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Introduced rather recently, smartphones, with their ability to access the Internet, play multimedia content, keep track of your calendar and do a bundle of other cool things, have come to dominate the market.

Now its time for the humble TV to get smart. 

After a period of stagnation as tech giants concentrated on other gadgets, manufacturers are rolling out a new generation of smart TVs.

A smart TV is a regular TV that is connected to the Internet, but it is different from Internet TV — the digital distribution of TV content on the Internet — and Web TV —  short episodes of TV shows broadcast on the Internet.

Smart TV allows users to do everything they can do on a computer —  surfing the Web, watching movies, using apps — on their TV.

A true smart TV usually comes with a built-in Ethernet or WiFi connection to make all this work.

But it is also possible to convert your existing TV into a smart TV. MLW Telecom, an Indonesian company, recently launched the SpeedUp Smart TV Box, an inexpensive device that can give regular TVs smart capabilities.

“We call it a smart TV box because you don’t need to buy a smart TV to get the benefits,” said Agnes Aninditya, head of marketing for MLW Telecom.

The  company offers two types of smart TV boxes — the Exploria and the Euphoria — with the main difference being that the Euphoria is WiFi-enabled. It also has a motion-sensing game console, similar to the Nintendo Wii.

These two features were so appealing that MLW Telecom managed to sell all 500 of its Euphoria units during the launch at the Indocomtech 2011 event in Jakarta earlier this month.

Both the Euphoria and the Exploria are white, palm-sized and run on the Android operating system. The devices come with 2 gigabytes of internal memory and are packed with various applications, including an Internet browser, social media networking and games. They also feature card readers and USB ports for storage and connectivity with other digital devices, such as a wireless mouse, digital camera, video camera, flash disk or external hard disk.

The smart TV box connects with an existing TV through a high definition multimedia interface (HDMI), a connection port commonly used for HD DVD players and video game consoles.

The smart TV box automatically installed when we connected the HDMI port to our TV. The TV immediately turned into a very large computer with a desktop and application pages, Android style.

At Rp 999,000 ($110), the Exploria is limited compared to the Euphoria, which cost about Rp 1.3 million. The Exploria’s remote was clunky and the required LAN Internet connection is impractical.

Meanwhile, the Euphoria feels more like a smartphone, with a QWERTY remote keyboard, WiFi and game console. The Exploria is for those who don’t rely on smartphones on a daily basis, because it would repeat a lot of the same functions.

Both boxes, though,  are a good deal compared to “real” smart TVs, which are new and pricey.

Samsung’s smart TVs range from Rp 15 million to 70 million, and are obviously going to be a big-ticket  luxury item for most families — at least for now.

MLW Telecom’s Agnes, said SpeedUp is targeting consumers who have a home TV that is smaller than the wide-screen 32-inch models, as they are more likely to buy a smart box than an entirely new smart TV. The strategy should allow MLW Telecom to avoid head-to-head competition with major TV makers, such as Samsung and LG, who are aiming for the higher end market.

Instead, the smart TV boxes cater to a wider audience that wants to enjoy digital content on a large screen at an affordable price.