5 things you need to know about Philips’ 2019 TVs
New year, new Philips TVs
Having thoroughly reestablished itself as a force to be reckoned with in the TV market during 2018, Philips is understandably confident as it lifts the covers of its 2019 TV line-up. Here are the five most significant aspects of its upcoming TV ranges.
1) The collaboration with Bowers & Wilkins endures
Having had a good go at redefining how a TV can sound with last year’s splendid OLED+ 903, Philips is giving its 8804 LED TV the same treatment. An integrated front-firing array along with a rear-firing, bass-happy arrangement means you don’t have to spend OLED money to get impressive audio performance from your new TV.
2) Style over substane
Actually, that’s not strictly true – but Philips is putting great emphasis on the sexiness of some of its new screens. As well as the Kvadrat acoustic cloth covering the B&W drivers of some new models, it’s collaborated with renowned Danish metal-workers Georg Jensen to deliver some remarkably elegant feet for its TVs to stand on.
No, we had no idea it was possible to enthuse about how nice the feet on a TV can be, either.
3) Dolby and more Dolby
Not content with tricking out its range-topping LEDs and OLEDs with Dolby Vision HDR, Philips is also proudly sporting Dolby Atmos badging across all its 2019 Smart TVs – that’s 90% of the range.
Until we get a proper listen to one of its Atmos-enabled screens it’s hard to tell how successful this implementation is – but it’s good to see how seriously Philips is taking its TVs’ audio performance.
4) Interface and interact
We liked Philips’ bespoke Saphi user interface from last year, but the company has ditched it in favour of full-on Android TV across all but 2019’s entry-level models. And the pricier models have Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa control incorporated too, so you won’t have to do anything as gauche as press a button to operate your Philips TV.
5) Ambilight up your TV life
It’s not easy to give a TV a unique selling point, but Philips’ Ambilight technology always serves to separate these screens from the competition. Ambilight is present in a three-sided arrangement of most of Philips’ 2019 TVs, and it’s as brilliantly effective as always. There’s no other way to make your TV’s pictures seem bigger than they actually are – unless you buy a bigger TV, of course.
Simon Lucas
Contributor 
