Recently I was choosing a TV for myself, to be honest, not an easy one. Of course, the main condition was the presence of Smart TV (well, how could it be without it :)). So, I noticed that I did not choose the TV, but Smart TV. I searched, read on the forums, tried to understand from which manufacturer this function is still better. And only later, I thought about the diagonal and some characteristics of the TV.
I mean, Smart TV is on the TV, that's all. I am sure that many, when buying a TV, choose the Smart TV system on which it works. There are plenty to choose from: Philips and Sony with Android TV, LG with WebOS, and Samsung with Tizen OS (these are the main ones I chose from). In this article, we will talk about the well-known Android operating system, which has recently made it to TVs.
Older Philips TVs in 2015 are all running Android TV (Lollipop 5.0). Well, the 2016 Philips models will of course run on Android OS. As you probably already understood, I bought myself a Philips TV on Android TV. For a very long time I was choosing between Philips and LG with their webOS 2.0 system. Philips TV model 43PUS7150 / 12. But it is not important. I will make a general, small review of the Android TV system itself, and I will definitely leave my feedback: what works, what does not work, what are the pros and cons. I have been using this TV for over a month now, and I managed to study and understand it. By the way, I only use Smart TV itself, in our case Android, since I don't have an antenna connected to my TV and there are no TV channels at all.
Review of Android TV on Philips TVs
To begin with, many, having heard about the Android system on the TV, immediately think that this is the same Android as they have on their phone or tablet. No, it is not. The system looks different, of course. There is a new, well thought out and designed specifically for large screens interface. How do you imagine regular Android on your TV? This is fu 🙂 And so, everything is very beautiful, simple and well thought out.
When you turn it on for the first time, you will need to set up the TV itself: select a language, connect to a Wi-Fi network, etc. Perhaps later I will write an article on turning on and setting up a Philips Android TV for the first time.
After turning on the TV, just press the button Home on the remote control, and we get into the Android TV itself.
The entire interface is divided into sections and tiles. Let's start from the beginning: at the very top, a voice and text search button is displayed, as well as a clock. If your TV is connected to the Internet, then recommendations will be displayed immediately below the search and for hours. These are some applications, movies, YouTube videos that Android thinks you might be interested in.
Next, we have a section Philips collection... Recommended content by the TV manufacturer itself is displayed there.
The next section is Applications... All standard programs are found here. Also, this section contains all programs that you install from Google Play.
Below we have a separate section Games... All games installed from Google Play will be displayed there.
The last section is Installations... Internet connection settings, Software update, Application management, Help, sound, picture settings, etc.
That's the whole Android TV. I can say without a doubt that everything looks very cool and simple. The system is very convenient to use. Open the required application and go.
Separately, I would also like to note the built-in support for Google Cast technology. With its help, from a tablet, smartphone, or computer, you can broadcast videos, music and photos to the TV. Very convenient, I often use this function. I wrote more about Google Cast in the article: Google Cast on Android TV. What is it, how to set it up and how to use it?
Games and applications on Android TV
Immediately after purchase, many different applications are installed on the TV. Of course, you will hardly use all of them, but some are very useful:Youtube (looks great, works well)Megogo (you can watch a lot of movies for free, or get a paid subscription to watch TV channels. The newest films are also paid), Media (watching movies and photos from USB drives, hard drives, or via DLNA network), andGoogle play (for installing games and applications). That's pretty much everything I use.
There is also a browser, it is simply called the Internet... It works, opens sites, but it is very difficult to control the remote control. I tried to connect a wireless mouse - it didn't work. I hope they fix it. Kind of like Google forbids the use of mice.
As for games, we install everything from Google Play. Already a lot of games familiar to us on phones are available on TV. The same Asphalt 8 works well. To control the games, you can use a regular remote control, or connect a gamepad, as I did. I think I'll prepare a separate article on games on Philips TVs with Android TV.
For storing all games and applications, the TV has a built-in memory of 8, or 16 GB. Depends on the model. The memory can be expanded using a USB flash drive.
Philips TV owner review on Android TV
My TV is Philips 43PUS7150 / 12. There have already been two system updates, now I have Android 5.1. I hope there will be more updates.
I read a lot of reviews that at the first setup, the TV just freezes and does not react to anything. Everything went well for me. Configured, connected to a Wi-Fi network, immediately entered the Googel account.
Everything works, and works pretty well. YouTube works without any problems, films go to Megogo without any problems. All games that I installed from Google Play also work without glitches and crashes. Movies from a USB flash drive and external hard drive are played without problems. Including 4K (UHD) and 3D.
As with any device, there are downsides.
- TV freezes and restarts several times. Very rarely, applications crashed. I think this will be fixed in the next software updates.
- It is very inconvenient to view sites in a browser. It is inconvenient to control the arrows on the remote control by following the links. And I can't connect a wireless mouse.
- The keyboard, which is on the back of the remote, is not needed at all. It would be useful if there were Russian letters. But, they are not there. I do not think that someone uses this keyboard (this is a minus of the TV itself, not Smart TV).
- In the YouTube app, there is no option to select 4k videos. Although, this same video is available on a computer in 4k. I think they will fix it in the next updates.
- I've already read several times that Android TV has multitasking. I didn't find her there. If I watch a YouTube video, go home, launch another application, and go back to YouTube, the main screen will already open. Yes, while watching a movie, you can press the Home button (probably in order to see the time), and go back to watching. But, this is not multitasking. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I haven't seen multitasking yet.
These are the disadvantages, it seems that I did not forget to write anything.
Do I regret buying a TV on Android TV? No. All I need, everything works. Maybe not as perfect as we would like, but it works. Moreover, Philips does not sit still, and all the time they improve something (software updates come). And I think there will be an upgrade to Android 6.0.
Without a doubt, the Android system will evolve on TVs. And most likely, in the near future, Android TV will be the most popular among other Smart TVs. Maybe other TV makers will switch to the operating system from Google. It's Android, it's everywhere 🙂
