Sony Android TV Express Review: Who needs live television

Sony Android TV (KDL-50W950C)

Sony has been the first to launch an Android TV running the made-for-TV version of Google’s operating system and powered by a MediaTek Processor. These televisions, available in Full HD and 4K options, can do everything a smart TV is expected to do. But being Android, they also work seamlessly with other devices in your home.

Specs: 50-inch Motionflow XR 800Hz Full HD TRILUMINOS Display Edge LED with 3D | X-Reality PRO video processing | 10W+10W+10W+10W 2.2ch, Two way speakerx2, Subwooferx2 | 16GB internal storage

Price: Rs 1,35,000

What is good?

The most important feature of any television is the display quality. And whatever you might think, everything else is immaterial if the display quality is not up to the mark. Sony does not have an issue on this front with a really good FullHD screen that offers perfect colour reproduction whatever be the source of the content. Plus, the audio quality is exceptionally good and loud, thanks to the built-in soundbar at the rear.

A lot of smart television before have been powered by Android, but I doubt if anything before has had this deep level of integration. The TV homescreen is almost like the homescreen of an Android TV, at least from a usability perspective. The search bar is prominent on top of the screen and you can type a query or use voice search to play anything from YouTube, or even an external storage drive. Depending on the broadband connection, this experience is seamless.

The Android TV UI is perfect for the task it has set out to achieve. Apps are large enough to be selected easily and the flow of navigation is easy to understand and master. There is a watch TV option that opens access to the DTH connection on its own without you having to remember the HDMI source. The action menu lets you open all the important settings from the TV screen itself and there is no need to go to a separate settings page or app. Everything here is very intuitive and easy to control.

Talking about controls, Sony has taken care to reduce the frustration levels in controlling a smart television by launching an extra Touchpad remote that lets you swipe and click your way through everything the television has to offer. LG had something similar a few years back, but Sony takes it to the next level by adding a full touch panel to it. And the controls are intuitive, as it even lets you skip channels on the set top box through the TV. Of course, you can use the traditional remote too.

The television comes with a bunch of preloaded apps and games. Along with the bunch of Google apps, there is also Serial AbTak which I guess will appeal to a lot of soap loving Indians. The app lets you catch on popular tv serials hours after they have been initially broadcast. You can download and play any Android game on this television and you might actually take this seriously as you can link a console controller to the television to play the games. I tried playing a few games with the touchpad as well as the original remote and the experience was far from successful. However, it was clear that the television was performing much better than me on this front.

There are a lot of extras that add value to the television, among them a TV camera that lets you make skype calls or just trying to impress the kids by showing up on the screen. Also, there is a picture in picture mode that can capture how you reacted to a certain even on the TV. I loved the Notify Bravia feature that Sony has added to beam notifications from the smartphone on the telly. Then there is screen mirroring and screen sharing apps that work really smoothly whatever Android device you have.

What is not that good?
Frankly, the experience was very good. The only thing that kept annoying me was the fact that the television kept forgetting my Wi-Fi connection and would show there was no internet connection. This is very frustrating especially since everything else on the network was working fine. A sound connection is very critical for the success of the entire Android TV concept and there is an issue if the television fails to link back to the network after every power outage, which we will have quite often.

Verdict
If you are looking to pick up a smart television then an Android TV makes more sense than most other models in the market at the moment. Plus, the Sony TVs are priced reasonably too, starting at as low as Rs 65,000, which given the features is not too much. Even I am tempted to upgrade.