Philips 901F UHDTV Preview – The world’s first OLED TV with Ambilight
Officially, TP Vision did not want to say anything about it, but it had been clear for some time that a Philips OLED television was being worked on behind the scenes. It was also already clear that an OLED panel from LG Display would be included. What we didn’t know yet was the launch date. On Thursday 1 September, during the Philips press conference at the IFA in Berlin, all secrecy came to an end and the first OLED television was officially announced.
The new model has been given the striking name 901 and is therefore reminiscent of the famous Bose 901 speakers or the Porsche 901 sports car, which we now know under the name 911, for the somewhat older among us. Both are legendary products that were introduced in the 1960s, but have continued to be produced to this day. It is very doubtful whether this TV will reach the same legendary status as its namesakes, but who knows, this model may become so successful that it will still be made decades later.
The model that will be for sale officially called 901F, where the F stands for flat; so it is a TV with a flat screen. The 901C variant will also be shown at the IFA with a curved screen, as you might have guessed. This model will not be for sale with us, because previous curved Philips models did not prove very popular. We also hear these kinds of messages from other manufacturers, with the exception of Samsung, with which the trend of curved televisions seems to have passed its peak. Initially, the TV will have a screen size of 55 inches and later there will also be a 65″ version.
The 901F has a UHD panel that can display HDR according to the HDR10 standard that is used on Ultra HD Blu-ray, for example. As you would expect from a Philips top model, Ambilight is present, although this is the three-sided variant, which is not equipped with colored LEDs at the bottom. Of course, this TV also runs Google’s Android TV, powered by an unnamed quad-core soc.
The 901F is clearly recognizable as a Philips TV, which is mainly due to the design of the legs that are mounted on both sides of the housing. This design, which we know from previous models, was initially created to enable the four-sided variant of Ambilight and we therefore think it is a missed opportunity that this TV has been given three-sided Ambilight, making it dark under the TV. stays. Nevertheless, the Ambilight effects look nice, especially if there is a lot of black in the picture, the colors of Ambilight seem even more intense.
Because OLED televisions do not require a backlight, they can be made very flat. The thickness is actually mainly determined by the required firmness. The 901F is therefore barely thicker than half a centimeter at the edges and that looks slick. Of course, space is also needed for the electronics that control the panel, so the cabinet is a few centimeters thicker at the bottom. A chrome-plated edge runs around the screen, which fits nicely with the chrome-plated legs. Below the screen is the speaker system, which looks like a separate soundbar. Looks can be deceiving, because the loudspeakers cannot be taken away. That is of course a pity if you prefer to use an external audio system.
According to TP Vision, it is a 6.1 speaker system. This would mean that there are six full-range audio channels plus a channel with limited range for the bass. However, that is not not the case. Although six separate drivers are visible at the front, they are controlled in two groups and therefore form a normal stereo pair. A bass speaker is also built in, but whether a separate channel is used for this or whether the bass of the stereo pair is simply routed to it is not clear. So it is either a 2.0 or a 2.1 speaker system. We couldn’t hear how it sounds on the show floor, but front-facing speakers generally provide a good stereo image and clearly understandable voices.
Like all other high-end models from Philips, the 901F runs Android TV from Google. That is a nice distinction compared to LG’s OLED models, which all run webOS. There’s nothing wrong with webOS at all, but Android TV’s range of apps is many times greater. We also find the built-in Google Cast support of Android TV a very useful feature, which adds a lot of ease of use to the TV. The remote control was not present on the show floor, but TP-vision told us that the existing double-sided Philips remote control with microphone and a mini-qwerty keyboard on the back will be included.
We can be brief about the image quality; which is, as we are used to from OLED, phenomenally good. The panel used comes from LG, which roughly means that the performance is very similar to the Korean manufacturer’s own TVs. Because the pixels can be switched off individually, the image has a perfect black reproduction and an enormous contrast. This makes the colors seem to splash off the screen and HDR images look very convincing. The viewing angles are also almost perfect and the brightness is very uniform. Of course, measurements will have to show whether the color reproduction is according to the standards, but when judged by eye, the image is very good.
So far, LG is the only manufacturer that successfully produces OLED panels in television format. A few years ago, Samsung also had an OLED TV in its program and even longer ago Sony sold the first OLED TV, but only LG has the technology to make reliable large panels that are also profitable. This is because LG took over a number of patents from Kodak in 2009, which was short of money at the time. This company had been developing OLED technology since the 1970s. Because of these patents, it looks like the competition won’t have an answer anytime soon. Fortunately, LG Display, the separate company that manufactures the panels,
Conclusion
The first impressions of the Philips 901F are very positive. Apart from the image panel, everything is different from the LG OLEDs: a different operating system, a completely different design and completely different operation. As a result, there is now really something to choose from if you want to buy an OLED TV. The 901F will initially only be available in a 55″ image size, but a 65″ model will follow later. An exact release date has not yet been announced, but it will probably be in stores at the end of October or early November. The exact price is also not yet known, but it will probably be around 3500 euros. That’s more expensive than LG ‘s cheapest model , but that TV has a much simpler speaker system. In addition, only the Philips 901F has Ambilight.