Samsung: Smart Hub and Tizen OS
It may still be called Smart Hub, but Samsung's smart TV platform for 2017 is completely new.
It's based around the Korean manufacturer's Tizen OS now being rolled-put on all of its gadgets. That may be so, but the layout of smart TV services bear more than a small than a passing resemblance to LG's webOS interface.
That's largely because icons, apps and shortcuts are all accessible via dynamic icons on a horizontal strip across the bottom of the screen.
Replacing the separate, rather boring grids of app icons from 2014, the Tizen interface monitors what you watch/use, suggests new sources, and allows some customization. A dynamically changing "Recent" box in the far-left corner cycles between recently used apps, TV channels etc.
A featured section in the centre promotes apps you haven't used lately, which can feel like irrelevant adverts, and they keep returning (Twitter on a TV?). This isn't based on your activity or habits, which is a shame.
However, the chance to customize the on-screen icons is the highlight; a sense of permanence is welcome when it comes to some AV inputs and key apps you use everyday.
This is all an effort to dodge clutter, and it mostly works well, though there are plenty of occasions when it's necessary to go hunting for a specific app. Thankfully that's made easier by a Smart Hub multimedia page that divvies-up content from apps and from your own USB sticks/home network.
In may no longer be front and centre, but there remains a Samsung Apps panel that lists all downloaded apps, too.
It may not have Freetime or Freeview Play, but what Samsung does boast is access to all UK catch-up TV apps; BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD, Demand 5 are all here, as is Netflix, Amazon Instant and YouTube. In fact, the only significant app that's missing from Smart Hub is Sky's Now TV.
In the US, there's Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, HBO Go / HBO Now, YouTube, Spotify and Vudu. (Want even more apps? Check out our 10 best Samsung Smart TV apps gallery.)
There are a few nice extras in the Tizen version of Smart Hub, too, such as a split-screen option for watching live TV while browsing an app, but Samsung's effort can't quote match Android TV or the Firefox OS.