Being a pioneering brand in the OLED TV technology ecosystem, Sony unveils the A8F OLED TV that sports the company’s regular top-of-the-line image processing and brilliant viewing angles. With the A8F, Sony has improved on some shortcomings that many users of its previous OLED TV models have complained about. One aspect that has been brilliantly modified is the Sony A8F’s design.
The Sony A8F OLED TV comes as an upgrade to the Sony A1 OLED that was released last year and will be competing with the likes of Samsung Q8C and Samsung Q9F QLED TV for top spot on the OLED TV charts. Performance on these televisions (Sony A1 and Sony A8F) are quite similar but Sony has worked largely on the design; given it a more appealing appearance with better smart features.
Sony A8F OLED TV: Design
The first thing (or should I say ‘thin’) you’d notice about the Sony A8F OLED TV is its ultra-slim design and almost non-existent bezels. Unlike its predecessor, the tabletop stand now comes with a smaller footprint which eliminates the need for a big bench and also gives it a premium aesthetic appearance.
The redesigned table-top stand —which weighs about 4kg and measures 25.5cm x 40cm— is one of the major design addition to the Sony A8F OLED TV. And although it looks small, it is extra- capable of holding the TV in place firmly on any surface it is placed. About the TV, it weighs 18.7 kg (~41 lb) without the stand and goes up to about 22 kg when attached to the stand.
Sony really did a good job with the neck-free stand because when mounted, it masks itself behind the TV and makes it seem as though the TV is sitting directly on the table-top. It is super easy to fix and allows users fully immerse themselves into the display without being distracted by a big and conspicuous stand — as with many OLED TVs.
Unlike last year’s Sony A1 which could only be placed on a bench/desk/rack, the A8F can be hanged on a wall. At the bottom edge of the TV, there is a LED light and a number of ports which are hidden behind a detachable cover.
Display Quality
As with any OLED TV, the Sony A8F produces the best and richest of colours, truest and inkiest of blacks, and high contrast HDR images, all aided by Sony’s Triluminos color processing platform to give a general cinema-like viewing experience.
The Sony A8F OLED TV comes in two display sizes: 55-inch and 65-inch, allowing users to choose based on the size of their rooms and budget.
Additional features
While the A8F TV in itself is minimalistic, slim, and beautifully design, the remote is the exact opposite of how flagship-y the TV is. The remote is plastic, old-fashioned and packs as many buttons as Sony could put on it. Definitely, it will take some time to get used to the functionalities of the remote. Even Sony knows this and that is why the company added a dedicated voice control button (at the top) which lets you navigate around the TV, change channels, launch applications and much more via Android TV using voice commands.
Although you might have pictured it as a helluva task, setting up the TV for the first is just as easy as it comes. You’ll be required to connect to a WiFi network, set-up/sign-in to a Google account, specify if the TV is on a tabletop or mounted to the wall, specify if you’ve got an Android smartphone and a couple of easy set-up processes.
The Sony A8F OLED TV’s Smart TV capabilities are powered by Android TV together with the built-in Chromecast. The TV, according to Sony, will be upgradable to the Android 8 which will bring more features and app support on board. But in the meantime, users will enjoy apps like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, Google Play Store, a couple of Sony’s native app, Google Assistant and Alexa support etc.
Price
Buyers can get the 55-inch model of the Sony A8F OLED TV for about USD $2,800 while the bigger 65-inch model will set buyers back by an additional USD $1,000 i.e $3,800.
Image credits: newsatlas.com
