Firefox OS powers Panasonic's 2015 Life+Screen Smart TVs

Monday, January 5th, 2015
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Panasonic Unveils Beyond Smart Features On 2015 Line Of Life+Screen 4K Ultra HD TVs

  • Introduction of Firefox OS and Discovery Technologies Deliver a Dramatically Revamped Interface

LAS VEGAS — When it comes to TVs, viewers want to get to their favorite content, channels, devices, or applications as quickly as they can with as little hassle as possible. This year’s Panasonic’s Life+ Screen Smart TVs are equipped with Beyond Smart Features designed specifically to make sure viewers can get to what content they want in a much simpler and quicker way than ever before.

Powered by Firefox OS

Panasonic has collaborated with Mozilla to create an innovative, new, interactive User Interface powered by Firefox OS, which will be available on Panasonic’s new Life+Screen Smart TVs from this Spring. Panasonic’s 2015 line includes the CX850 Series, CX800 Series, CX650 Series, and CX600 Series.

New, Intuitive, Customizable User Interface

The new user interface is specifically designed to allow users to access preferred content, applications and content from connected devices quickly and easily, so they can:

  • Combine access to channels, devices, and applications into one single gateway for quick access.
  • Customize their experience easily by using the ‘Pin’ function to bookmark their favorite apps, Web pages and even their paired connected devices for quick access.

Super connectivity across devices and platforms

As Firefox OS uses open Web technologies, you can send photos, videos or other content to your Firefox OS powered TV from any smartphone, tablet, or computer which has a Firefox browser or other compatible applications meaning that consumers do not need to be constrained into one ecosystem or brand. Furthermore there is no need for any additional hardware to send content to your Firefox OS powered TV – you simply need to make sure that the device with your Firefox browser and your Panasonic Firefox OS powered TV are on the same Wi-Fi network.

Greater flexibility for Developers

Firefox OS provides superior flexibility to developers to create brand new applications and services through WebAPIs that unlock the power of the Web and enable connected experiences across platforms. In addition, for the first time, Firefox OS will allow TV on-screen notifications from applications, and, in the future, from compatible connected appliances.

Regarding Firefox OS on Panasonic’s 2015 Life+Screen Smart TVs, Andreas Gal, Mozilla CTO, said, “Firefox OS powering everything from smartphones to a new category of devices like TVs and streaming devices proves the flexibility and power of the Web as the platform. We’re excited about the collaboration with Panasonic because it offers consumer and developers a customized and easy to use way to take their Firefox Web experience across devices.”

Voice Assistant Pro

Panasonic’s 2015 Life+Screen TVs will feature advanced Voice Command functions. Voice Assistant Pro* performs voice commands spoken directly to the TV without using a remote control. It is capable of performing various operations according to voice commands, such as changing channels and searching for content.

* Supported only by the CX850 Series.

Xumo® Guide

Panasonic’s 2015 Life+Screen TVs will also include Xumo® Guide, a built-in service that enables quick and easy discovery of content from multiple sources. One of the key features of Xumo® Guide is the ability to provide relevant content recommendations based on user’s viewing history, in addition, users can search for specific titles across multiple apps or browse content by genre from various VOD services.