The advancement of technology paved the way for the invention of the smart TV, television with an integrated computer and operating system. This TV became very popular over the years, and it made basic or dumb TVs obsolete. There’s just one problem with smart TVs, however. The computers inside them don’t last as long as their displays do.
When your smart TV is a few years old, you might still have a perfectly good display panel, but you'll be forced to interact with it through a slow, old, possibly abandoned integrated computer. Companies should sell dumb TVs without any of this crap permanently integrated into them, but if they refuse, letting consumers turn off the software is the next best thing.
Google has addressed this integrated computer issue by introducing the “basic TV” mode into their TVs.
A report from 9to5Google details an upcoming "Basic TV" mode that will be built into Google TV, which turns off just about all the smart TV features. Right now, Google TV is only available in the new Chromecast, but Google TV will be built into upcoming TVs from Sony and TCL. Basic mode means we'll get smart TVs with a "dumb TV" mode.
The photo above shows how the mode looks a lot simpler compared to the normal Google interface. Learn more details about it over at Ars Technica.
(Image Credit: 9to5Google/ Ars Technica)