Top 9 Best Smart TVs – Updated May 2021 - Android

Now is a great time to buy a new smart TV with some of the latest announced at CES in January starting to become available to buy. Which means that the older (2020 model) TVs are getting discounts. While they are older, they are not “old” so to speak, so it’s great to be able [...]

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The post Top 9 Best Smart TVs – Updated May 2021 appeared first on Android Headlines.

Now is a great time to buy a new smart TV with some of the latest announced at CES in January starting to become available to buy. Which means that the older (2020 model) TVs are getting discounts. While they are older, they are not “old” so to speak, so it’s great to be able to buy a cheap TV for your living room, bedroom or even a guest bedroom.

This list has the best smart TVs that are currently available in 2021. Hitting every segment of the market, including some cheaper options for those that do have a budget.

Top 9 Best Smart TVs

CES 2021 brought many new TVs from TCL, LG, Samsung and many other names. However, those won’t be available until probably the middle of 2021. So we’ll have to settle for what’s already available. And we’ve rounded up the best TVs that are currently available down below.

This list includes TVs from Samsung, LG, Hisense, Toshiba and others, and they are all TVs that are available to buy right now. Many of them were actually released in 2019, because of that requirement.

Best overall Smart TV

Samsung Q80R

• Available in: 55, 65, 75 & 82-inches
• Price: Starting at $1299
• Buy: Samsung.com

The Samsung Q80R is the best smart TV you can buy right now for a few reasons. But the biggest one is the picture quality. It’s going to give you the best looking picture, thanks to it being a QLED TV. That’s going to give you some very bright and vivid colors, and with HDR included, it’s going to look stunning.

This is partly thanks to the Quantum processor that is inside the Q80R, processing the picture to give you the best picture yet. Viewing angles on the Q80R are also pretty insane. Meaning that you can sit anywhere in your living room and still get a really great looking picture when watching the big game.

Samsung uses its own Tizen operating system for its smart TVs. It doesn’t quite have as many apps as Amazon Fire TV, Roku or Android TV, but all of the big name apps are available. Including Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and much more. Samsung also has support for Apple’s AirPlay 2, iTunes and even Homekit.

Samsung Q80R - Samsung.com

Best Android Smart TV

Sony A9G

• Available in: 55, 65 & 77-inches
• Price: Starting at $2498
• Buy: Amazon

The Sony A9G is a BRAVIA OLED TV, and it’s the latest model from the company. With this being an OLED TV, you’re going to get a really great picture. With the blacks actually being black, and colors are just going to be more true to life, compared to an LCD or LED TV.

Sony also worked with a number of movie producers to fine-tune the display on the A9G, so that it delivers the best picture quality possible. With X-Reality PRO, you are getting images upscaled to 4K clarity, even if it is being streamed in 1080p or less. Sony has support for Dolby Vision as well as IMAX Enhanced, which is going to give you a total cinematic experience.

There is Android TV built into this TV, so you are going to have access to thousands of great Android apps. This includes Netflix, Google Play Movies & TV, Hulu, YouTube, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video and much more. The Google Assistant is on-board and there is also support for Amazon Alexa.

What makes this the best Android TV available is the fact that it has the best picture quality available, and Sony also gave Android TV enough power to run smoothly in this TV. Instead of slow and buggy like it is in other TVs on the market, that have Android TV built-in.

Sony A9G - Amazon

Best Amazon Fire Smart TV

Toshiba U20

• Available in: 50-inch
• Price: $279
• Buy: Amazon

There aren’t many high-end Amazon Fire TV models out there right now, which made our choice for the best Smart TVs (2020) in this category pretty easy. The Toshiba U20. It only comes in a 50-inch size, which is a good size for most people, but it also keeps the price down.

One of the reasons why the U20 made it to this spot is because it’s one of the few Fire TVs with 4K HDR, and Dolby Vision. Which is going to give you a really good looking picture. Dolby Vision takes HDR up to the next level, providing pretty accurate and true-to-life colors. When you watch Dolby Vision content on the Toshiba U20, you’ll really see what we mean.

Of course, the Toshiba U20 is running on the Amazon Fire TV platform. Which has many of the top apps available. Including YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, AT&T TV NOW, Sling TV, and much more. There is also Amazon Alexa support included, which makes it easy to find something to watch, control your smart home products and much more.

Toshiba U20 - Amazon

Best Roku Smart TV

TCL 8-Series QLED

• Available in: 65, 75-inches
• Price: Starting at $1599
• Buy: Best Buy

This is by far the best Roku TV on the market today. It’s a 4K QLED TV and part of TCL’s 8-series. Only available in two sizes: 65 and 75-inch, and that right there should show you that this is a very high-end TV from TCL.

It’s a QLED TV, which is going to provide some really impressive picture quality. QLED has a lot of the advantages that OLED also have. Including some truly blacks, and crisp colors. There is support here for HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, which is going to make those colors more true-to-life. This QLED technology has over 1.07 billion colors.

Obviously, the TCL 8-Series QLED TV runs on Roku. Which is perhaps the most robust operating system for smart TVs on the market right now. It sports more apps than Android TV and Amazon Fire TV. These apps include HBO NOW, Pandora, CBS All Access, YouTube TV, Netflix, Hulu, Google Play Movies & TV, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN+, Disney+ and much more. There is also support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Both of which can be used to control your smart home products, find something to watch on TV, and get answers to questions like: How’s the weather?

TCL 8-Series QLED TV - Best Buy

Best OLED TV

LG C1 OLED (2021)

• Price: $1796
• Buy: Amazon

The LG C1 OLED is the company’s new OLED TV for 2021. So this is the latest and greatest in terms of OLED. It sports the new α9 GEN 4 AI PROCESSOR 4K, which is able to adjust the picture and sound automatically, and give you the best experience possible.

It still runs on webOS, which gives you plenty of great apps to use. Like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and more. There’s also support for the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa on-board. If you use any of LG’s other smart home appliances and products, then you’ll feel right at home with the ThinQ platform built-in. Controlling your washer from your TV.

LG CX OLED - Amazon

Best QLED TV

VIZIO P-Series Quantum X

• Available in: 65, 75-inches
• Price: Starting at $1499
• Buy: VIZIO.com

The VIZIO P-Series Quantum X is the best QLED TV you can buy, because it offers a stunning picture, at a decent price. And somehow, VIZIO was able to calibrate this display even better than Samsung was able to, which is impressive. VIZIO claims that this is their most colorful TV yet, and that’s not hard to believe. Just look at it. The colors are simply amazing. And since it is a QLED TV, you’re going to get some deep blacks here, thanks to there being over 384 dimming zones included here.

Not only is the color on this TV incredible, it’s also super bright. This means that if you’re watching a dark TV show or movie, and you’re in a room with some sunlight, you’re still going to be able to see the TV, and not worry about it being tough to see. It will also upscale 720p and 1080p content to 4K. Which looks pretty impressive, to be honest.

VIZIO has its SmartCast 3.0 platform running on this TV. Which is going to offer up the ability to Cast your favorite content from your smartphone or laptop, to the TV. It also has support for Apple’s AirPlay 2, for doing much the same as you can do with Cast. With VIZIO’s WatchFree service, you also get free and unlimited TV, eliminating the need for using an OTA antenna. This all makes the VIZIO P-Series Quantum X one of the best Smart TVs available in 2020.

VIZIO P-Series Quantum X - VIZIO.com

Best Value TV

Hisense H9F Series

• Available in: 55, 65-inches
• Price: Starting at $599
• Buy: Amazon

The Hisense H9F Series is a really good entry for the Best Smart TVs of 2020, as it’s an inexpensive Android TV that is actually really good. So it uses its own proprietary ULED technology, and you’ll notice it’s the only one on this list that uses ULED. But it works similarly to QLED and OLED. Where you’re getting a brighter picture, with better colors, but it doesn’t have the disadvantage of OLED and screen burn-in.

Hisense also uses artificial intelligence to improve the picture quality coming out of this TV. So it is also going to improve over time. There is also support for Dolby Vision and HDR10. This is going to improve ULED even more, giving you a picture with more dynamic range. You will really notice the difference if you watch a TV show or movie that is shot in Dolby Vision – Amazon Prime Video and Netflix have quite a few that are.

The H9F Series is also an Android TV model, which means that it does have support for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa built-in. This is going to allow you to control your smart TV, find something to watch and ask other questions too. This is a feature that is also found on a few other this Best Smart TVs 2020 list too. Android TV also has thousands of apps like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV and much more.

Hisense H9F Series - Amazon

Best TV For Gaming

Samsung RU8000

• Available in: 49, 55, 65, 75 & 82-inches
• Price: Starting at $597
• Buy: Amazon

The Samsung RU8000 Series is great for those that are looking to get some gaming done as well, thanks to the Real Game Enhancer. This feature is going to help prevent tearing and stuttering, giving you smooth, lifelike visuals along with cinematic sound. It’s going to be better for console gaming – great for the new PlayStation 5 and the new Xbox when they release later this year – more than it would be for PC Gaming. Though, it does support FreeSync for PC Gamers, just not on the 49-inch and smaller TVs. So if you want FreeSync, you’re going to need a larger model, like the 55-inch version.

Samsung also has Dynamic Crystal Color on the RU8000. This is going to use even more colors than normal, offering a really incredible looking picture on this TV. Giving you a brighter and more lifelike experience that a regular TV wouldn’t be able to offer you. HDR standards like HDR10 and HLG are supported, though no Dolby Vision unfortunately.

As far as smart assistants go, Samsung does have Bixby included here. And since it’s available on its appliances and its smartphones, you’ll be able to control it all from your TV. That includes seeing your text messages and incoming calls on the TV.

Samsung RU8000 - Amazon

Best 8K Smart TV

Samsung QN900A 8K QLED TV

• Available in: 65, 75, 85-inches
• Price: Starting at $4999
• Buy: Samsung.com

The QN900A is the second-generation 8K TV from Samsung, so it does have a big improvement over the Q9000R that was on this list previously. It’s also more expensive and only available in bigger sizes. Though, to really see the difference in an 8K TV, you kind of need it in at least a 65-inch model.

This has the new Samsung Neo Quantum Processor 8K which is going to provide a stunning picture on the QN900A. It will also upscale non-8K content to an 8K resolution. Which is needed since there is very few titles available in 8K right now.

It also has what Samsung calls “Infinity Screen” with almost no bezels on any of the sides of the TV. So it can melt into the wall of your home, particularly if you have it mounted.

Samsung QN900A 8K QLED TV - Samsung.com

The post Top 9 Best Smart TVs – Updated May 2021 appeared first on Android Headlines.