focuses on every aspect of your body so the next day, muscles that I never knew existed were telling me hello! Never the less, I soldiered on through the day and was ready for the next step. The cool thing about the app, is that it updates the number of calories you've burned while doing the various videos. So you can track the progress you're making. 

Day 3

Getting used to the sore muscles and convincing myself that it is a good thing, getting up on the 3rd day was much more rewarding but after a stressful day at the office, I was not in the mood to continue with the program that was chosen for me but the great thing with the fitness app is that you can break away from the routine and opt to do something else. So I tried out some Yoga, the thing is, if I had gone to the gym, I would NEVER chosen to do Yoga, firstly the classes are at times I am simply not available and by doing it at home in the comfort and privacy of my own home, I didn't have to worry about making an ass of myself trying to pull off some moves. I was quite blow away by the many videos available, from beginner level all the way up to master level. It really was a great experience and will definitely try it again. 

The thing that stood out for me was the workout you get from these programmes, I for one never did buy into the whole exercise TV thing and always felt the need to go out to the gym to get the workout you needed. After these past 3 days I can safely say it was more intense than any work I've had before, even though I might burn more calories at gym on a daily basis, I could feel the muscles in my body getting the work, getting tighter and of course, feeling the pain the next day but as I got to realise it was a good pain. The challenge might be over but I am definitely going to continue with the exercise routine for as long as I got the TV.

PS: I opted for the video the trainer which does use up a lot of bandwidth, there are other training programs that do not require video downloads that one can train along with. 

#MissionSamsung Blogger Challenge: Mission 1

So recently Samsung sent me one of their brand spanking new 40" Samsung LED Smart TV along with a Galaxy S4 Active smart phone. The reason for this was, I along with 19 other bloggers from around the country were selected to take part in their 2nd #MissionSamsung Blogger challenge. I along with the others will get to keep these devices for 3 weeks and during that time, get missions to complete with them. At the end, a winner will be selected and they get to keep the products... FOREVER! 

The product

The 40" Smart LED TV is one of Samsung's Series 6 panels which offers the user a smart interface which takes watching TV to the next level. Besides full HD capabilities, the set also has full internet connectivity via means of a LAN port or built in WiFi. Once set up, you can browse the various internet applications that are pre-loaded. Some of them being Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo.

The Challenge

Now, being a tech nut I am over the moon with this challenge and will give it my up most to win! The first challenge came through on Monday this week, the mission? Host a viewing party with some mates to showcase the brilliant picture quality and definition of the LED Smart TV set and at the same time have some quality fun with your mates. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

The invite

The invite

The way I saw it, the viewing party was an event, MY event and although they were close mates, the invite had to look the part. So I took a picture of the TV with the Smart Hub menu active and edited the blocks to suite the details of the evening and this was the end result. 

The viewing party 

The party started off with some pre-movie dinner of pizza and beers, all of which was captured on the Galaxy S4 Active. There after we made our way to the viewing room, where a giant bowl of popcorn awaited us along with more refreshments. The movie I chose was the Lego Movie, seeing that it was animated, watching it in high colour, full definition would be great. The sound quality on the set is incredible, so much so, that I didn't have to make use of my surround sound system. The guests were blown away by the features of the Smart TV, sound and crisp picture quality, to quote a line from the movie, "Everything is awesome!". The already amazing night was completed with the final part of the challenge, a "welfie", which is a selfie but with many people. 

Looking forward to mission 2! AMG133, over and out!