DECEMBER 2020 T3 85Philips OLED+935
reassuringly hefty, and the soundbar
itself is flawlessly built and finished.
The overall impression you’re given is
that of a premium product – and
that’s before the Philips is even
plugged into the mains.
Slick pics, profound sound
Once it is switched on, thanks to the
AI aspect of its processing, the
OLED+935 is able to identify incoming
images and respond to them with
extraordinary speed and efficiency –
so the resulting images are convincing,
lifelike and enthralling.
It’s capable of both bold saturation
of tone and remarkable subtlety –
sometimes in the same image.
Primary colours pop from the screen
assertively, but the nuances of
skin-tone or shadow-detail aren’t
overlooked or underplayed. And
despite this being far from the
brightest OLED TV around – less
than 1000 nits – the cleanliness of
the white tones balance against the
inkily deep black shades to create
expansive contrasts.
And because this is a Philips TV, it
also incorporates one of the very few
unique selling points in all of TV
Land: Ambilight. This arrangement of
LEDs on the rear of the TV is designed
to illuminate the surface in colours
that mimic the on-screen action. It
sounds gimmicky, but it actually
delivers a more immersive experience
and makes the screen seem
considerably bigger than it actually is.
In terms of sound, the Philips
incorporates a chunky off-board 3.1.2
Dolby-Atmos-esque speaker array
driven by a total of 70 watts of power.
In every respect – scale, dynamism,
focus – the set sounds so much better
than its nominal competitors it’s
almost comical. The sound that comes
from this array is balanced, tonally
impeccable and much, much wider
and taller than the physical confines
of the enclosure. It doesn’t harden at
big volumes, bass doesn’t disappear at
lower volumes, and dialogue is never
subsumed by other effects.
There are a few niggles with the
OLED+935 however. Firstly, while it’s
a definite plus that all four of its HDMI
sockets are ARC-enabled, HDCP
2.3-compliant and can handle Auto
Low Latency Mode, none of them gets
any closer than that to being HDMI 2.1
specification – which means no 4K at120Hz, no VRR, no HGiG HDR
tone-mapping, no FreeSync... If you
want your new TV to make the most
of your next games console, this
almost certainly isn’t the one for you.
Also, as per usual with Android
TV, the interface is labouring under
the misapprehension that it’s the
most important thing about your
whole ‘new TV’ experience, hogging
the entire screen when it’s activated
and being tardy in its responses. It’s
quite easily customised, though.
In the end, it’s quite simple. The
OLED+935 isn’t without its quirks.
But the headlines are these: as a
combination of picture and sound
quality at the price, the Philips
OLED+935 can’t currently be beaten.WE’RE IMPRESSED Outstanding
Ambilight-assisted picture
quality; amazing Bowers &
Wilkins-assisted sound quality;
elegant design.
WE’D IMPROVE No friend of
next-gen games consoles
Android TV is a divisive interface.
THE LAST WORD Want an
OLED TV? Of manageable size?
With corking integrated audio?
Philips has just the thing...VERDICT
HDR-assisted
images, particularly
in terms of colour,
are deeply
impressiveLG CX
Put off by a set that
won’t play nice with your
PlayStation or Xbox?
The CX offers all those
tasty next-gen gaming
features like 4K video at
120fps, all while running
optimised images at just 13ms of lag.
From £1,399, lg.com
SAMSUNG Q90T
While not having the
luxurious blacks you
would expect from
an OLED, this QLED
offers a blazing 2000
nits of brightness,
fantastic HDR and
impressive AI upscaling.
From £1,299, samsung.comTHE ALTERNATIVES
Find great deals for the Philips
OLED+935 at: bit.ly/t3ph935