4K TVs with HDR are becoming popular day by day. This is because manufacturers have started introducing them in smaller sizes with affordable price tags. Of course that usually means cutting corners, but without losing the essence. Sony’s take on this comes with their X700E series of TVs. The 43-inch variant priced under Rs. 70,000, is more affordable than a competing model from other brands. Sony has skipped the Android OS and placed it with their own. The TV still gets some smart features and access to some online media channels but it isn’t a full-fledged smart TV. However, does it make the TV a viable option compared to offerings from other brands at this price? Only one way to find out!
Design and Build
Most Sony TVs that fall in the mid-range product segment end up sharing the same design. The X70E is no different; not to say that the TV looks bad. There are fancier bits to the design but they are just too subtle to notice. For starters, the aluminum finish on the slim bezel looks good but doesn’t make the TV look premium. The only thing that stands out is the silver plate placed right under the Sony branding. It has a white LED embedded in it that switches on with the TV.
The U-shaped stand is definitely the highlight. Its compact size goes very well with the look of the TV. The stand also carries arrangements that can help you hide all the cable clutter from the ports. Speaking of which, most of the connectivity ports are placed on the left for easy access. You can reach them with minimum effort even when the TV is wall-mounted.
The remote is pretty standard. It’s thin and comes with small buttons. If you have big fingers you might find it a little annoying to use the directional keys. We found ourselves hitting the buttons around it. Sony has also added a YouTube button right next to the Netflix one.
Interface and apps
Most smart TVs can be little over whelming if you’re not very tech savvy. For that reason alone, skipping out on Android doesn’t seem like a bad idea. We like how simple this interface is because of that. With the X70E, you get almost all the smart features but in a much simpler delivery. Almost all the features of the TV can be accessed by pressing the ‘Home’ button. There is no Play Store naturally. It has been replaced by the Opera Store and the apps here aren’t as impressive.
The wide range of apps and games present on the Play store is one of the few things you are missing out on with the Sony X70E. However, most of the most used apps already come pre-installed on the TV. The apps list consists of Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube, YouTube for Kids, a web browser and some Sony entertainment apps. A problem we have with the interface is that it’s too slow. Even though it’s simple, it can be slow. You notice this while scrolling through the Settings menu or through the files on the connected drive. The TV even hung a few times when we tried playing 4K content from the drive. Even the web based apps take time to open. Amazon Prime Video crashed a few times because of which we had to turn off the TV and turn it back on again. These should be software bugs that could be ironed out in future updates.
Connectivity
There are abundant options here. You get three HDMI ports which should be enough for most homes. One of the ports also supports ARC which is mentioned in the list of sources. For those who don’t know, ARC allows you to send audio from the TV to the home theatre and vice-versa using that cable. This means you can enjoy all your TV shows with surround sound.
There are no component ports, but composite is provided to connect older devices. There is even a headphone jack. The TV comes with three USB ports to play media content from a hard drive. USB keyboards are also supported but it doesn’t work well with the custom interface and apps. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 802.11n. You can use Wi-Fi direct to mirror your device’s screen or to stream media to the TV. Because of the older Wi-Fi standard, streaming 4K videos might not work seamlessly on the TV.
Picture and sound
Sony offers a whole bunch of picture and audio settings to play with. You can really dive deep and tweak things to your preference. There are three pre-set modes to choose from. You can even customize them individually if you want. Besides that, you get advanced settings that include a whole range of picture enhancements such as Motion Smooth, Reality creation and Gamma settings. We started off by playing some full HD movies on the TV. Sony claims better upscaling performance with its X-Reality Pro Engine. We noticed good detail while playing full HD movies. Fine textures and details looked pretty good even up close.
The TV is an LCD panel equipped with an Edge LED backlighting system like most TVs. Sony also has something called Frame Dimming technology that’s part of their TVs. It’s known to provide better contrast ratio but it also ends up making the screen a little dull. We noticed this while playing the movie Whiplash, where the darker parts of some scenes stood out while the rest of the image looked pretty dull. We tested the TV in a well lit room. We increased the brightness to the maximum to get a good balanced picture. After that though, the picture looked pretty good. However, to make the most of the X7002E, you might have to close the blinds in the room. That said, the TV offers good viewing angles.
HDR performance is where the TV will win you over. We already spoke about how good the TV is with colours. Turning on HDR takes it up a notch. Even the transition between different shades of same colour can be easily seen. However, HDR content at the moment is a little difficult to find. Web-based channels like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video do have some titles in HDR.
The two 10 Watt stereo speakers can be loud for a big room, but their output is a little shallow. The bass lacks depth and the mids tend to stand out more when increasing the volume. There is virtual surround sound but it works best at short distances and small rooms.
Design and Build
Sony gets points for subtlety. The TV looks simple with its slim matte finished bezel and thin profile. The Sony branding and the white LED underneath add life to the design. We really like the fact that ports are easy to access even with the TV wall mounted. The stand makes the TV look stylish and it can also hide all the cable clutter.
Features
The X7002E comes with a 43-inch 4K panel with support for HDR. It features a wide range of picture and audio settings to get the right multimedia experience. There are abundant connectivity options, including three HDMI ports, three USB ports and even a digital out. In wireless connectivity you get Wi-Fi 802.11n. The TV comes with Sony’s own proprietary interface. It has basic smart features including internet connectivity, screen sharing and access to some web-based channels such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube and more. We like the simple interface. It is slow though and can get a little annoying at times.
Performance
The Sony 43X7002E wins you over with its accurate colour reproduction and amazing detail. The X-Reality Pro engine works well while upscaling full HD content. Black levels are good but the brightness seems a little low. You need to dim the lights in the room to get a balanced picture. The built-in speakers are loud, yet shallow because of the lack of bass. Virtual surround sound works best in small room.
Verdict
For under Rs. 70,000*, the Sony KD-43X7002E seems like a great purchase but it does come with a few compromises. One of them being the interface. The simplicity here is admirable, but it can be annoyingly slow at times. Our experience with web-based applications wasn’t very good. We’re not too happy with the audio either. The bigger problem comes with picture. It’ not perfect and needs a lot of tweaking, especially, when you’re playing content out of a hard drive. For a larger screen TV, you can look for a 49-inch Sony KD-49X7002E.
