It is becoming easier to get hold of Smart TVs, especially if we take into account that the price of these latest generation televisions has been reduced considerably to offer these solutions at knockdown prices. This has also been seen because, thanks to advances in technology, we can make ours even better than it already is . This is what we are going to tell you today with some more than simple tricks to get the most out of your television… with the help of your mobile.
Use your phone as part of your Smart TV
One of the many advantages of mobile operating systems such as Android is that they can interact with each other. A great example is the possibility of using your phone as a remote control for when you forget, lose or break or damage your TV remote.
It is what we have with our Smart TV. Or what is the same; we can make use of the Smart TV… from the same mobile . Thus, if you don’t have the controller nearby, you can use your phone to open applications, play movies or series, watch videos or, in general, do everything that it allows.
Yes indeed; It is important that you know that it is not enough just to have a Smart TV with operating systems such as Android TV, for example: if you want to get the most out of it, you will need a little patience and learning to know how to use all its functions. Or, at least, those that interest you the most.
What do we have
It’s more; We have long ceased to be passive subjects who only receive information, without the possibility of choosing or interacting with the content. Now, and thanks to the advancement of technology, streaming platforms and everything that this entails, what we do is consume our own television: what we want, how and when we want .
Thus, thanks to the variety of Smart TV brands and models that are available on the market today, it is already much higher than the offer we had before. However, it could be said that although the proportion of people who opt for a smart TV is increasing, there are still many people who do not know how to get more out of Smart TV.
And in this, what we can have more and better is to make use of the mobile phone, and the truth is that with a more than complete utility for everyone, as you can see.
Your mobile, on the screen of your Smart TV
One of the basic functions that every user wants to exploit is mirroring, that is, the action of projecting the screen of your mobile on television to see, for example, your photo gallery.
If that’s your case, don’t look for miraculous apps on Google Play… you already have the best one installed and operational on your Android Smart TV! We’re talking about Chromecast: set both devices to always be ready for pairing.
Remote control from mobile
Of course, the best known action (and one of the most sought after) is being able to use your mobile phone as a control for your Smart TV . There are many applications, but this is one of the best that we can count. We are talking about the official Google app, Android TV Remote Service.
This is the application that makes your Android phone or tablet control your TV or Android TV device. As usual, the app shows all kinds of controls on the screen. The usual ones to move through the menu and applications , volume control, return to the start menu, request Google assistant services or display a keyboard to fill in search fields or forms much faster than with the default control of your TV.
Send videos from mobile to TV
Would you like to play the videos from your smartphone directly on the TV? If you have a SmartTV or the corresponding dongle (Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast…) all you have to do is select the file and send it, without the need to install any extra application.
How? Very easy. Select the file in question and click on Send and/or Share , options that you will often find in the context menu of any browser, file explorer or media player. Important: keep in mind that the quality of the signal will depend on the speed and stability of your internet connection.
On the other hand, in the Play Store and the Apple Store you can find alternative applications such as Localcast, Allcast’, Web video caster or EZCast, perfectly compatible with the most common protocols (AirPlay, Miracast, DLNA, etc.) and that also allow you to send to television all types of video files in a very intuitive way.
streaming music
Audio is not usually one of the highlights of televisions, but if your mobile suffers from poor sound quality, send your Spotify or Apple Music playlists to the TV: you will notice the difference.
You can do it, for example, with LocalCast, an app that you can download completely free of charge and that has a very interesting function: the possibility of sending the sound of your Smart TV to your mobile phone. At the same time, it also allows us to connect headphones to your smartphone and listen to any content without disturbing anyone.