Samsung has introduced its 2018 lineup of QLED TVs with Bixby, Ambient Mode and more, expanding its offerings in the home entertainment market. Samsung’s TVs have long been praised for having vivid imagery and lush color contrasts with deep blacks, and its latest TVs for this year will continue those trends but also add in new features to make them more robust and feature-rich for consumers looking to jump into a premium TV experience. Bixby is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to new offerings, but with Samsung’s digital assistant integrated with the new units users will be able to interact with various TV functions all by voice.
With Bixby users will be able to control certain functions on the TV itself from switching channels and searching for shows to adjusting the volume on the TV if things need to be louder or quieter, but it can also be used to control other smart home products as Bixby will be part of the SmartThings app on the TVs, which users will need to log into. Once that happens smart home control should be possible for anything that is compatible with SmartThings. Another highlight feature, Ambient Mode, may not be what people are suspecting. Ambient Mode on an Android device is likely what many people are used to, but on Samsung’s new TVs this isn’t quite what the feature will do. Ambient Mode will actually offer a few different things, but its main points are that it will be able to mimic the design of the wall behind it to help the TV blend into that design for a more seamless look, though this will only be available for TVs that are wall-mounted. It will also allow various pieces of information to be displayed on-screen at any given time, from news, to traffic reports, to updates on the weather.
Another big feature that will be present is the Direct Full Array, which is essentially used to help blacks appear deeper and whites appear more pure and bright. Samsung notes that only the Q8F and Q9F models will have this, so if you want the best possible contrasts of color and the deepest blacks and purest whites for picture quality, then either of those two models will be one of the ones you have to go for. In total Samsung’s new 2018 QLED TV lineup includes the Q9F which comes in 65-inch, 75-inch, and 88-inch sizes, the Q8F which comes in 55-inch, 65-inch, and 75-inch sizes, the Q7C in 55-inch and 65-inch, the Q7F in 55-inch 65-inch, and 75-inch, and finally the Q6F which comes with the largest amount of options in regards to size as it’ll be available in 49-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch, 75-inch, and 82-inch models. All models in all sizes will support HDR10+ and Ambient Mode, Bixby support, and the One Remote and One Invisible Connection features. Most of the new TVs appear to already be available through Samsung’s website (though not all sizes of all models) and will start at a cost of $2,199 for the Q6F at 65-inches going all the way up to $3,799 for the 65-inch Q9F.
