FlatpanelsHD has seen Philips new 8000 series with improved Ambilight and smart TV powered by Android. Here are our hands-on impressions. The Android Smart TVs will be available in both HD and Ultra HD ranging from 48 inches to 55 inches.

Philips with Android is a big improvement
Philips has just demonstrated their new 8000 series TV to the press and FlatpanelsHD was there at the launch event.

Philips is launching the new 8000 series with focus on both Full HD and Ultra HD. However, the two models feature almost identical specifications except the chipsets.

To make the experience smooth on both the HD and UHD screens, the HD TV will get a quad-core chipset and the UHD will get a hex-core to push four times the pixels.


All the apps you need and more
For the presentation, Philips had brought a HD version of the 8000 series, called 8109. The quad-core chipset ran Android with great control and there was no lag. It switched between apps like a breeze. Everything was smooth, fast and the only issue is the current selection of apps.

The Android-powered TV launched today with only 300 apps available, but Philips expects that before the end of 2014 there will be over 10.000 apps.

Some of the most power-demanding apps are games, and right now the award winning game The Walking Dead is already available. Popular games like Hitman 2 and FIFA 14 will also arrive soon.

To top it off, the TV can use console game controllers, and for the demonstration Philips connected a Xbox 360 controller to play a game. However, big games will quickly fill up the 2.7 GB hard drive, so it is comforting to know that there is a USB 3.0 input that lets you expand the storage with a USB pen or hard drive. 


More Ambilight fun for the fans
Philips is very proud of a new Ambilight function that lights up the room while watching TV, but Philips has upgraded  Ambilight with even more new features and better speed. Ambilight can now be used while gaming and if you are playing a scary game or watching a horror movie you will be delighted to know that Ambilight can automatically turn off light during dark scenes.

For football fans there is also a fun new function; you can control the Ambilight so that if England scores during the World Cup in Brazil, Ambilight will show the Union Jack. A nifty feature that can be used later in Premier League matches, for other sports events, or for something completely different. 

However, only the HD versions of the Android Smart TVs have four-sided Ambilight, as the UHD panel is a bit deeper. To avoid the TV becoming too deep the UHD only have Ambilight at the top, left and right. 

The UHD Android Smart TV will be available in 55” and the HD version will come in 48” and 55” in both silver and white front bezel around the screen. The only difference between 8109 and 8209 is the color of the frame (silver metal look and white metal look).

Questions? Just ask