OnePlus took the wraps off its
updated flagship, the 7T. At its launch event in India, the company also
announced an Android-powered TV, marking the company’s entry into a completely
different industry.
The OnePlus TV is meant to offer a more seamless
television experience between the entertainment you watch at home and your
OnePlus device. It has a 55-inch 4K QLED panel with 120% NTSC color gamut and
support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+. It also has 95.7% screen-to-body ratio. OnePlus invited Pankaj Kedia of
Dolby to explain how Dolby Vision is integrated into OnePlus TV. To start,
Amazon, Sun NXT, Voot, Netflix, Eros Now, and YuppFlix will offer Dolby Vision
support on the OnePlus TV.
Second, there is a soundbar with eight speakers,
integrated into the OnePlus TV’s design. The speakers support Dolby Atmos, six
speakers are forward facing, and two are rear-facing – which OnePlus claims
will offer an immersive sound experience. Between all eight speakers, the TV
outputs 50W of sound, promising powerful sound in an industry where TV’s have
tinny, dull sounding speakers.
The soundbar itself will actually drop down out of
the TV when its turned on and slides back up when not in use – stylish, and
functional. OnePlus expressed the effort needed to make the mechanical soundbar
to be as quiet as a whisper. The mechanism is rated for 100,000 actuations and
it takes 7.2 seconds for the bar to fully drop from the TV’s body.
The presenter also emphasized the design of the TV,
which is aesthetically pleasing from any angle you look at it, including the
top and the back. Meanwhile, the remote control resembles the Apple TV remote
and is rechargeable via USB-C.
OnePlus also designed the User Interface of the TV
skinned over Android TV, complete with Google Cast functionality and device
mirroring. OnePlus also promised three years of Android updates for the Android
TV, and most of the functions can be controlled using the Google Assistant key
on the remote or using Google Assistant on your phone. OnePlus also knows the
importance of a snappy UI so it promises to not include bloatware.
Oxygen Play is a new feature that is supposed to
solve the issue of wasting time by switching between applications on a smart
TV. On the other hand, OnePlus Connect lets you connect your phone to your TV
and turn it on via Amazon Alexa. Using OnePlus connect, you can use your phone
to connect to Oxygen Play and activate the remote features using a virtual
trackpad on the phone.
You can still go back to using Google Assistant
right from the Connect App and when you want to enter text, you can use the
phone’s keyboard when a voice query won’t find the name of your favorite
YouTuber, for instance.
In any case, there is a lot going for the OnePlus
TV. There are two models, the TV Q1 and TV Q1 Pro which are priced at INR
69,900 (US$ 987) and INR 99,900 (US$ 1,411), respectively. Both OnePlus models will
be available in Amazon India starting September 28.
