Amazon is launching its own QLED 4K TVs starting at $800

A year after it started pushing its own TVs, Amazon is adding pricier, more advanced options to its lineup. Announced yesterday at Amazon’s invitation-only hardware event, the Fire TV Omni QLED series shows the tech giant upping the ante with quantum dot displays and advanced features for smart homes.

Amazon’s first self-branded TVs launched last September and ranged from the more budget-friendly 4 Series, which originally started at $370 for 43-inches, to the Omni Series, which originally started at $1,100 for the largest model at 75 customs cost. The 4K TVs aren’t particularly unique. They are HDR TVs and include HDMI 2.1 with eARC for soundbars and have variable refresh rates as low as 48-60Hz at 4K. Of course, Amazon Alexa is also included. Alexa can work when TVs are off, activate voice control and work with Alexa Routines, but isn’t an Amazon exclusive among modern TVs.

Amazon pays a little more attention to image quality with the Omni QLED series; However, it still avoids specific claims like brightness or color coverage specs. The new 65- and 75-inch TVs use Samsung Display’s QLED technology, which uses quantum dots for alleged color boost, as well as full-array local dimming for contrast boost.

We won’t know how well local dimming works on the Omni QLED TVs until we see them in person, but at least they contain enough dimming zones to be compared to the biggest TV players like Samsung. Samsung’s 2022 65-inch QLED TV, the Q80B, has 48 dimming zones, according to reviewer Rtings, while having a higher MSRP ($1,200).

Amazon could have squeezed a lot more dimming zones into the new displays if it had opted for a mini-LED backlight. Samsung’s 65-inch QN95B ($2,600 MSRP), for example, reportedly has 720 dimming zones with its mini-LED backlight. And Amazon isn’t stepping into pricier Micro-LED or OLED territory just yet.

Amazon also added Dolby Vision IQ support and HDR10+ Adaptive, which uses the TV’s ambient light sensor to adjust brightness based on the lighting in the room. Like previous Amazon TVs, the new ones also support HDR10+ and HLG HDR formats.

Sensors, widgets and paintings

Amazon’s latest televisions also include features packed under one roof, which Amazon bills as Ambient Experience. It starts with presence sensors that can turn on the TV when a person enters the room.

“Instead of a blank screen, the TV harnesses the power of Alexa to let you see helpful information, manage your smart home, listen to or discover new content, and view artwork or family photos,” Amazon explained in the announcement.

It pointed to a 1,500-image catalog of “gallery-quality art” and images offered to users to view on the TVs, albeit not in as artistic a execution as Samsung’s The Frame TV.

In an educational way, users can ask Alexa questions about the catalog images or even questions about personal photos, e.g. B. when the photo was taken.

The new TVs can also display Alexa widgets like Calendar, Reminders and Sticky Notes, and control supported smart home devices like Amazon Ring. It’s like having an oversized Echo Show 15, including audio streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Amazon’s announcement claimed you could turn off the TVs’ far-field mic with a switch and disable other Ambient Experience features like presence detection.

Amazon’s QLED TVs start shipping October 27 for $800 for 65-inch and $1,100 for 75-inch.

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