Amazon Fire Omni QLED review: Awesome smart, good picture quality | Tech Reddy

Amazon thinks your TV isn’t doing enough when you’re not watching, and its new Fire TV Omni QLED series aims to fix that. With Alexa built-in hands-free, it can do everything a powerful voice assistant can do. Plus, it’s an always-on (or mostly) device that can double as a large photo frame, and it also features widgets to keep you updated on the weather, upcoming events, and more.

Oh, and you can use it to watch shows and movies and play games – you know, like a regular TV. With QLED display technology, it produces a perfect image. But that is almost an afterthought.

Amazon’s voice assistant is part of many TVs now – on TVs running Fire TV OS and on models that don’t work, such as those from LG and Samsung. But none have the deep Alexa integration that Amazon’s TVs offer, resulting in a seamless voice control experience. In many ways, using your voice to control the Fire TV Omni QLED is easier and faster than using a remote. You can use your voice to turn on the TV, start a show, rewind, pause, adjust the volume and more.

Alexa on the Fire TV Omni QLED can do more than control the TV. It can control your smart bulbs, monitor your smart security devices, change the temperature on your smart thermostat – if you live in a connected home, your TV screen can be the center of it all. And Alexa works when the screen is off, so you can queue up songs or use other features of the virtual assistant whenever you want.

Other Fire TVs can do all that too, though the Omni QLED makes for a simpler experience. The production of the Fire TV Omni QLED is what Amazon calls Ambient Experience. This feature turns your TV into a live show. When you’re not watching TV, it displays photos, art or other images — like a large picture frame or screen saver. You can control the length of the images displayed and choose which images are displayed, choosing from the library or using your own photos. If you like the idea of ​​Samsung’s Frame TV, you’ll love the Ambient experience on the Fire TV.

You can also choose from a few widgets to display information while in Ambient mode. This includes displaying your calendar, suggestions for things to watch and sticky notes, which allow you to write a note on the screen instead of leaving a note on the fridge or counter. Widgets make your TV feel like a lock on your phone – you’re never far from the latest information about your life.

You can set Ambient Experience to turn on the screen only when it senses someone in the room. This helps save energy, but it also sounds a bit creepy. When you walk into a room and the TV turns on by itself, you can’t help but feel like you’re being watched. Fortunately, you can turn off the Ambient experience if you don’t feel the need for your TV to work that hard.

Given Amazon’s experience in making smart speakers, we shouldn’t be surprised that the Fire TV Omni QLED produces decent TV sound. Although it only has two channels, the dialogue was clear and even produced a little bass. While listening to music, it sounded just as good as the Echo. However, the TV does not support Dolby Atmos and does not have any surround sound modes. A good sound bar will be a welcome addition to your setup.

The Fire TV Omni QLED has the technology you need for a mid-range 4K TV – a QLED screen with full backlight and dark areas, and one input that supports HDMI 2.1, the latest standard. In theory, that should produce a sharp image with excellent contrast and vibrant colors.

But the truth is that it has a very mediocre image. The colors always looked flat. It had better contrast than a TV without its technology, with deep blacks, but in many places the dark areas dominated the light. Image quality depends on the source content. For example, while watching “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” the TV switched to Dolby Vision IQ mode, which resulted in washed out backgrounds and dark greens, but the reds were vibrant. The TV produced a good contrast in the 4K Blu-ray version of “Blade Runner 2049,” although some colors appear saturated.

There are many adjustments you can make to the settings to help overcome these issues, but I couldn’t get the picture to look as good as it should.

Other TVs in this price range, such as the Hisense U7H, deliver much better pictures. And the U7H offers a refresh rate of 120Hz, while the Omni QLED is only capable of 60Hz – something gamers will want to consider.

It focuses on Amazon services and products

All Fire TVs put Amazon Video content front and center, so that’s not a specific complaint about the Omni QLED. But on the home screen, where we recommend watching, you will see Amazon’s content is more visible than the displays on other services. And you don’t have much control over what appears on the home screen. If you are not a member of the Prime Minister, television is very rare or useful.

The Fire TV Omni QLED is available in 65 inches for $800 or 75 inches for $1,100 (we tested the 65-inch model). If you want the features it offers but don’t have that much screen space, you’re out of luck. Amazon’s first Omni TV (sans QLED technology), released last year, comes in different sizes, from 43 inches ($330) to 75 inches ($1,050 ), and the U7H range from 55 inches ($570) to 85 inches. $1,800).

Greatness	65 and 75 inches	55, 65, 75 and 85 inches
Dimensions (for 65-inch model)	57.1 x 33.4 x 3.2 inches	57.0 × 33.1 × 3.5 inches
Weight (for 65-inch model)	45.4 pounds	43 pounds
Panel type	QLED LCD	LED LCD
Contribution	4 HDMI (one HDMI 2.1 with eARC), 1 USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, coaxial antenna	4 HDMI (2 up to 4K @ 120Hz, 2 up to 4K @ 60Hz), 2 USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, coaxial antenna
Results	Optical digital audio, 3.5mm auxiliary, Bluetooth	Optical digital audio, 3.5mm auxiliary, Bluetooth
HDR	Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+ Adaptive, HDR10, HLG	Dolby Vision HDR, HDR10+ Adaptive, HDR10, HLG
Anger	2.0 channels	2.0 channels
Price	800 dollars	$798

With its line of Fire TVs, Amazon has the ability to innovate, thanks to its deep integration with Alexa. And the Fire TV Omni QLED shows how a TV can be more than just a display – voice control is easy and fast and can change the way you interact with your TV. Ambient Experience can fill your life with more images and information – or you can decide to turn it off.

In terms of picture quality, the Omni QLED cannot compete with other TVs in the price range, such as the Hisense U7H, although it has comparable technology. But if you’re looking for a TV that’s more than a TV, the Omni QLED shows the promise of making the biggest screen in the house the center of your smart life.