Brand OnePlus seems to have started the year with all guns blazing, launching a plethora of devices at its massive Cloud 11 event. On offer are a couple of flagship phones, a new pair of buds and more, with a promise of intriguing new ones to be introduced later in the year — a keyboard, a tablet, and even a new router. The new 65-inch TV stands out as a strong proposition too, landing firmly in the premium space… a route that OnePlus had taken with its debut TV offering, the Q1 Pro (first impressions), back in 2019. The latest offering comes in the form of the OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro, a device that, at first glance, ticks quite a few boxes. Let’s take a closer look.
Design, ports and remote
Right off the bat, the new TV makes its intentions about taking the premium route pretty clear. Svelte frame and thin bezels, combined with the pizzazz added by the integrated soundbar below the screen, plus the sleek stand… all come together to present a classy picture that looks great. The soundbar grille sports an illuminated OnePlus logo on the right and definitely adds a bit of character to the TV’s fascia. The TV uses a flat metal stand that’s placed in the middle, instead of the legs most other TVs utilise, and apart from acting as a stable base, adds to the overall aesthetics of the device too.
The most prominent highlight on the back is the subwoofer placed in the middle (more on that later), while the ports are tucked away towards the side. The device offers a fair selection of ports, and you get three HDMI 2.1 slots (including one that supports eARC), a pair of USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, Composite, Optical Audio out, and a tuner. On the wireless side of things, the connectivity options include Bluetooth 5.0, and dual-band Wi-Fi, along with Chromecast, DLNA and Miracast for casting.
The bundled remote is a standard, compact unit, featuring the usual 4-way navigation with a centre select button, along with keys for power, back, home, settings, volume up / down and Google Assistant. Dedicated shortcut keys at the bottom cover YouTube, Disney Hotstar, Netflix and Prime Video. There’s no dedicated mute button though. While a double press of the volume button is enough to put the TV into silent mode, having a dedicated mute button on the remote is preferable I think… useful for times when you’re supposed to be working from home but spend the afternoon catching up on some TV shows and need to mute the TV quickly when you get a work call, as an example. I also noticed a bit of slowness on the remote when it came to response time, especially right after the TV boots up. Nothing that sours the deal though.
Software and ecosystem
The OnePlus TV runs the relatively new Google TV interface (based on Android 11), which comes as a more refined, more intuitive version of Google’s Android TV UI. The OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro, in fact, is among the handful of options in the smart TV space that offer the Google TV interface. The UI intelligently categorises and curates content from various streaming platforms, slotting them into tabs titled Films and TV Shows. You also get a dedicated tab for apps and your library, with the latter listing your purchases and rentals on Google TV. The “For you” tab curates content and offers suggestions based on your viewing patterns. There’s a search tab as well, and tucked away on the top right corner, an account button which lets you add more users and gives you quick access to settings and inputs.
OnePlus has also preloaded its own content curation app OxygenPlay, which is accessible via a dedicated key on the remote. Also included are the usual OTT apps like Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar, YouTube etc, along with the Google Play Store that acts as the gateway for downloading others you might want. In addition, OnePlus has added more niceties, especially for those who already use the brand’s other devices, such as phones, TWS buds or smartwatches. The OnePlus Connect app, available on both iOS as well as Android, allows you to ditch the remote and use your phone to control the TV, while if you have a OnePlus Watch, you can control some TV functions straight from your wrist. And if you have a pair of TWS buds from OnePlus, the TV can detect them on its own and throws up an onscreen pop-up as soon as you bring the earphones close and open the case lid. Then you can proceed to connect and pair the devices together.
Picture and sound quality
Coming to the meat of the matter, one of the first things that become clear is the extremely good picture quality. And immediately after that — the brilliant sound quality. The screen itself is a 65-inch panel of the QLED variety, offering niceties like 120Hz variable refresh rate, peak brightness of up to 1200 nits, 120 local dimming zones, MEMC and support for standards like HDR10+, Dolby Vision and HLG. There is a barrage of options available for tweaking the display to your liking, and once you do that, you’ll find that the Q2 Pro delivers great colours and good contrast levels, suitable for all types of content. I watched a ton of shows and movies across different platforms and the TV shines when it comes to Dolby Vision content. It does a good job with SDR content too. Features like the variable refresh rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), and capability to deliver 4K at 120Hz over HDMI 2.1 makes it a compelling option for gaming.
The TV’s picture quality is nicely complemented by the sound it delivers, all thanks to the 70W sound system it features. The soundbar includes front-facing speakers, and side-facing tweeters, while the subwoofer is placed on the rear. The soundbar delivers 40W output, and adding the 30W delivered by the subwoofer, the Q2 Pro actually features a 70W 2.1 sound system, which is powered by Dolby Atmos and is co-tuned by Danish audio brand Dynaudio. Specs and technical mumbo jumbo aside, the fact is that the stellar audio output adds life to whatever content you choose to watch on the TV, with richness and detail that can match external sounbars. The bass delivered by the subwoofer adds punch, enhancing action sequences and music. The OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro makes good use of these audio capabilities too, and can even be used as a standalone Bluetooth audio system by allowing you to pair your smartphone to play music. Now that makes perfect sense and is quite handy as well.
Verdict
The core functionality of a TV mainly involves picture and sound quality, and the OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro delivers in those aspects. Going above and beyond though, it amps up on premiumness and promises an experience that marries these core aspects with an elegant design and intelligent, useful features, turning it into a solid entertainment package. The ecosystem play with the OnePlus Buds, Watch etc is just an added bonus, drawing users into the brand’s portfolio of devices in a subtle manner. For its asking price of Rs 99,999, the OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro isn’t necessarily the most affordable 65-inch QLED option out there, but I think the pricing isn’t high considering everything it offers.
Editor’s rating: 4 / 5
Pros:
- Nice design
- Good image quality and audio
- Useful features & gaming focus
- Ecosystem integration
Cons:
- No mute key on the remote
- Remote response slow at times
The post OnePlus TV 65 Q2 Pro review: a complete entertainment package first appeared on 91mobiles.com.
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