Nokia Smart TV Best Review-QLED TV vs 4k TV

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DESIGN- Nokia Smart TV

Nokia QLED comes in 55 and 50-inch sizes. Nokia 4K is available in all sizes. First, let’s discuss their differences- Nokia 4K TV with Onkyo Soundbar has a very thin bezel design, metal frame, and plastic body. With thin bezels on 3 sides, there is Onkyo in-built soundbar at the bottom with grey mesh fabric which looks premium. On right is Onkyo branding and on the front is Nokia’s branding.

Overall, looks are premium. Solid Metal foot stands are given for table mount. In the box comes a wall mount kit, some paperwork, a remote with batteries, and AUX to AV connector cable. This minimalist remote has Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, and Amazon Prime hotkeys with a Google Assistant button.

Nokia QLED TV has thin bezels on 3 sides whereas the bottom bezel is thick with Nokia, Harman, and JBL branding. It has a plastic frame and plastic body with a piano finish (premium look). It has down-firing speakers and tweeters designed and tuned by JBL Harman. Same foot stands are given. These are solid and can carry entire weight. Box accessories are the same- wall mount kit, paperwork, remote with batteries, and AUX to AV connector.

Remote is the same with the same hotkeys (infrared and Bluetooth). Nokia Onkyo has metal and Nokia QLED has a plastic frame. Frames don’t matter as we see picture quality and not the frame. They have a slim design with more screen to body ratio. It’ll require 3-5 minutes for a complete setup. This is an easy Process with an android phone. It has a typical Android home screen with all types of content.

All OTT apps with their suggestions are on the home screen. Scroll up and down to select the content. Apps can be customized and downloaded via the play store.

OPERATING SYSTEM & SOFTWARE- Nokia Smart TV

They both have Android 11 OS. They have 7.5 GB of available storage. Let’s talk about software, RAM, and Storage. Android 11 has no significant change from Android 10 or 9. There are no major changes. The same optimization is done with the same display of apps. There is no significant improvement. It is an average thing. But Android 11 is a heavy OS. Despite 16 GB storage, there is 7 GB available storage. The good thing is its USB 2.0 and 3.0 port through which its storage can be increased via Hard drives.

PANELS- Nokia Smart TV

They have 4K Ultra HD Resolution, 60Hz refresh rate with MEMC at 60FPS. One has a Nokia QLED panel and the other has a normal VA panel. This is how we recognize a VA panel. Just tap on the screen and if it flashes, then it’s a VA panel. Both panels are fantastic. Nokia QLED has an 8 bit FRC VA DLED QLED panel with 425 nits peak HDR BRIGHTNESS.  Nokia 4K has an 8 bit FRC VA DLED panel with 330 nits peak HDR brightness. Their Static contrast ratio is 5000:1. They support HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision.

DISPLAY- Nokia Smart TV

Their colour optimization is amazing. Nokia QLED TV’s colours actually pop out. They are perfectly saturated. RGB (red, green, and blue) are balanced. No colour is over-powering. Its 410 nits brightness is average. Dark scenes look dark and brightness is enough in bright scenes. Usually, the maximum brightness appears in the center and 60-70 nits brightness decreases at the extreme side but this doesn’t happen in this panel. The reduction in brightness was 20-30 nits which are very good. Brightness is evenly distributed. Black lights are placed at correct proportions.

Nokia Onkyo’s picture quality is amazing but not as good as QLED TV. QLED filter helps colour to pop out. QLED TV has a blue LED whereas Onkyo TV has a white LED in the backlight. Blue LED doesn’t over-saturate blue colour. Blue colours have different properties. This white LED is good with no over-saturation. No colour is dominant. They are close to a natural profile. These are good but not as good as QLED.

Its brightness is 330 nits at the center. The brightness of an average VA panel decreases by 60-70 nits on extreme sides. But the brightness of this panel only decreases by 20-30 nits which are good. Backlight LEDs are evenly distributed. The panel provides sufficient light in darker scenes. This is significant for good picture quality.

REAL TESTING- Nokia Smart TV

We did their Upscaling test. The SD channels were played via an HD set-top box. Their Upscaling of SD and HD channels is average. No 4K TV has amazing Upscaling of SD channels. TV will not upscale SD channels brilliantly on 50-inch and above sizes. But Upscaling of HD channels is fantastic. Picture quality differs due to the QLED filter but the Upscaling is good. There is no motion blur in sports scenes.

Its MEMC is software-based but is just normal. There is only some reduction in motion blur. This is fine as no brand provides an external chip for MEMC in this price segment. Its motion blur is controlled. You’ll see only one ball which is good. Let’s check Upscaling of content played via USB. The 720p and 1080p video played via USB is amazing. The content was good.

VIDEO FORMATS- Nokia Smart TV

They have HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Vision support. HDR10 and Dolby Vision content is played amazingly on both Netflix and Amazon Prime. Micro dimming is given in both TVs but the number of zones is not mentioned by Nokia. It is impossible to note them by anyone. They have the ‘Eye protect plus’ feature. This feature reduces the brightness and shows a warmer colour which is good for night viewing. Turn it on in dark places. It is a good feature but you shouldn’t buy this TV for this feature.

OTT APPS PERFORMANCE – Nokia smart TV

Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision logos were seen as these TVs support these formats. Dolby Vision content can be enjoyed. HDR and HDR10 content can be enjoyed due to HDR10 support. OTT content is displayed extremely well due to HDR10 and Dolby Vision support. Colours are vibrant in the QLED model. Dolby Vision will show the appropriate brightness even in the dark scenes which is beautiful. Nokia 4K TV doesn’t show such quality as it doesn’t have a QLED filter. OTT apps can be easily downloaded via the Play Store.

SERIOUS LEVEL TESTING- Nokia Smart TV

Their dimming is good. It is not like a full-array panel but it is good as per the VA panel. The halo effect is less which is good. The grey uniformity on 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% is good. Stress was put on the screen to test dimming. Both TVs perform well as per their budgets. These perform well as compared to TVs in this price range.

We a proper halo test to check MEMC capabilities. There was not much halo in the blades of windmills. The Halo effect destroys the fun of watching sports. The performance of blacks is good due to good Contrast. Motion blur or halo is less. Even after switching off motion flow, the performance is good. While watching a cricket match, 2 or 3 balls will not appear instead of 1.

VIEWING ANGLES- Nokia smart Tv

Brightness and colours are perfect from the front but there is a slight loss in colour and brightness on extreme sides. On extreme sides, there is 25% brightness and colour loss as they are VA panels. QLED filter pop-ups the colours due to which there is only 15-20% colour loss at extreme sides. But in Nokia Onkyo, the brightness and colour loss at extreme sides is 20-30% which is normal. Up to 60°, there is no brightness and colour loss.

AUDIO QUALITY- Nokia Smart TV

The 60W down-firing speakers and tweeters combination of JBL Harman is extremely good. They are brilliant as they have amazing separation. The sound is distributed among both speaker channels as per the need. This is amazing. This is not present in the 40W Onkyo soundbar. These are average. They are not as good as JBL Harman’s tuning. They are down-firing whereas they are front-firing but their output is almost similar. Is it good or bad? Well, they both are good speakers but JBL Harman is better for sure.

CONNECTIVITY OPTIONS- Nokia Smart TV

They have 3 HDMI ports (one is 2.1). Out of there are 2 USB ports, 1 is 2.0 port and 1 is 3.0 port which is good. It has 1 optical port, 1 LAN port, 1 headphone jack, 1 AV composite, 2 way Bluetooth 5.0, and dual-band wifi. Out of 3, one port is HDMI 2.1 eARC port which is not mentioned on the TV. Dolby Atmos can be passthrough via 2.1 port which is good. PlayStation and Xbox can be connected. They play at 60FPS as this panel supports 60FPS only.

There both USB ports are non-functional. 2 ports are good but as soon as you plug in a drive (any size), it will show on the TV but the data will not be displayed. Pendrives and hard drives can’t be directly read on this TV no matter what setting you change.  For that, you need to download a file explorer file from Playstore which is bad. Usually, all TVs automatically read it but in this TV, it is a software glitch. This can be treated with an OTA update.

We don’t know whether this bug is from Nokia’s side but we think this is a bug in Android 11. Android can treat it with an OTA update and Nokia should push this update.

Pros and cons- Nokia Smart TV

 Pros of Nokia Smart TV –

Their biggest pro is their picture quality. The colours are amazing particularly in QLED due to the Quantum filter. The colours pop out. And in this also colours are good. They won’t disappoint you. The uniform brightness is surprising and a very good thing. There is 410 brightness in the center and more than 370 nits brightness in the corner which is good. If it is 330 brightness in the centre then there will be around 300 nits brightness in the corner which is good. You can see these leaves in dark regions which usually can’t be seen on other TVs. Its contrast is amazing. These were the pros.

Another pro that can be a con too is its MEMC which doesn’t work well but it is also not needed. The motion blur is less which is good. You will see only 1 cricket ball. Their audio quality is amazing. It is a pro but considers it after picture quality. JBL Harman speakers are far better than Onkyo soundbar.

Cons of Nokia Smart TV –

MEMC is a hoax. We think it doesn’t work that well and it is not needed on this TV. Their USB ports are almost non-functional. You will need an external app to read the content of the USB. Apps like file managers are required to play the content of USB. This process is quite hectic. This is a glitch of either Nokia’s software or of Android 11. Nobody knows when this will be resolved.

Nokia should address this issue and provide an easy step to solve it. Second, its MEMC is overly publicized. Fast-moving cars don’t appear butter smooth. But the cricket ball will appear one which is good. Viewing angles are compromised due to the VA panel. 20-25% colour and brightness loss will be visible in Nokia Onkyo soundbar TV whereas there will be 15% colour and brightness loss in QLED TV on extreme sides. This is the basic property of a VA panel. Last but not the least, 330 nits brightness is less. Nokia has shown 400 nits but we recorded it as 330 nits and that is not sufficient.

There are more options in the market better than this. One major flaw- their aspect ratios can’t be changed. It isn’t a deal-breaker for many people. The content can’t be stretched over black screens in these TVs. It might be given in future software updates but we are not sure if it’ll happen or not. Right now you can’t change the aspect ratio.

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I am Rachita Jain, a content writer with VM-One Technologies. Apart from travelling on a budget, I love to dig deep into the world of content. With the power of words at VM-One Technologies, I design and transform Vineet Malhotra’s tech reviews into blogs for people who love to read.

Rachita

Disclaimer: Please note that the prices mentioned in the article were recorded on the publishing date. Prices may change with time.

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