Long ago in the land of nod, regular TV’s existed, they had one function to play TV or video feeds. Anything else required consoles or players connected to the TV.
Then along came Smart TV’s, something many of us only started looking at when it was time to replace our existing TVs.
Warning 1: Not all Smart TV’s are created equally
What makes a TV smart? The ability to browse the web? Being able to connect wireless speakers, streaming content from Netflix, Hulu, HBO? How about checking the weather.
If we really break it down, ultimately we’re talking of a TV that has an OS and this OS has Apps.
That’s what makes it SMART.
As I learnt the hard way though, what LG are offering is less than satisfactory. In a frustrating kind of way.
Yes, it’s smart, just not smart enough.
The web browser
The web browser that comes with LG Web OS 3 is not customizable. You cannot install plugins and you cannot replace it. It does not support Flash. This might be less of an issue in 2017, but it’s still an issue because many sites still use flash. Most likely including your favorite porn sites.
It’s also not Chrome, so you can’t install an Adblocker. Other extensions such as custom subtitles in Netflix – forget about this.
The browser is ok for most things, but you will find yourself wishing it was Chrome. And there’s nothing you can do about this.
The app store
The LG app store consists mostly of crap you’ll never use. There’s not here to talk about but the few apps that are present are mostly Russian scam apps, and aquarium apps that require mini purchases.
The term FREE here is misused a lot in the app store, out of the few apps that are free, many actually require an initial purchase to get working. EG: The so-called free radio app. That costs a few dollars before you can even use it.
So what you’re ultimately left with is Youtube, Netflix and a weather app – that’s about it.
You’ll be begging for Play Store but you’re shit out of luck.
Casting
Unfortunately the casting app is another one of those Russian scam apps. Too many ads to take seriously. So you’re left with some limited casting options. Basically you can only cast Youtube videos from Chrome browser – that’s it! Forget about trying to cast your desktop – you’re shit out of luck.
The remote
Fuck me if this isn’t one of the biggest scams LG ever pulled. They bring out a remote that’s purposely designed to be difficult to use, then market a LG magic remote to you, so you can purchase a remote that actually works.
Ok so what can be done?
Firstly, go buy yourself a TV that runs Android. I should have gotten one that did, but the reviews I was reading said Web OS was roughly the same – It’s not
Next, if you’re like me stuck with an LG, you’ll most likely want to buy an Android TV dongle or smart box, with it’s own remote and interact through your TV via this box.
So here’s the kicker – LG’s smart functionality then cannot live up to Android or Google Play services, so you’re basically having to buy that extra hardware nullifying the built in smart functionality completely.
That means you might as well have bought a regular ass TV!
Michael's Techbox 