Mi TV 5X vs Nokia TV – Which is the best?

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DESIGN AND IN-BOX CONTENT – best smart tv in India 2021

This is Mi TV 5X 43-inch size with a very thin bezel, metal frame and plastic body. There are very thin bezels on 3 sides but the 4th bezel is thick as it has Xiaomi branding and far-field microphones. In the box comes good quality metal foot stands, paperwork, minimalist designed remote with Netflix and Prime video hotkeys along with a patch wall and Google Assistant buttons.

Nokia TV with Onkyo Soundbar comes with a very thin bezel design, metal frame and plastic body. Three bezels are thin. On the bottom bezel is an in-built Onkyo soundbar with grey mesh fabric that gives it a premium look. On the right is Onkyo branding and in the centre is Nokia branding. Its look is absolutely premium. Solid Metal foot stands are given for table mounting to carry the TV’s entire weight easily. In the box comes a wall mount kit, paperwork, remote control with batteries and an AUX to AV connector cable. The minimalist remote has Netflix, Youtube, Google Play and Prime Video hotkeys.

Design- both TVs have slim bezels. This design gives a premium look but a TV must be bought for its good picture quality and not for design.

TURNING ON THE TV

It takes 30-40 seconds to boot up both the TVs which is normal. Mi TV has the same home screen as any Android TV. It has Android 10 OS with patch wall 4 skin. Homescreen has all apps and suggestions and the same can be seen differently in Patchwall as suggestions that have been shuffled. Content will be the same in patch wall and android. It is up to you how you want to see it. The Android OS becomes laggy due to Patchwall 4 skin. The 12 GB free storage from 16 GB storage is good.

Mi  TV 5X has Android 10 and Nokia TV h Android 11 and there is only 1 difference between Android 10 and Android 11- Android 11 takes more space than Android 10. Patchwall skin over Android 10 makes this TV laggy and the apps crash. In terms of User interfaces, they are absolutely the same. You can buy any in terms of Android OS.

CPU, GPU & STORAGE

They both have quad-core CPU and GPU and there is no issue with their performance. The difference is in their storage. They both have 16GB storage but this has 12GB free storage and it has 7.5 to 7.8 GB free storage as Android 11 is heavy. But its storage can be increased with USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports.

SOFTWARE

Nokia has an 8 bit FRC VA DLED panel with 330 nits peak HDR brightness. Mi TV 5X has an 8 bit FRC VA DLED panel with 275 nits peak HDR brightness. They both have a VA panel. Xiaomi says it can ship any panel but most probably it’ll ship VA panel. They both support HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision but Xiaomi supports HDR10+ too. This doesn’t make any difference as its peak HDR brightness is just 330 nits. More brightness illuminates the darker scenes which is an indicator of good picture quality. Mi TV has adaptive brightness which is good.

The brightness adjusts itself as per the light of the room which is a soothing feature to have. The same feature is in Nokia termed eye protector mode which is to be turned on manually and this is not a big thing. Nokia TV has micro dimming. The reality flow in Mi TV 5X is MEMC. Nokia TV also has MEMC but both the MEMCs are capped at 60FPS which makes no difference.

UPSCALING TESTS

We checked the upscaling of SD channels with an HD set-top box and their upscaling was absolutely normal like any other TV. Their picture quality and upscaling of HD channels are amazing. Mi TV is the clear winner in SD and HD channels. The gold, red and green colour pops out; which enhances the colour quality (for people who watch Indian soaps more). HD channels are best on this TV.

The quality of SD channels is good on both TVs. SD channels are ok which is common in all 55-inch 4K TVs but HD channels are fantastic. The upscaling of the videos played via USB was good. The 1080p video was upscaled amazingly by both TVs. All video formats can be played via USB including 4K videos.

Mi TV has 1 advantage over Nokia TV- its content can be stretched to the entire screen. But in the Nokia aspect ratio of content played via USB can’t be changed. This can be treated with a software update but we can’t say when that will happen.

PERFORMANCE OF OTT APPS – best smart tv in India 2021

We tested their OTT app performance too. They both support HDR10, HLG and Dolby vision but Mi TV 5X supports HDR10+ which you can see on Amazon Prime. The Dolby Vision content on Netflix is good in Nokia due to its slightly more brightness. There is no issue with brightness in darker scenes. We played the squid games trailer in both to check the authentic colour performance. They both have Dolby vision but the red and green uniform in Mi TV 5X was better shown than in Nokia.

This is because of the over-saturated colour in Mi TV 5X. This is what you need to note. You must see natural and not over-saturated colours. This does not make it a bad TV. You can calibrate the colours in Mi TV as per your choice. We do the testing in default mode to check the exact picture quality. We don’t need colour calibration in Nokia TV as it shows very close to the natural colour profile. You can adjust the brightness and colours on this TV too.

THE REAL TESTS

In the dimming test, we noticed more Halo and dimming in Mi TV 5X than in Nokia TV. These are 60Hz panels with MEMC. In a stress test, the performance of Blacks is good but halo is more in Mi TV 5X.  We turned off MEMC while conducting the Halo test. Nokia’s performance was fine but in Mi TV 5X we noticed 2-3 blades instead of 1. Their grey uniformity performance was good at 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%.

The Blooming or Halo is more in Mi TV 5X. The same was seen in the windmill test where we saw 2-3 blades and not 1. In the dimming test also, the rotating circle showed more halo. It is because the micro dimming in Nokia controls the blooming and Halo. We turned off the MEMC to see the real performance. Nokia performs better after turning off MEMC. It is recommended you keep MEMC off for better performance. The straight viewing angle shows perfect colours and brightness but on extreme sides, there is a slight colour and brightness loss as they are VA panel TVs.

Let’s talk about extra features like HDMI 2.1 port and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode). Both Mi TV 5X and Nokia TV have HDMI 2.1 but Nokia TV does not ALLM as Nokia chose not to give it. If you are a gamer then Mi TV is the best TV on a budget as you won’t see Frame drop. The latency decreases. The response is between 10-12 milliseconds. The same can’t be expected from Nokia TV.

AUDIO – Mi TV 5X vs Nokia TV

The Mi TV 43-inch size has 30W whereas the Mi TV 55 inch size has 40W speakers. We don’t know about 40W speakers but these 30W speakers are average and they don’t give a cinematic experience.

The 48W Onkyo soundbar in Nokia is exceptionally good. There is no separation but the quality of this front-firing speaker and tweeter combination is simply awesome. For audio quality, Nokia is better.

CONNECTIVITY PORTS – Mi TV 5X vs Nokia TV

They both have an HDMI 2.1 eARC port and Nokia has USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports which is both advantage and a disadvantage. You need an external app to open the connected hardware. This can be treated with an update but nothing can be said regarding the release of this OTA. A file explorer from Playstore must be downloaded to read the USB. This is a slightly lengthy process but this advantage of USB in the budget range is unbeatable.

The most important thing is picture quality-

Red and green colours are oversaturated in Xiaomi. Red colour oversaturation can be captured on camera but not green. RGB are not over-saturated in Nokia. It has a very close to nature colour profile but how does it translate to picture quality? Both picture qualities are fine. For India soaps, Mi TV shows oversaturated colours. Colour calibration can be done but the default colours are over-saturated. In Nokia, no colour tuning is needed.

Pros and cons-

1. NOKIA 55-inch 4K TV with Onkyo Soundbar-

2. Mi TV 5X

DOLBY VISION AND HDR CONTENT – best smart tv in India 2021

To enjoy HDR or Dolby Vision content, at least 400 nits brightness is a must which is not there in Mi TV. Even Nokia doesn’t show amazing Dolby Vision content due to its 330 nits low brightness. They both are almost equal in HDR10 and Dolby vision content. Nokia has close to natural colours whereas the colours of Mi TV must be calibrated to make them natural.

SERVICE NETWORKS – Mi TV 5X vs Nokia TV

People are confused between Nokia and Xiaomi due to their service networks. Xiaomi is a big mobile phone brand with many service centres all over India. Nokia has no service centre. But do you take the TV to a service centre for repair? Mostly we go for doorstep service which is provided by service centres and not directly from Xiaomi. No brand provides service.

Every brand has tie-ups with local service centres which are different in every state. They provide service on behalf of all TV brands. You need to check both the quantity and quality of those tie-ups. If that tie-up is there, then buy any TV as per your requirement. Picture quality is the most important criterion to judge a TV. The quality of services depends upon the service agreements. Do check these tie-ups.

CONCLUSION

You can buy anyone out of them. They both are almost similar and the only difference is between their colour profiles. Otherwise, they have similar features. Nokia TV is slightly better due to better audio. With the OTA update for USB, it’ll be a killer in this particular comparison.