Telly, a hardware startup led by Pluto TV co-founder Ilya Pozin, announced Monday that it’s giving away 500,000 of its new smart TVs for free. (Yes, we said free.) But there’s a catch. Users have to watch ads 24/7 while they’re watching TV shows and movies.
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Telly has developed a dual-screen smart TV that features a 55-inch 4K HDR display , a built-in five-driver soundbar , and a second nine-inch display mounted underneath. This second screen displays advertisements along with widgets such as weather, music playback, and sports scores, among other informative widgets such as stocks. The bottom panel is illuminated at all times, even when content is playing.
However, since the secondary screen is much smaller than the main screen and the ads only take up a quarter of it, there are users who can probably train their eyes to ignore the ads completely. For others, they can be very annoying.
Furthermore, the other consideration is that you agree to give Telly some data. After all, the giveaway is only possible because the ads fund the device itself.
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According to Telly’s founder and CEO, Telly is a game-changer that benefits both consumers and advertisers. For too long, consumers have not been fairly compensated for the ads they see on their televisions, even though companies are making billions of dollars from them. With Telly, consumers can now access free TV, a new model that Telly’s founder and CEO has previously pioneered with Pluto TV. Users can pre-order their free smart TV at www.freetelly.com. Telly will ship this summer. It is currently only accepting pre-orders in the US.
The Telly TV is priced at $1,000 and features video calling capabilities, a built-in camera, sensors, and a microphone for gaming and exercise. It comes with over 40 video games and motion-tracking fitness programs, and users can control it with controllers, remotes, or their own bodies. The TV also has an AI- powered voice assistant that can set timers and answer questions. The Telly TV doesn't have its own smart TV software, but it does come with an Android TV streaming stick and can connect to other devices like Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV .
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information source: techcrunch.com
