In recent times, we’ve all been spending more and more time at home – a routine change that has meant finding fun alternatives to our usual outdoor activities, including making use of our balconies or gardens.

For those who are looking to make the most out of this at-home outdoor lifestyle, Samsung Electronics Canada last year introduced The Terrace, an outdoor TV that can be placed and used outside, along with The Terrace Soundbar.

As well as providing resilient versatility thanks to its water and dust resistance, The Terrace features a vivid screen for excellent viewing experiences. Read on for a look at a day in the life of The Terrace at home.

Enjoying Your Swim With Your Favourite Media, Worry-Free

One of the best ways to stay cool on warmer days is to set up a small pool in the garden for yourself or your family. With other TVs, if you wanted to enjoy your TV while cooling off, the pool would need to be placed far away from the TV to prevent water damage.

However, with The Terrace, you can place your TV without having to worry about minor splashes affecting it as the outdoor TV has obtained the IP55 certification from the International Electrotechnical Commission for water and dust resistance[1]. What’s more, The Terrace can withstand all kinds of weather conditions, even extreme ones that dip as low as negative 31°C or go as high as 50° Celsius. Thanks to this durability, you can stream your favourite TV show while relaxing on the deck, or put on your kids’ favourite animated show while they enjoy the pool.

For those users looking for a summery soundtrack to accompany their pool day, they can take advantage of the rich sound experience offered by The Terrace Soundbar. Offering 210 watts of sound featuring deep bass tones of the built-in woofer and cutting-edge, wide range tweeter, you can enjoy the same sound quality as if you were listening indoors.

To make things even more convenient for your at-home poolside fun, all you need to do when playing music through the Soundbar is tap your smartphone onto it in order to connect and play your  music instantly[2].

Sharp Picture Quality, Even When the Sun Is Out

After a few hours of fun in the sun, it’s time to eat – and back-garden cookouts serve as a fun and easy way to recreate the camping experience at home. While you might be wondering how The Terrace can keep everyone entertained under the bright sun while the food is cooking, the TV in fact features bright picture quality and sharp dark colour contrast, making it easy to enjoy a movie even under direct sunlight[3].

The Terrace features a peak brightness of over 4,000 nits and 2,000 nits on average, allowing the users to comfortably enjoy video content even in the middle of the day[4]. Furthermore, The Terrace features high visibility thanks to its anti-reflection technology[5], which reduces the reflection of light off of its surface, and AI picture quality optimization technology that adjusts the screen’s brightness automatically based on changing light conditions.

Thanks to The Terrace’s Tizen OS, you can choose from a wide range of popular TV shows and movies when looking to relax in the garden without having to connect a separate OTT device by virtue of the smart features the Tizen engine offers.

Take Your Outdoor Games to the Next Level

There’s nothing better than relaxing outside and partaking in a game or two while the weather is still nice after a good meal in the garden – and with The Terrace, you can even enjoy your favourite digital games while still making the most of the weather.

The Terrace is an excellent screen on which to easily play games outside as the TV optimizes its sound and screen levels for your game without you needing to adjust any settings manually. Featuring a motion clarity feature, screen tearing is minimized while playing making for more seamless and enjoyable experience.

Taking a Trip Down Memory Lane With a Single Tap

At the end of a long day enjoying each other’s company, it’s time for the family to get together and take a look back at some precious memories. Thanks to The Terrace’s Tap View[6] feature, all you need do is gently tap your smartphone to the side of the TV to share your media on-screen and get straight into reminiscing. Not only does this make it more comfortable for everyone, as there’s no need to crowd around a single smartphone screen, but it also lets you make the most of your photos on the intricate big screen.

The Terrace comes with the Multi View[7] feature which lets you split the TV screen to enjoy multifarious contents at once. This lets you, for example, take a look over some past vacation photos on one side of the screen while catching up on your favourite TV series on the other; the possibilities are endless.

It was only in the very recent past that we believed personal TVs were limited to the indoor space only. With The Terrace, users can expand the uses of their TV for all kinds of fun activities; why not watch a movie while grilling on the barbeque, listen to music while relaxing in the cool breeze, or enjoy the sunset with a family slideshow? The Terrace and The Terrace Soundbar lets you take your private outdoor experiences to the next level.

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[1] Protection from water and dust based on IP55 (International Protection Rating) standard and safe to operate at temperatures between -31 to 50℃. Water projected by a low-pressure nozzle (6.3mm) against enclosure from any direction and protected from limited dust ingress. IP55 (Ingress Protection Rating): Degrees of protection provided by enclosures (IEC 60529). Installation must be in a shaded area. Please refer to the User Manual.

[2] Compatible mobile device only.

[3] Panel protected up to 6 hours at 40˚C and 700W. Based on internal test results and subject to change according to viewing conditions. Brightness may decrease to protect panel with other high temperatures and sunlight conditions.

[4] Typical brightness based on internal testing standards and is subject to change according to viewing environment or specific conditions.

[5] The Terrace is designed for placement and use in outdoor shaded environments. The TV can be partially exposed to ambient/non-direct sunlight but direct sunlight should be avoided.

[6] Compatible devices only. When using NFC on TV, Bluetooth on your mobile will automatically activate. This service only works when TV and mobile are on. Tap View will be available from 2Q, 2020. Be sure to tap away from the TV screen and bezel corners. It may be scratched or broken to the TV or mobile device screen. Recommend using your mobile device with the cover in place and lightly tap it on any external edge of the TV.

[7] Available technology, functions, GUI (Graphic User Interface) and smart features may vary by region, service provider, network environment, mobile devices or product, and are subject to change without notice. Actual user experience may vary. Compatible devices only.

▲ (From left) Kyuseong Lee, Kang-il Chung and Sunwoo Kim, the lifestyle TV product planners at Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business

The characteristics of Samsung TVs are continuing to evolve in line with the latest trends and lifestyle patterns. Against this backdrop, the role of the television has expanded. While it used to simply be a device for delivering entertainment, the TV has now become a central component of users’ interior design schemes.

To keep up with emerging trends, Samsung Electronics has continued to think outside the box as it explores new possibilities for TVs. Since 2015, the company has been continuously pushing the envelope to develop new looks and features with its televisions, and help ensure that consumers can fit their TV to their lifestyle. So, how did Samsung come up with its lifestyle TV line, and what kind of consumer experience is it aiming to provide? To find out, Samsung Newsroom met with the company’s lifestyle TV product planners, who have contributed to solutions ranging from The Serif to The Terrace.

Lifestyle TVs: Becoming More Than Just a Fixture of the Living Room

Vivid picture and a sense of immersion are two fundamental elements that a television should provide, with a well-designed product capable of delivering both. Nowadays, with lifestyles shifting, viewing has moved out of the living room and people often prefer to consume their content in whichever room they are in at the time.

“Our goal was to allow consumers to have a range of different screens for the various spaces in their house,” said group leader Kang-il Chung. “This would allow them to enjoy whatever content they wanted, wherever they were, based on Samsung’s ‘Screens Everywhere’ philosophy.”

“In order to establish concepts for new TV products and functions, we look at things like how televisions are being used, interior decoration trends and the overall cultural and lifestyle preferences of our users,” explained product planner Kyuseong Lee. During the planning stage, the product planners focus on connecting the desired user experience to the essence of the product. By doing this, the team seeks to make it easier for the user to comprehend both the product’s story and the distinct experience it offers. Added Lee, “Rather than simply adding lots of different functions, we work to clearly define the main concept of the product, then make it different. In this way, we look to realize all aspects of the core experience to perfection.”

The Serif and The Frame: Bringing Classy Décor to Your Other Rooms

Since the time of its invention, the television has been considered a staple of the living room. But now, with a growing number of users also putting TVs in rooms like their bedrooms and studies, this is changing. In line with this trend, Samsung has expanded what it deems the ‘TV space’ from the living room to a range of other rooms. Along with this, the company has started to develop televisions that not only suit the interior aesthetics of those other rooms, but also include features that match the needs and lifestyles of the people using the rooms.

In 2015, Samsung introduced its first lifestyle TV, The Serif, which was designed to help contribute to users’ interior design schemes. The Serif’s iconic I-shaped design was created by the internationally renowned Bouroullec Brothers and is a great choice for those who want an aesthetically pleasing television that works well in any space. “We pursued a meaningful design that emphasized people and space and tried to get away from the usual ‘TV look’,” said Chung. “A lot of consumers claim that The Serif looks more like a lifestyle product than a TV.”

The product planning team’s ongoing efforts to develop new TV models that blend well with their surrounding environments also contributed to the development of The Frame. Looking like a modern picture frame, this television can be matched to consumers’ home décor style and features an ‘Art Mode[1]’ that allows viewers to enjoy artistic masterpieces from the comfort of their homes. The Frame TV’s sensors are also capable of automatically detecting illumination intensity and movement.[2] “Samsung is collaborating with world-renowned curators, renowned art galleries, museums and artists to deliver a broad collection of art through the Art Store[3],” related Sunwoo Kim. “We will keep working hard to ensure that we are able to display an increasingly broad range of great artworks in stunning resolution.”

Thinking Outside the Box: The Sero for Millennials

Samsung’s ‘think outside the box’ development philosophy goes beyond considerations of space and expands to form. Modern viewers’ increasing use of mobile devices means that watching content on vertical screens is becoming more common. The Millennial generation’s tendency to watch content on their smartphones, in particular, has contributed to the increased prominence of vertically displayed content. Thus, The Sero was developed as an answer to the question, ‘what if we could make the TV screen rotatable so that it could better match the lifestyles of Millennial users?’

The Sero is the result of this bold idea. “Developing the Sero with a rotating screen was a long and challenging journey, as it was like we were exploring unchartered territory,” said the product planners. The team had to consider a broad range of factors, such as whether the user would rotate the screen manually or whether it would rotate automatically. The project brought many different teams together as they set out to create a whole new consumer experience, with their efforts eventually culminating in The Sero. “We are witnessing an increasing amount of consumption of vertical, short-form content on social networking sites,” remarked Chung. “And The Sero allows viewers to use screen mirroring to watch this content in a full screen, immersive format.”[4]

Expanding to Other Spaces: The Premiere and The Terrace

Over time, the focus of Samsung’s Lifestyle TVs has continued to shift. Due to the pandemic, many people now prefer watching movies at home over going to the theatre. The Premiere is specifically designed for those who want to create a theatre-like environment in their own homes. This projector boasts an easy-to-install large screen with very sharp picture quality. “With The Premiere, you can enjoy your favourite content on an ultra-large screen from the comfort of your home,” related Kim. “With a premium fabric finish, The Premiere also serves as an excellent complement to your interior décor.” [5]

In the current climate, people are also making more use of private outdoor spaces, such as balconies. In line with such consumer lifestyle changes, Samsung has introduced its first outdoor TV model, The Terrace. With an IP55 rating to help protect against water and dust[6], The Terrace delivers an outstanding outdoor viewing experience [7]. Said Lee, “Going forward, the outdoor TV market is expected to grow exponentially. The Terrace provides an excellent outdoor viewing experience, delivering exceptionally vivid and detailed images.”

As our TVs become increasingly important parts of our lives, some argue that the evolution of the product is nearing its conclusion. But Chung thinks differently, claiming that, “There is still an unending range of possibilities for what our televisions might become in the future.” He expressed hope that himself and his team will be able to keep introducing new and varied lifestyle TV models to keep providing fresh experiences to consumers.

Samsung’s lifestyle TV product planners believe that TVs need to keep evolving in order to keep up with users continuously changing lifestyles. “We want to develop TVs that people want to own, and that they’ll want to show off,” Kim stressed. “Our dream is to build a so-called ‘lifestyle universe’ where each space is equipped with a lifestyle TV that suits the function of the space.”

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[1] Art Mode(Smart Service) and GUI(Graphic User Interface) may vary by model and region.

[2] The ‘Ambient Mode’ background setting feature may vary depending on the environment where the TV is installed including, but not limited to, wall designs, patterns and/or colours.

[3] The Art Store may not be available in some countries. Art pieces in the Art Store are subject to change without prior notice.

[4] Compatible devices only.

[5] The laser projector can be projected on a flat white or bright monotone wall without setting up an additional screen. For a more optimized experience, using a screen dedicated to ultra short throw projector is recommended.

[6] Protection from water and dust based on IP55 (International Protection Rating) standard and operating smoothly at temperatures between -30 to 50℃. Water projected by a nozzle (6.3mm) against enclosure from any direction. * IP55 (Ingress Protection Rating): Degrees of protection provided by enclosures (IEC 60529).

[7]  Installation must be in a shaded area. Please refer to the User Manual.