Convert your TV into a Smart TV
The Pocket TV is a small pocket-sized dongle that connects to the HDMI port of any regular TV (even your 5-year-old TV) and converts it into a Smart TV. It's basically a fully functioning micro-computer the size of your thumb which runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) much like today's latest smartphones. The processing power in the Pocket TV will allow you to display Android on your TV turning it into a mega-sized tablet (just imagine a 50 inch iPad). You can download apps from the Google Play Store to stream videos, play games, connect with your friends on Facebook, catch up on news, do some work or simply surf the web. You can even attach a video camera to do Skype video-calls Yes, all that on your T
Why do we call it a Pocket TV?
The device is so small that it fits in your pocket and you can conveniently take it anywhere you go. That s important because you can carry your Pocket TV with you anywhere, even when you travel abroad. And when you get to your destination, hotel room or office you can easily plug it into any monitor or TV and you will get access to all your information, games, TV streaming channels, work documents and your entire digital life. You ll have all the benefits that you get from carrying your smartphone but with the ability to display it on a much bigger screen. Imagine walking into a meeting and doing a presentation without a laptop. All you need to do is plug the Pocket TV into the projector and your presentation can be played from the cloud (like a Dropbox account) or locally from the SD Card.
What can it be used for?
Streaming video: Imagine being able to watch YouTube on your TV rather than on a small computer screen. Or even your other video subscriptions such as Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Video Services. You can now do that right on your home theater system instead of your tablet or phone. Oh and it s all displayed in HD with up to 1080p resolution.
Listen to music: The Pocket TV even acts as a streaming device for music so you can play all of the content that s on your computer or home network drive (NAS). That means you access not only your downloaded music but also your movies, TV shows and even your holiday pictures right on your home entertainment system.
Gaming: Why wait for Angry Birds to come to Xbox360 or PS3 when you can play it on your Pocket TV? Or how about racing and strategy games? Wouldn t they look better on your TV than on your phone?
Social Media: For all you social media addicts who can t go 15 minutes without checking your Facebook and Twitter feeds we wouldn t deprive you of that. Trust us, we re just as hooked as you are!
News: Get CNN and BBC on demand. The story you want, when you want it, right on your big screen TV. For those who are less addicted to news you can access all your feeds with Google Currents, Pulse, Flipboard and similar apps.
Work: Edit documents, read PDFs, review PowerPoint, send and receive emails and even do video conferences.
Google Maps: Tired of squinting at your screen trying to find road directions? Yes we know you won t be able to take your TV with you on the road, but the satellite imaging is insane on a 50-inch plasma!
Web Browsing: And of course you can to that too. Use Dolphin browser, Opera, or even Chrome and sync it with your laptop's browser.
Thousands more apps: The Google Play store is full of apps for all types of users and most of them work on the Pocket TV. Dropbox, Evernote, IMDB, ESPN The list is endless. Go exploring and let us know what you like. If there s a specific function you would like us to develop to better use a popular app let us know and we can work on it.
Remote Control
A Standard IR Remote is shipped with every Pocket TV. This remote uses infrared signals just like your TV and gives you the ability to control the Pocket TV using up/down/side arrows and several buttons. You can also program your universal remote to control the Pocket TV if you don t want to have yet another remote lying around the house.
An Air Remote is also available for backers who prefer this option. The Air Remote has a gyroscopic sensor that allows you to control your Pocket TV just by moving it around (like a Wii controler). Move your hand up, down or sideways and the cursor on your screen will follow you. This makes your TV experience a lot more interactive and a whole lot more fun!
Control it from your smartphone. If you want you can also use your iPhone or Android smartphone to control the Pocket TV. Just download the Google Remote TV app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store and your phone will become your remote. We re also working on our own app for your phone with some very cool features.
How does it work?
The Pocket TV has a Cortex A9 processor packing 1GHz of power and run Android 4.0 (which works similarly to Apple's iOS for you Apple fans!). It uses the HDMI port for display and can be controlled with either a standard IR remote or the more interactive Air Remote. You can connect it to any standard TV set as long as it has a HDMI port and it will display up to 1080p resolution. It also has a USB port so you can attach an external hard drive, a wireless keyboard and mouse or a video camera for video calls. Oh and did we mention it also has a Micro SD card slot so you can add extra storage?
Open Source Software
The Pocket TV runs Google's Android which is open source project and we want to build on that with your support. If you're a developer and want to develop Apps, MODs or even ROMs for the Pocket TV, we want to work with you. Drop us a message and we can work together on your idea or project. Who knows, maybe we can even bundle your app into the device for when we start shipping in November.
Hardware Design
We ve tried to think of everything to make your Pocket TV experience as intuitive and fun as possible so we ve packed as much technology into this tiny device as humanly possible by combining the best hardware and software together. Below are the technical specs.
