realme concluded 2020 on a positive note, clinching the top 1 smartphone brand in the Philippine market for Q3 -- a feat it has achieved despite being a young tech firm. Its smartphones definitely have established their niche in the saturated market with its thrust of providing gadgets that are affordable but with uncompromised performance. After an impressive stint for its smartphone department, the brand started introducing more devices under its arsenal, including a smart TV. The question is: is it worth the buy? Here’s our realme Smart TV review.
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| realme Smart TV Review: On the Right Track |
Get yours at https://shopee.prf.hn/l/7YENVRR.
DESIGN and DISPLAY:
Tech brands should consider how consumers nowadays are after aesthetics, just like how they are always on the lookout for devices that bring a bang-for-the-buck quality. The realme Smart TV is undeniably an elegant-looking television with its bezel-less glory, not to mention its equally pleasing display quality. What TeknoGadyet received as a test unit was the 43-inch variant, which boasts a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and comes with a 60Hz refresh rate, 16.7M colors, 400 nits peak brightness, and HDR 10 support. The other available model in the market is the smaller 32-inch display -- the only difference compared with the 43-inch model.
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| Very Slim Bezels |
Technically speaking, the realme Smart Android TV has a slim 8.7mm bezel, but it's nearly unnoticeable when looking at the TV. Its thin bezel goes very well with its minimalistic design. Upfront, there aren't many details other than the realme branding on the bottom bezel and the power button beside it.
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| Back |
On its back -- which is made of plastic similar to its borders and base -- are the VESA sockets and various connectivity ports. Putting the ports at the back of the TV won't be an issue except when you'll mount the TV on a wall. It would've been better if the ports are located somewhere more accessible.
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| Retail Package |
The realme Smart TV has what realme dubs as the Ultra Bright Display with Chroma Boost Picture Engine. Quite a mouthful but in shorter terms, this makes the realme Smart TV capable of showcasing decent picture quality with vivid colors and just the right amount of image sharpness -- something that's evident as far as our observations are concerned after using the TV for a few days.
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| HDMI 1, Antenna, Coax, AV, USB 1, Headphone |
Of course, there are still other TV options that are better in terms of display, especially since the realme Smart TV isn’t HDR-certified but considering its price tag, we can say that this is acceptable enough. The realme Smart TV also has a viewing angle of 178 degrees, giving you a good viewing experience even when you're looking at it sideways.
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| LAN, HDMI 3, HDMI 2, USB 2 |
If the TV's default settings don't match your preference, you can always modify them easily by accessing its Picture menu to tweak various parameters, including backlight, brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, sharpness, and many more.
See Also: Realme 7 Review; Sharper. Faster.
AUDIO:
Good display quality is meaningless if the television’s audio performance is lacking. The realme Smart TV carries 24W Quad Stereo speakers consisting of two full-range speakers and two silk dome tweeters which altogether are Dolby Audio-certified. Its sound quality is impressive enough for us, although its volume levels, of course, vary depending on how large a room is. This is barely a problem, especially if you're willing to shell out money for additional speakers to complete the whole home theater experience. No noticeable audio cracks were heard even with the volume level set beyond 100 percent. However, we can say those action movies aren’t really that immersive when viewed with the realme Smart TV as the speakers are quite short in the bass department.
USER INTERFACE:
Inside the realme Smart TV is a MediaTek quad-core processor with a built-in ARM Cortex A3 CPU and Mali-470 MP3 GPU and a combination of 1GB RAM and 8GB storage. It runs on a stock version of Android TV based on Android 9 Pie.
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| Remote |
Its user interface is pretty much similar to what most Android TVs have. There's a pre-installed Pango Browser for Internet surfing, plus the usual apps including Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and the Google Play Store, among others, which are all easily and conveniently accessible through the TV's remote.
Speaking of which, the remote control of the realme Smart TV mirrors the television's minimalist design. Unlike other remote controls, it lacks the number pad and instead comes with 13 buttons all in all, including a directional pad and quick keys for Netflix, YouTube, and Google Assistant. The remote also has a microphone for voice-assisted commands.
The remote control is ergonomic enough and easy to hold with its matte finish. We also vouch for the TV's responsiveness when commands are made with the remote control, which is powered by two AAA batteries.
FINAL WORDS:
The realme Smart TV is indeed a good buy for those purchasing a smart TV for the first time and for those inclined to get into realme’s ecosystem of intelligent devices. Again, it is undeniably an elegant-looking television with its bezel-less glory and equally pleasing display and audio quality.
The realme Smart TV has a local price of Php18,990 and Php11,990 for 43-inch and 32-inch, respectively. Get yours at https://shopee.prf.hn/l/7YENVRR.