Since Television is invented, it has been one of the most loved home appliances. Ranging from monochrome (black-and-white) TV, it evolved to colored television and gradually to 3-dimensional (3D) TV, and the technology is still to evolving. And now, gone are the days of traditional TVs with cable and channels. The recent development of advanced TVs makes their customers watch what they want to watch, how and when they want to watch and what content. These fast developments bring heavy competition into the digital market and a lot of high-tech and AI enabled smart machines are gaining popularity and newer devices are getting updated at a speed of rapid fire. In terms of hardware, the size of display panel is getting larger while the weight is getting lighter day by day with the rapid high-tech advancing. TV is getting integrated with software and the internet, with the availability of ‘smart TVs’ in market.
With the advent of this New Year, Amazon has launched its first series of televisions under the AmazonBasics brand in India. Under these two sets of AmazonBasics televisions are listed.
Below are the specifications and features of the devices. Among the two sets one is in 50-inch and 55-inch display model. The price ranges from ₹29,999 onwards and are listed on the Amazon India website. The AmazonBasics Fire TV Edition TVs come with 4K Ultra HD Smart LED display panels and the televisions feature inbuilt 20-Watt speakers with support for Dolby Atmos for audio. The TVs also have Dolby Vision support and the television range is powered by a 1.95GHz Quad core processor and it comes with three HDMI 2.0 ports. The smart TV range runs on Fire TV operating system and comes with built-in Alexa and Alexa voice controls. It features DTH Set-Top Box Integration to switch between DTH TV Channels and OTT applications from the home screen. The OS supports a range of applications such as Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar and YouTube along with over 5,000 applications from Fire OS Store, as per the listing. The company is also planning to launch a 43-inch 4K TV in India with similar specs in addition to a 43-inch 1080p TV and a 32-inch 720p TV running on the Fire TV OS.
The AmazonBasics TV range will compete with smart televisions under similar price range from brands such as Xiaomi, TCL, and Vu among others.
The television range is powered by quad-core Amlogic processor, with three HDMI ports and two USB ports. The display has a peak refresh rate of 60Hz and a claimed viewing angle of up to 178-degrees. As expected, the AmazonBasics TVs are Fire TV Edition devices and run Amazon’s Fire TV OS. This is the same operating system for televisions as on the Fire TV Stick range of streaming devices, as well as on Fire TV Edition televisions from other brands such as Onida and Akai. Besides, you can always connect your own set top box if you don’t want to use the Amazon ecosystem. Although Fire TV OS is visually geared to perform best with Amazon Prime Video, other services such as Netflix, Hotstar, and YouTube are available in the form of applications for the platform, just like with a Fire TV Stick. Also, Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa, could be used to play movies, music, or TV shows, as well as seek information or control compatible IoT devices around the home.
Amazon’s entry into the TV segment has been long anticipated, and its first televisions are competitively priced and well-specified. At its pricing, AmazonBasics is priced around (or, in some cases) even a bit lower than TVs in the entry-level 4K segment from competing brands such as Xiaomi and Hisense, while offering key features such as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
