14 DAY TRIAL // So far, Smart TVs have mostly used an Android operating system, or webOS in the case of LG's latest generation, plus some proprietary OS from time to time, but Apek has finally launched the first Windows 8 Smart TV.
Microsoft has been trying to get a hold of the mobile front for a long time, but it has had limited success. In the meantime, it has been tackling other markets as well.
The segment of smart television sets is one of the areas it has its eyes set on, and it has finally made a successful inroad. Well, technically, it's not it that made the inroad, but a company called Apek.
Apek has formally launched the Maxpad Windows 8 Smart TV, which uses the Windows 8.1 operating system, not the original Windows 8.
And since Windows 8/8.1 kind of relies on touch input, the Maxpad has a touch panel with multi-point recognition.
The product page doesn't say how many points, exactly, can be tracked at once, but 10-point multitouch screens are common these days, so it's the best guess right now.
If it's true, then the TV should be able to recognize various gestures (pinching, swiping, rotating, etc.).
Moving on, the Apek Maxpad has a 3.8 GHz A-Series A10 accelerated processing unit, complete with Radeon HD7660 graphics.
The chip is backed by an unspecified amount of memory and processes whatever data comes through a video input, as well as the files stored on the SSD and HDD.
The solid-state drive has a capacity of 60 GB and stores the OS. It's basically the boot drive, ensuring high speed performance.
The hard disk drive is a 500 GB model and will store whatever you decide to load on it, as well as whatever TV broadcasts you record.
So you could say that the Apek Maxpad is, in truth, more of an all-in-one PC with television functionality.
That said, the Maxpad does have all the hallmarks of a Smart TV, from a multi-function remote control to the ability to rewind up to 150 minutes of TV programming. You can search for images, draw, and share files on social networks as well.
Finally, the Apek Maxpad offers frame color customization (“the first product in its genre to offer color customization,” the product page says) and comes with a wide view camera (allows you to hold video conferences in 1920 x 1080 Full HD quality). Prices aren't known, but they will vary with size (39-, 50- and 64.5-inch diagonal).