Kogan 58” SmarterTV

FOCUSING ON BANG FOR BUCK RATHER THAN DAZZLING VISUALS.

RATHER THAN FOCUS on improving image quality, it seems that Kogan’s approach to TVs in 2018 is delving back to its roots of delivering big-screen TVs at an exceptionally low price. That’s not to say it’s not making improvements elsewhere, with the company recently unveiling its new SmarterTV range.

Available in both 50-inch and 58-inch sizes, these affordable sets focus on their inclusion of Google software and Android TV operating system. From the moment we turned on our 58-inch Kogan Series 9, which retails for a mere $949, it was as if we were setting up an Android phone. In fact, it synched to our Android phone during the setup process; all you have to do is ensure they’re both on the same home network, and you can seamlessly integrate your Google account onto the TV.

This means that it has built-in support for the Google Play application, which in turn gives it arguably the widest range of applications available for any TV in this price range. You can even control Google via your voice with the microphone built into the remote, though we found the accuracy to be flaky at best.

According to the CEO of Kogan, Ruslan Kogan, it’s possible to simply say, “OK Google, play Stranger Things through Netflix on the TV” and it will do its thing. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get this to work most of the time, with the microphone often confusing what we were saying, or not registering anything at all.

Both of the new SmarterTVs are 4K resolution, and Kogan claims they have HDR support. However, during our image quality tests, we found the image to be very washed out, as it’s based on older LED technology. Kogan says it’s HDR10 compliant, but it certainly didn’t meet the minimum required specifications for HDR compliance when measured with our colorimeter.

Compared to OLED TVs, which have basically infinite contrast ratios, the measured contrast ratio of 1,335:1 is very low-fi, and we could see obvious banding in colours. It’s also not very bright, measuring just 290 nits. One nice touch though is the inclusion of Chromecast technology, so you don’t need to buy one to stream to the TV, and it’s included in both versions of the set. The catch-up TV feature is also excellent, as each major channel’s catch-up service is integrated into the Electronic Program Guide. With so many of today’s TVs now adopting an ultra-thin chassis, the Kogan’s chunky depth also betrays its budget pricing. However, from the front, it looks very slick thanks to the extremely thin bezel.

While we love the new Smarter TV Android operating system and Google integration, the image quality of this range leaves something to be desired. But you pay for what you get, and at less than one thousand dollars for a 58-inch 4K screen, there’s no denying that this is solid value as an entry level big-screen TV.