All the latest in TVs and speakers, including in-built assistants and smart features
Planning a close relationship with your telly this winter? Get comfy as we give you the rundown on the latest top-ofthe-line smart TVs, plus speakers with built-in assistants
Visiting a TV showroom can be a bewildering experience, so do some thinking before you get there. “It’s important to understand your viewing habits – what you will be watching and when – and also to think about where you will situate your TV,” says Hass Mahdi, head of the audiovisual division at Samsung Australia. Do you mostly watch movies at night or sport during the day? Will you (or anyone in the house) use the TV for gaming? These factors help determine what kind of TV panel and size will have the right combination of colour, brightness and motion quality to suit your lifestyle.
tech specs
The acronyms are killers. LG’s popular OLED (organic light emitting diode) technology range allows for very black blacks and high contrast. LG actually manufactures the OLED panels for other brands. Samsung’s top TVs are QLED (with the Q standing for quantum dot). This is a different technology, with an LCD backlight that passes through a layer of quantum dots, resulting in bright colour and clarity of images, even in well-lit rooms. Plus, there’s the bonus of no screen burn (a type of discolouration on the electronic display).
size matters
The most popular size is creeping up, with 55- and 65-inch models now fairly standard. Models up to a whopping 82 inches are available, and new technology means the old rules about distance from the TV no longer apply. “In older models, the larger the screen,
the farther away people had to sit, but this is simply not the case any longer,” says Hass. “In fact, you can watch a 75-inch screen from just 2.3 metres away, so a compact living area or bedroom can become the home theatre you never knew you had.” But don’t get too excited; you still need to measure before you go shopping. And if you have fixed cabinetry, measure the available space – twice.
design features
This comes down to personal taste and the style of your space at home, but you can choose from lots of features. According to Eena Kim, global creative director at Samsung, your TV can now define your personal style just like your furniture does. “We’ve shifted our design focus a little to bring our customers, and the way they plan their homes, to the forefront. Our aim was to create a TV that can sit harmoniously in any environment.” For Samsung’s newest QLED range, this means Ambient Mode, which allows the TV to mimic the wall it’s hanging on so that it (almost) visually disappears. Last year’s ‘The Frame’ by Samsung could easily pass for an artwork and hang on a gallery wall. LG’s OLED technology allows for extremely thin screens, and the company’s top-of-the-line ‘W8 Wallpaper’ model is only a few millimetres thick. All the brands are focused on creating a clean design for both the front and back of the TV and on minimising cable clutter. Samsung’s new QLED range includes a One Clear Connection cable that is so fine and clear as to be nearly invisible. “This is a first for the industry and gives consumers more freedom in their TV placement choices,” says Hass.
look smart
Samsung’s SmartThings app can turn the QLED TV into a hub for compatible smart home devices, which include Samsung’s own fridge, washing machine and phone, as well as third-party devices, such as lights. And there’s more to come around the concept of ‘intelligent display’ – rather than simply television. LG has its own smart technology, AI ThinQ, which includes the abilty to control the TV with your voice using natural language. It’s likely this will extend to other LG smart appliances, too. And later this year, the technology will be integrated with Google Assistant, which will allow connection to more smart home devices.