The factor about good technologies—and by extension gadgets—is that more typically than not they have a tendency to just fade away in the background. They are straightforward to use and they just work. Just like that.
The Sony A80J OLED Television is a excellent instance. Keep in thoughts, this Television has a lot of competitors in particular from LG—the other major player in OLED space—but it does not seriously matter. What matters is that the A80J is a good solution that:
- just fades away in the background,
- is straightforward to use, and
- it just operates.
All that greatness will expectedly expense you a lot of funds but if you occur to have deep pockets—which is the audience that Sony appears to be targeting anyway—you can rest assured you are obtaining your money’s worth.
The A80J comes in 3 sizes—55, 65 and 77-inches. The 55-inch model— XR-55A80J—currently sells for Rs 2,49,900, 65-inch— XR-65A80J and the topic of this review—for Rs 3,39,900 whilst the top rated-of-the-line 77-inch version— XR-77A80J—will set you back by Rs 6,99,900.
One of the A80J’s most significant strengths is its simplicity. Ease of use if you will. Right from the moment you unbox it, to placing it up on a table—or mount it on the wall if you like—to powering it on feels—for the lack of a improved word—breezy. Table installation in specific stands out more than something else that we’ve seen just before with Sony providing you a 3-way adjustable stand that lets you prop the Television up nicely regardless of the readily available space on your cabinet. Those stands are also totally free from any screws which signifies you can conveniently move them about though you are not advised to move the Television about typically owing to its paper-thin dimensions—the A80J is practically all glass and wobbles fairly a bit when moved.
Setting up the A80J is a relatively simple method. It is likely one of the pretty handful of TVs in the Indian industry today with Google Television, application that Google announced last year alongside its Chromecast refresh. Think of it as Android Television 2..
Google Television brings visible alterations to Android Television with a more ‘active’ home screen. The standard methodology to focus on certain apps is out of the window in favour of anything far more useful—content aggregation—with a intelligent array of content from a number of apps with committed tabs for films and Television shows. The concept is to preserve you engaged with relevant points to watch tailored for you—based on your viewing pattern—without the hassle of sifting by way of every single and each and every service you have subscribed to one by one. We fairly like it.
There is a handy solution to use—setup—the A80J as a standard Television as properly if you want to use cable or any other media streaming device like say, the Apple Television or Amazon Fire Television Stick and not be bothered by Google Television at all. Depending on the device you are applying, your knowledge will vary—but more on this later.
Now, every single and each and every brand out there has its characteristic style of undertaking a picture—OLED or otherwise—basis of their person processing knowledge. Even Sony. Some like it warm, some a tad punchier, even unrealistic at instances. The excellent factor about higher-finish TVs is that they give you lots of choices to fine-tune these settings to suit your mood and preference anytime. But not a lot of TVs give you ‘pure cinematic bliss’ appropriate out of the gate. The A80J tends to make it abundantly clear that Sony signifies enterprise.
That enterprise getting, to give a seamless knowledge. That it operates the way it does is just icing on the cake.
So, what does it imply, precisely?
The A80J is so image-great and contrasty straight out of the box, it would take a lot of pixel-peeping to come across any fault whatsoever. The colours look excellent, of course, but even more importantly, they boast of fantastic accuracy. Pair that with signature OLED blacks—and slim bezels—and you get a sense of deep immersion. Motion and upscaling are also handled properly by the Television.
What’s even more impressive is that the A80J is packed to the gills with customisation each pre-set and granular. Sony itself offers you a selection of Vivid, Standard, Cinema, IMAX Enhanced, Game, Graphics, Photo, Custom, Dolby Vision Bright, Dolby Vision Dark, Netflix calibrated modes. Frankly speaking, that is an overkill for anything that operates so beautifully without having needing any manual assembly.
Speaking of which, the A80J is a 4K Television with a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels. There is help for HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision. Screen brightness is anything we all cannot get sufficient and whilst the A80J can get pretty vibrant, there is some area for improvement right here contemplating how excellent this Television is all round.
At its heart lies Sony’s ‘Cognitive Processor XR’ which may possibly look like marketing and advertising mumbo-jumbo but we’ve got to say, the outcomes that it is placing out are relatively spectacular, so possibly, just possibly, this is one of these instances all that marketing and advertising speak truly signifies anything.
Now that we have image excellent out of the way, it is time to move on to the next topic—gaming. Being a higher-finish Sony Television would imply, it ought to work properly with next-gen consoles, specifically the PlayStation 5 and whilst it does do that, there are a handful of regions exactly where it could have been improved. To commence with, only two out of the 4 HDMI ports help 4K @120Hz playback. Variable refresh price or VRR is not readily available but, though Sony says it is coming quickly with a application update. That latter bit alone tends to make the A80J significantly less eye-catching for prospective gamers. The A80J also cannot do 4K Dolby Vision HDR @120Hz. For a Television that expenses as significantly as what the A80J does, not obtaining these features incorporated is frustrating.
Sony A80J OLED Television | Final thoughts
The A80J is a wonderful Television in each and every sense of the word. It’s at the peak of cinematic excellence and even even though it may possibly look like a luxury solution, it is nevertheless fairly significantly grounded at heart which is to say it is got all the fundamentals covered.
Sony intended to let creators do all the speaking with this Television and it is protected to say, it has been capable to do just that. If you can afford it, there is no other Television that can give you such a fine mixture of colour and contrast like the A80J. As for its gaming quirks, properly, let’s just place it this way. Not each and every good solution requirements to be great, all the time. Hopefully, the next generation will choose on that and strive for even more greatness and at some point, if all operates properly, perfection will stick to.
Pros: Premium design and style, Great colour accuracy and contrast, Plenty of customisation choices, Balanced audio
Cons: No VRR at launch, No 4K Dolby Vision HDR @120Hz gaming, Pricey