Summary
- Samsung TVs are easy to set up and control using Samsung’s SmartThings app.
- One UI offers a consistent experience across Samsung’s phones, tablets, wearables, and TVs.
- Exclusive features like Tap View and Multi View provide ways to enjoy using your Galaxy phone and Samsung TV together.
Samsung doesn’t make streaming boxes—it makes actual TVs. If you have a Samsung phone, integration with these TVs is pretty top-notch.
You Control Your TV Using Samsung SmartThings
My wife and I were gifted a Samsung Frame TV, and this was the first new TV we’ve owned in over a decade. We purchased our previous TV, also Samsung, in 2012.
These days, Samsung TVs run Tizen OS—developed by Samsung. You can interact with them using the Samsung SmartThings app. SmartThings comes preinstalled on Samsung phones, but it’s one of several Samsung apps you can download on any other smartphone.
The setup process is straightforward, but I appreciate how accessible the virtual TV remote app is. Just open SmartThings, tap on the Frame TV in the list of devices, and the virtual remote appears.
Samsung’s UI Is Consistent Across Devices
Samsung’s phone and tablet interface is known as One UI. In 2024, One UI came to Samsung TVs. This means there’s a certain consistency across devices if you own both a Galaxy phone and a Samsung TV.
App icons are consistent across devices, plus you’re shown similar services. Just as Samsung phones come with a Gaming Hub app, so do Samsung TVs.You can play similar games across both devices.
Cast Video By Tapping Your Phone Against the TV
After setting up my TV, it notified me of a feature exclusive to Galaxy phones. To transfer what’s on my phone screen to the TV, I can tap my phone against the top-right corner of the TV. When I do this, a pop-up appears, confirming if I want to mirror what’s on my screen. Then the TV shows exactly what’s on my phone screen, with giant black pillarboxing on both sides.
At this point, I can cast specific apps like YouTube, which will then put the YouTube app into a floating window on my phone that gets mirrored to the TV. This way, I can watch videos on my TV while continuing to use my phone for other things.
You Can Multitask Using Multi View
Samsung TVs also have a Multi View feature that enables different types of split-screen use. The default places two landscape videos side by side, but when mirroring your screen, you can have a tall view of your phone off to the side while a large video dominates much of the screen.
If you have your phone propped up, you can set it up to show you working out on one side while an instructional video guides you along on the other.
If You Have Samsung Galaxy Buds, Even Better
You don’t need a Samsung Galaxy phone to use its Galaxy earbuds, but there’s a higher likelihood that if you have one, you have the other. One beauty of an ecosystem is that devices automatically discover each other.
When I pulled out my go-to pair of Galaxy Buds FE to listen to something on my phone, my TV noticed and asked if I wanted to pair them. I did, and now my buds appear as one of the sound output options on my TV. It’s nice that this feature isn’t exclusive to more expensive buds like the Galaxy Buds Pro 3. We rated the Galaxy Buds Pro 3 highly, so they’re worth picking up if you’re all in on the Samsung experience.
Switching between the TV speakers and Galaxy Buds can sometimes require manual input. Yet when you’re casting from your phone, if you were already listening to a video or music on your phone via buds, the sound will continue to come via your buds once transferred to your TV. I have been critical of ecosystems for a long time, but now I understand their appeal. In Samsung’s case, your devices do not lock you in. Your Galaxy phone, Buds, Watch, or Samsung TV will all work with non-Samsung devices, but you get a few extra perks when you use them together.
