The television is usually the centre of the living room and the main source of entertainment in a household. As the centre it holds a unique position of being the only item that not only has to look good, it needs to be able to seamless fit into any design. However, this centre piece is slowly finding its way into bedrooms and boardrooms.
This shift is prompted by the additional use cases it has acquired over the years thanks to the internet and the advent of Wi-Fi and streaming. Nowadays, we use the television a complementary screen in addition to our media centre. It connects to laptops, desktops and smartphones seamlessly but, more importantly, it’s become a tool that everyone for work and play.
It has, therefore, become more important that we make an informed choice when it comes to purchasing a television. This is increasingly true with the myriad of choices that we are seeing in the market. There is now a television for every price point. The subject of this review, the HAIER LE550K6600GU, comes in a slither under MYR2,500. Is the MYR2,399 you pay for it worth it? Does it stand up to the competition? Should you go a tier higher for better performance? Those are the questions we’re looking to answer in this review.
Design
The HAIER LE50K6600UG is one of the sleekest television sets we’ve seen in a while. That especially rings true when it come to the sub MYR2,500 price point. HAIER didn’t hold back much when it comes to the design of the TV. It has one of the slimmest bezels for a television of its price-point and its minimalistic design allows it to blend seamlessly into any room setup.
Keep in mind, the HAIER Smart TV isn’t a small one either. It’s 50-inches; while it’s on the smaller end of the spectrum nowadays, it’s still pretty substantial when you put it in the middle of a room. The slim, near bezel-less design allows its to standout while blending in. It may sound a little oxymoronic, but the television is able to blend into any setup thanks to the large, black screen but it also has a panel which is bright enough to make it stand out. It’s built-in Chromecast feature also gives it beautiful pictures to cycle through when not in use. Even when the screen is blank, the surface of the black screen is mattified to minimise its reflectivity. You don’t get much distractions even with the screen off.
The overall footprint of the HAIER LE50K6600UG is also smaller and sleeker than its competition. At its thickest it measures just about 3cm; at its thinnest it’s about 0.5cm. This means that mounting it or even standing it shouldn’t be too much of a space issue. However, the legs provided to stand the TV on a console is about 15cm in width. While the design of the stand is sleek, it’s basically two slim throngs which are in an inversed V.
The one blemish on the sleek design of the HAIER LE50K6600UG is the infrared receiver for the remote control. I mean, it’s a literal blemish on the lower left corner of the TV. The odd bump also glows an ominous red when the television is off. Perhaps the main reason I call it a blemish is the odd brown colouring of the rather large casing for the receiver. It’s about a centimetre thick. However, HAIER placed it in a position that doesn’t take much away from the overall façade of the TV itself.
Features
Android TV
The HAIER LE50K6600UG is one of HAIER’s new Android TV touting smart TVs. It runs Android 9.0 Pie out of the box. However, HAIER couldn’t confirm if there would be upgrades to Android 10 later on. They mentioned that it heavily depended on the hardware requirements of Android 10 for TVs. If the hardware requirements are still met in the LE50K6600UG, it is likely that it will get the update.
However, being an Android powered TV, the HAIER LE50K6600UG is able to access a wide variety of TV optimised apps from the Google Play Store. Apps like TubiTV, Amazon Prime TV and more can be downloaded from the Play Store to optimise your viewing experience. Netflix and YouTube come pre-loaded with a dedicated button on the remote. The wide variety of apps also extends the multipurpose nature of the TV. During our time we had remote streaming apps and even apps for productivity installed.
Android TV’s interface has also been optimised with introduction of Android 9 Pie. The new interface streamlines your frequently accessed apps and has quick access to your most frequently used apps. For example, recommended programs on Netflix are placed front and centre in a widgetised version of the app called channels. This quick access ribbons can be customised and personalised in the settings of the TV.
That said, there is a big flaw when it comes to HAIER’s implementation of Android TV on the LE50K6600UG: pressing the power button on the remote control as you usually would doesn’t turn off the TV. Instead, it sends it into sleep mode. This keeps the processor and graphics processor of the TV running even when the screen is off. However, the most detrimental effect of this is that the TV can get sluggish after a day or two. That said, sending the TV into sleep mode speeds up the boot time of the TV significantly.
AI, Chromecast, & Bluetooth remote control
The remote control of the HAIER LE50K6600UG is not just a standard infrared remote. It comes equipped with Bluetooth connectivity as well. The Bluetooth connectivity of the remote control is setup with a simple button combination during setup. After setting up the Bluetooth, you’ll be able to control the TV without pointing the remote at the tv itself. This also means that if you’re trying to mute the volume or turn the TV off in a hurry, you won’t be stumbling to point the remote control at the TV. That said, this functionality doesn’t work when you shut down the TV properly. It will only kick in after the TV has booted the next time.
Aside from that, the LE50K6600UG comes with AI built in. The AI automatically adjusts and optimises the display settings depending on the surroundings of the TV. It works most of the time. However, I found the optimisations to be a tad bit too minute and too focused on the brightness of the display. It rarely adjusted the saturation, gamma or contrast of the display. I’m also pretty certain that the AI could be contributing to the slowdown of the TV’s performance when its not shutdown. However, it’s a simple fix for HAIER with a software update.
The HAIER LE50K6600UG is a 4K UHD TV. It has a resolution 3840 x 2160 pixels. That said, the picture quality of the HAIER LE50K6600UG is passable. It’s not overly saturated like some of its competition. However, when it comes to the colour reproduction, the colours seem a little washed out and heavy on blues. This could be due to HAIER’s configuration of the individual pixels of the panel. There may be more white pixels to compensate for brightness.
That said, it doesn’t affect the overall experience much unless you’re looking for cinema grade screens – which, to be very honest will never be in the price range of this TV. The viewing angles of the screen affects the crispness of the details on the screen which is a little weird. In our review period, anything above about 60° makes the characters and alphabets look a little fuzzy. However, like many of the flaws on the HAIER, you won’t notice it unless you are trying really hard to.
Another big plus for the TV is the built-in Chromecast functionality. This allows the TV to work as a second, complementary screen to your phone, tablet or laptop. You can easily use YouTube and other streaming apps which are able to take advantage of the Chromecast API. It also allows you to be able to project from your PC with ease, allowing you to use it to project presentations seamlessly. The Chromecast functionality is one of the biggest advantages the TV has over its competition.
Google Assistant & Connectivity
Of course, being an Android TV, the LE50K6600UG comes with Google Assistant. This allows you to give the TV commands with your voice. Keep in mind that you need to be signed in and have an active internet connection for it to work. The voice recognition is pretty accurate but only if you enunciate your words properly. That said, I found myself using the Google Assistant very sparingly. I found it more tedious than helpful especially when searching in apps. However, it did come in useful when I wanted to launch apps quickly. It allowed me to launch the apps without clicking into the app drawer and searching for the apps manually.
The HAIER Smart TV comes with a whole array of connectivity from Bluetooth to Wi-Fi. It has 1 ARC HDMI input, 3 HDMI inputs, 2 USB inputs, 1 LAN input, a microSD card slot, L/R out, 3.5mm out and a few more for your over the air television signals. That is a whole lot of inputs and output. That said, the TV is able to intelligently name and label the channels according to the device that is plugged in. However, when it came to the USB inputs, we noticed that it could only read USB 2.0 drives. When we tried USB 3.0 and higher, the TV was unable to detect the drive and its contents. We’re unsure if it is a software issue but it’s likely that it may be a fault with the software of the unit that we had for review.
Picture & Sound Quality
The HAIER LE50K6600UG is a 4K UHD TV. It has a resolution 3840 x 2160 pixels. That said, the picture quality of the HAIER LE50K6600UG is passable. It’s not overly saturated like some of its competition. However, when it comes to the colour reproduction, the colours seem a little washed out and heavy on blues. This could be due to HAIER’s configuration of the individual pixels of the panel. There may be more white pixels to compensate for brightness.
That said, it doesn’t affect the overall experience much unless you’re looking for cinema grade screens – which, to be very honest will never be in the price range of this TV. The viewing angles of the screen affects the crispness of the details on the screen which is a little weird. In our review period, anything above about 60° makes the characters and alphabets look a little fuzzy. However, like many of the flaws on the HAIER, you won’t notice it unless you are trying really hard to.
When it comes to sound, the quality is pretty good. In fact, I would go so far as to say that HAIER is a class above most of its similarly priced competition. While the sound isn’t full and rounded, it doesn’t take away from the experience of the TV unless, like a reviewer, you are looking for flaws. The sound coming out of the built-in speakers was rather hollow and tinny. This also made the sound feel a little too bassy. However, this is easily remedied with an inexpensive sound bar, if the sound quality is an essential for your TV.
An Option for Those Looking for a Well-rounded experience without breaking the bank
The HAIER Smart TV is one of the most well-rounded options in its price range. It provides a good picture quality, enough connectivity options and good sound quality. Overall, it has a complete package and provides a pretty commendable experience especially if you’re looking for a good overall experience without going broke.
At MYR2,399, it’s one of the most affordable 4K UHD TVs in the market. In fact, it’s one of the most affordable Android TVs in the market which is a big plus. Android TVs run a premium just because of the licensing that companies have to pay Google. However, HAIER has found a way to keep the TV affordable while equipping it with most of the sought-after features; making it a serious option for people who are looking for an easy, plug and play Smart TV to complete their rooms or home.