At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Samsung has announced HomeSync, a home hub solution that offers a shared storage and a new way of enjoying HDTV through an Android user experience.
Samsung calls the new device a ‘home cloud solution’ and is clearly aimed at challenging Apple TV and other home media centres.
HomeSync’s 1TB drive can help the user sync to multiple devices, providing shared or private storage for all content. It supports eight separate accounts to cover a whole family, and allows each user to upload and download content from multiple devices and instantly share with other family members. File encryption and user-specific ID and password ensure content in a user’s private area remains separate from the shared area in HomeSync.
The HomeSync brings Android gaming, movies, TV shows and streaming content direct into the living room. It allows the user to stream content from a Samsung Galaxy device wirelessly to the TV letting people watch, see and use all their home videos, photos and apps, and all at a full HD 1080p.
Users can have the full and familiar Android experience with HomeSync’s Jelly Bean media player and access to Play Store and all apps. HomeSync also enables new ways to interact with content via the control modes enabled wirelessly on the phone.
Simon Stanford, VP of IM division, Samsung Electronics UK and Ireland said: “HomeSync is a really exciting addition to the Samsung portfolio. As the number of smart devices that a person owns continues to grow, sharing and streaming content will become even more popular, creating demand for somewhere that all this content can be stored safely and readily accessed. HomeSync was borne from our experience across multiple markets, including mobile, digital imaging and TV, enabling us to create a single connected media environment, where people’s content is accessible at any time through whichever screen they choose.”
HomeSync will be available from April 2013 starting in the US and continue to expand globally. UK availability and pricing will be announced in due course.
