The second batch of TVs from Amazon make additional (but fewer) image-quality promises.
After promoting its own TVs for a year, Amazon is now adding more expensive, high-tech alternatives to its lineup. With quantum dot screens and more advanced features for smart homes, the tech giant ups the ante with the Fire TV Omni QLED Series, which was unveiled yesterday at the invite-only Amazon hardware event.
The first Amazon-branded televisions were released in September of last year. They ranged in price from the more affordable 4-Series, which had an initial starting price of $370 for 43 inches, to the more expensive 75-inch Omni Series, which had an initial starting price of $1,100. The 4K TVs don’t really offer anything special. They are HDR TVs with HDMI 2.1, eARC for soundbars, and variable refresh rates that range from just 48 to 60 Hz at 4K. Of course, Amazon Alexa is also available. Despite not being an Amazon-exclusive among contemporary TVs, Alexa can operate even when the TVs are off, provide voice control, and function with Alexa Routines.
With the Omni QLED Series, Amazon is paying slightly more attention to image quality, although it still refrains from making explicit claims about brightness or colour coverage. The new 65- and 75-inch TVs employ full-array local dimming to improve contrast as well as Samsung Display’s QLED technology with quantum dots for a purported improvement in colour.
The Omni QLED TVs’ local dimming functionality won’t be apparent to us until we see them in person, but they at least have enough dimming zones to compete with the top names in TV, like Samsung. Reviewer Rtings claims that Samsung’s 65-inch QLED TV from 2022, the Q80B, features 48 dimming zones but a higher MSRP ($1,200).
If Amazon had chosen a Mini LED backlight, it could have fit many more dimming zones into the new panels. For instance, the 65-inch QN95B from Samsung, which has an MSRP of $2,600, purportedly includes 720 dimming zones. And Amazon hasn’t yet ventured into the more expensive Micro LED or OLED markets.
Additionally, Amazon introduced HDR10+ Adaptive, which uses the TV’s ambient light sensor to change brightness based on the lighting in the room, and Dolby Vision IQ support. The new Amazon TVs support HDR10+ and HLG HDR just like the older models did.
paintings, gadgets, and sensors
The newest TVs from Amazon contain functions grouped under a heading called Ambient Experience. The first step is presence sensors, which can activate the TV when someone enters the room.
The TV employs Alexa’s capabilities to provide you access to useful information, control your smart home, listen to or find new content, and see artwork or family memories in place of a blank screen, according to Amazon’s release.
Although not as artistically constructed as Samsung’s The Frame TV, it pointed to a 1,500-image database of “gallery-quality art” and photographs that customers could display on the TVs.
Users can ask Alexa questions about the collection images or even personal photos, such as the date the photo was taken, for an educational touch.
The new TVs can also operate approved smart home devices like the Amazon Ring and display Alexa widgets like the Calendar, Reminders, and Sticky Notes. It like having an oversized Echo Show 15, complete with Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
According to Amazon’s release, the TVs’ far-field microphone could be turned off with a switch, along with other Ambient Experience capabilities like presence recognition.
On October 27, Amazon’s QLED TVs will begin arriving for $800 for 65-inch models and $1,100 for 75-inch models.
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