The Frame: Samsung's take on 'smart' art

It seems as if anything can become a "smart" object if the right company sees a gap in the market.

The most recent analogue device to be "smarted" is the watch, with Google and Apple both investing heavily into the market in the last two years.

Samsung, however, is looking to transform the way we interact with art by blending a television with elements of a digital picture frame.

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Its latest product, The Frame, is a large TV designed to look like a painting or photograph when nothing is being shown.

Rather than display a black screen, users will be able to choose between 100 different pieces of art so the set becomes part of their interior design. Pre-set images include a selection of landscapes, architecture and wildlife images, with customised artwork a possible addition at a later date.

The Frame is "birthed from the mind of famed product designer Yves Behar", the man also behind the radical Love record player, Wired reports.

Interchangeable bezels adapt to the user's home decor, adds the site, while a "recessed wall mount… lets you adjust the display fairly freely after you put it on the wall".

Added to that, a feature "keeps the image onscreen as long as it senses movement", says Cnet, and then, when The Frame detects that everyone has left the room, the screen switches off to save power.

Prices and specifications have yet to be revealed, but Cnet says The Frame will be available in either 55ins or 65ins variants and hit stores in the next few months.