That's we've been led to believe. The reality is however a bit different.

(But, seriously, Turing did not invent a universal machine. He invented a universal computing machine. Not the same thing. Yes, computers are very good at different computing tasks. But they are not as good at things that are not computing tasks. Like taking good pictures. Only part of it is about number crunching, the other parts such as good optics are still in another domain.)

Actually, I think portable multifunction devices have been very popular for quite some time now...

I would argue that those were not multifunction devices. They had only one function, computing the position of celestial objects. You may argue that modern smart phones are multifunction devices and I would agree with you. And use them as an argument supporting my statement. They do multiple functions, none of them well. Not even making phone calls.

Well, they also had astrological and religious uses. In fact, the top of the Wiki article states:

Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and vice versa, surveying, and triangulation. ... In the Islamic world, it was also used to calculate the Qibla and to find the times for Salat, prayers.

But sure, a device specialized for a single purpose should normally out-perform a multi-function device used for that same purpose.

Hey, we should not be too hard on ourselves for sucking at making good multifunction devices. Mother nature had four and a half milliard (sorry, I just cannot bring myself to use that word that combines bi with million but does not mean million million) years and still got it wrong

The last time I bought a TV, I had to look far and wide for one with a decent screen. Most of those within my budget were smart TVs but lacked in so many areas. And the points raised here against the lack of updates for the apps was a factor that I did mot want to pay for.

I eventually found a Toshiba TV, not a smart TV but could read from a USB stick. The speakers are absolutely shite too. But I have a surrounded sound system.

I also saw that whilst even the best smart TV can be useful, each one of their functions will become redundant, the moment you plug in your xbox, PlayStation or PC in to the thing.

You know; just like the discussions around the Jolla Tablet have shown, it seems as if there's no real way to universally appease the folks here at TMO versus what's being released.

Too smart usually means too limiting. Too dumb also means too limited. If you had to define (and sell) a perfect TV, what would it be? My take would perhaps be too simplistic - I'd want a high resolution TV (HDTV to 4K) with 5 HDMI 2.0a sockets, 2 USB 3.0 (full powered) sockets and absolutely nothing smart about it - let me bring my own (Amazon TV, HTPC, computer on HDMI) and upgrade at my own leisure. Add modular extension (think Project Ara, but functional) for integration into future purchases (stereo component out for instance) and call it a day.

In fact, I'd take all of that minus the very last addition today.

Something like a Pioneer Kuro would do me nicely. No gimmicks, just top-notch image quality.

To be honest, I doubt most people really care about smart TV. I imagine most of the smart TVs currently in use are used only for basic TV features. Smart TV is mostly of benefit to marketing people looking for something to differentiate their product from someone else's. Features that can be included in a bullet list are easier to market than qualitative differences.

My "point of view" is totally unrelated to anything 'smart'. Even 'dumb' TVs are subject to these types of problem these days.

My point of view is artificial restrictions. It's one thing if you didn't provide a feature the customer wants; it's an entirely different thing if you actively fight customers trying to make use of the hardware.

And remarks like this are the best examples of what's bad when vendors apply these limitations. My TV has a fine set of speakers that will basically have to go unused because of this anti-tinkering policy, and I will be forced to either throw away a perfectly working TV set or buy an additional set of speakers, with its additional AC adapter increasing total vampire power consumption.

Many people buy Raspberry Pi to use as mediacenters when it's quite probable their 'dumb' TVs have processors that rival in performance with the Pi. Not only this is terribly wasteful; I'm also quite sure vendors are already counting down to the day when they remove all video inputs (same as LG's doing with the headphone output, so that you're forced to buy _their_ bluetooth headsets and speakers).

The optimal Smart-TV for me will be an TV with to slots to put in a standard Hardisk o SSD and a Standard-Bluray, OS where OSMC or Openelec and that the client have full access (maybe without support). Also like in the last years, the standards a changing continuosly please slots (for less 2) for the access moduls (Satelite, Kabel or terrestre).

Actual for example Sony TV has no Internet TV. Really is more Sony-TV why you connect with a Sony Server and this decide what you have access for. And obviusly they are monitoring you.
For this my TV only have access to looking for updates. All the rest make my Openelec-Mediacenter (R PI2 or Zotac Zbox ID-36 with Bluray 3D)