Vizio's new apps and features for its smart TV platform are part of its plan to keep up with HDTV rivals like LG and Samsung.
The platform, dubbed Vizio Internet Apps Plus, offers easier ways to launch apps and adds HTML5 support, which will hopefully attract more app developers to the platform.
In terms of interface, the biggest change is a new full-screen app launcher, which presents users with a grid of large app tiles, along with a few subsections for featured apps, new apps, and categories. For even faster access, Vizio's platform also includes a pop-up launcher, which shows seven favorite apps along the bottom of the screen.
Vizio's new pop-up launcher
Vizio says the addition of HTML 5 support will enable "richer app experiences" with "better interactive design and features for customers." We saw an example of this recently with Pandora's new HTML5 app, which allows the company to develop new features faster, as well as deploy them across many different devices.
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