The Samsung Series 7 4K Ultra HD tv, with HDR and LED technology is a smart tv sold by Samsung, and which is available in 43”, 50”, 55”, 65”, and 75”. It can be bought through Samsung’s website, on Amazon, or through Curry’s, and the one I have is 43”, which I bought around April. But how accessible is the tv overall, and is it the right tv for disabled people who want more control?
The box that the tv comes in has the word ’Samsung’ at the top of it, alongside some bits of smaller writing, outlining some things about the 4K, including on other features the tv comes with. Further down the box, we also see the words ’Cristal UHD’ in larger letters, beside some information on how much energy the television uses, in the space beside it. The only thing I think could be improved with the box is that some features could be written in larger letters, so people who struggle with reading could find it easier to see what the box says, but you can get all of the information online as well.
Inside the box you get the tv, the remote, and the stands for the tv to sit on, although it’s up to you whether you want to use the stands or not. I have mine up on the wall, and your wires and cables.
Getting all the nerd stuff out of the way, this tv comes with a crystal display for long-lasting colour and sharp contrast, 4K Crystal Processors for the best picture and sound, picture quality of 2000 PQI, HDR, along with offering catch up tv and 4K streaming.
With the SmartThings app, you can connect your tv to your phone, allowing people with physical disabilities to set up the tv themselves, completely from the app.
To set up your tv from your phone, you will need to start by creating a Samsung account, and allow the Samsung and SmartThings account access to your network. After that, you’ll have to log in giving access to your date of birth, your name etc, and you can also save your password so there’s no need to try and remember it each time. After that, an email will be sent to you to finish off the process, and you also have the option to set up two-step verification, which will let you get login reminders to your phone. Once you’ve created your account, you’re ready to set up your tv. The way you do this is by going to the my home page, and clicking on the option that currently reads ’Living Room’. That will take you to a page that gives you various options, and the one you’re wanting to hit is ’Device’. From here, you’re wanting to hit TV, and then you’ll hit the brand. This will bring you to a page where you’ll want to hit ’Supported Devices’ , and you’ll have to change your location settings to always on, but you can change this later. From there, you can get started actually setting up your tv, from assigning a specific room to it, to setting a wallpaper, etc etc. For using it with a smart speaker or with voice control, you should allow SmartThings to have access to your microphone, but this will take a bit of time to complete. Once you are able to select your tv, you’ll be asked to go to your wifi settings on your phone, and to enter the password you’re given. After you enter your password, your phone will connect to your tv, and you’ll be asked to enter a pin that will show up on your tv. The last thing you’ll have to do is connect your tv to the internet, but after it connects, you’ll just have to agree to stuff, and it will be all sorted.
After everything is connected, getting around it should look like this. SmartThings will give you other optional apps you can download, but honestly, most of the other apps they give I’ve never heard of.
This remote feature works with iOS and Android Devices.
As well as the better colour quality — which is amazingly better compared to my old tv — this tv gives you access to all the top streaming apps, including Apple TV, Netflix and Disney+. As well as these ones, you also get Amazon Prime, YouTube, and TickTock, so there’s something for everyone, and you can even connect it to your Apple Music and Spotify!
This tv also makes it easy for you to enjoy your favourite game consoles, with picture and sounds that adapts as fast as your game. Although I still have my Xbox One S, the 4K picture quality is still extremely good, and it’s much easier to play games with dark scenes than it was when I played them on my old tv.
As mentioned before, the remote the Premium One Remote also connects to your phone — so it’s easy to use if you can’t physically use a remote but you want to control your tv — and you can also connect SmartThings to your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
Lastly, you can also screen mirror your iPad or phone screen to the tv, which I find really useful when attending online history conferences. Last year, I had to screen mirror them to my Apple TV 4K, which — while it was good, didn’t have the best internet connection. But each time I’ve mirrored my iPad screen to the Samsung TV, it’s offered a much more enjoyable experience, which — for anyone who’s interested in using it the way I do — is a big plus.
But what do I think about the Samsung Series 7 Smart TV overall? The 4K is brilliant, and you can definitely see a big difference between this tv and other older tvs. As someone who upgraded purely on the fact that I would be able to control my tv easier than my older smart tv, I love how easy it is to set up the tv on my phone, and how easy it is to control my tv using my phone and iPad, as well as how many apps you have access to on the tv and how easy they are to install.
But even then, there are a few problems. Although you can set up your tv using your phone, and use it as a remote thereafter, there are times when you have to either ask someone to turn the tv on with your physical remote, or you’d have to delete the app and re-download it, until the tv is readable. As well as this, there have been times when the internet has completely disconnected itself off the tv for a period of time, which is when I usually swap over to my Apple TV until it sorts itself, but this is only every now and again.
But overall, I’m really happy with what the tv allows me to do, and 90% of the time I’d say it works.
The Samsung Series 7 Smart tv costs £369.00 as an overall payment, but you can also buy it with a monthly payment. It is a really good buy, and it’s probably the best out there if you want to have everything it allows you access to.
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