One minute review
With the OLED806, Philips delivered a beautiful, well-designed OLED TV with a wealth of features, a unique selling point and consistently superb picture quality. And all of this is being done for a real price. Including all the HDR standards isn't unique, Panasonic does that too, but it certainly puts all the other competitors down a bit. Some HDMI inputs with a full 2.1 specification are no more than what new generation gamers deserve. And the excellent image quality – balanced and naturalistic, yet vibrant and exciting at the same time – is enhanced by four-sided Ambilight for added immersion and reduced eye strain. Philips even sounds pretty good. All of this means that the Android TV interface that also runs and intimidatingly deep settings menus can be safely bypassed in favor of whatever the OLED806 does. If it's in your price range, all you have to do is audition.
Prices and availability
The Philips OLED806 is part of the 2021 Philips TV lineup and is on sale now. In the UK, the 55-inch model ahead of us will set you back €1,599. It's also available in a 48-inch variant ($1,299), a 65-inch version ($2,299), and a perhaps unnecessary but surprisingly affordable 77-inch model ($3,999). When it comes to pricing in the United States and Australia, Philips remains extremely cautious about the models it releases in those territories. For now, there is no confirmation that the OLED806 will reach any of these markets ... beware, there is no confirmation that it will not arrive either.
Integrated
Philips OLED806 Specifications
(Image credit: Philips) Screen sizes (inches): 48, 55, 65, 77 | Tuner: DVB-T, T2-HD | 4K: Yes | HDR: HLG, HDR10, HDR10+, Adaptive HDR10+, Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision IQ | Panel technology: OLED | Smart TV: Android | Dimensions (H x W x D, mm): 706 x 1228 x 68 | Weight (kg): 19 | Inputs: HDMI x 4, USB x 3, Ethernet, CI slot, RF and satellite dish, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0 This is the usual OLED set of two halves when it comes to the design of the Philips OLED806.
The first half is all about looking at the OLED806 from top to bottom, which, let's face it, is how you'll see it most of the time. From this angle, the Philips looks clean and understated, with well-finished, minimal bezels surrounding the screen. He is inconspicuous to the point of anonymity: the only visible mark is on one of the slender legs on which he rests. In what passes for a design touch, Philips allows you to tailor the feet in two ways: either with a visible shiny metallic finish, or with a darker, smoky alternative. Either way, the screen sits very low, meaning there's no way to fit a soundbar between the bottom of the screen and the surface it's resting on.
The second half is looking at the profile screen. Philips OLEDs aren't the only ones that are almost preternaturally thin until you reach the point where they retain all their essential electronics, when they swell to much less glamorous depths. The OLED806 expands to nearly 3 inches, which means it's far from the most wall-mounted display out there. However, at least that justifies this gain in depth in the form of a unique feature that we'll get to in a bit.
As far as technical specs go, all the important HDR standards are built in, including HDR10+ Adaptive and Dolby Vision IQ, which LG, Samsung or Sony can't claim for their competing displays, and it offers some welcome new touches. The appearance of full HDMI 2.1 support on two of the four HDMI sockets, for example, is long overdue, but better late than never, as Philips TVs have a lot to offer next-generation gamers in terms of regarding performance. ARC and eARC capabilities are also available. There are two tuners on board, three USB inputs, and a few less glamorous inputs. Dual band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 are more than enough when it comes to wireless connectivity.
Some of that unimpressive chassis depth is mitigated by the four-sided Ambilight appearance. Even if you've never seen it in action, rest assured, it's a lot less whimsical and a lot more effective than it sounds. When it comes to delivering a more immersive, less tiring viewing experience and feeling like an even bigger screen than it is, Ambilight is the deal. No other TV brand has such a compelling USP.
Inside, picture quality is governed by the fifth version of Philips P5's intelligent AI-assisted picture engine. Philips has long been (un)famous for the deep nature of its image processing, and here the company has added aspects of film and ambient light detection to its already impressive AI processing. Film detection will switch to Filmmaker mode when content is marked (completely degrading brightness and detail levels in the process) or to Philips' proprietary (and preferable) home theater mode if it isn't. Ambient Light uses the display's light sensor to adjust contrast on the fly, depending on... hey!
(Image credit: Philips)
Smart TV (Android TV)
For now, the OLED806 has Android TV (v10) as its operating system. It's not too bad by Android TV's usually pretty bad standards, with a good selection of apps (including Disney+ but not Apple TV) and a slightly less infuriating design than Android interfaces. However, it seems that Philips has seen the wisdom of Sony's move from Android to Google TV; at some point in the near to medium future, the OLED806 will be upgraded to Google TV. And meanwhile, the unusual combination of Android TV and Freeview Play makes the OLED806 less of an exercise in frustration than it otherwise would have been. Control is via a fairly large and fairly comprehensive remote that uses a good chunk of Muirhead leather on its back surface to make it quite a bit more tactile than any phone from any other manufacturer. It allows you to control setup menus that are almost intentionally stretched out. Philips likes to give the end-user plenty of leeway to play with the details of the picture settings – anyone suffering from even the mildest form of OCD could easily find themselves tweaking the many available settings for days on end. Very nice image quality can be achieved when contrast, color fidelity, motion control, etc. ' The configuration. There's a microphone on the remote for use with the Google Assistant, and it's simple and responsive to control the OLED806 that way. Although Google Assistant itself seems reluctant to lower its voice even when you've asked it to drastically lower the volume on the TV.
Image quality
So, having finally stopped tinkering with settings menus, it's time to load up a 4K Blu-ray of Kubrikck's The Shining (which is still a high watermark when it comes to production values and set design). and find out what the problem is. OLED806 had. And it doesn't take long to establish that the OLED806 has a lot of them. He's talented in just about every aspect of imaging, and even by Philips standards (a TV brand that has seen some rise in recent years), it's remarkably that he needs few excuses. Since this is an OLED panel, we're entitled to expect clean, deep, bright black tones, and of course, that's what we're given. But they are also revealing and coherent, with a profoundly impressive amount of detail and variation. And they're complemented at the other end of the spectrum by crisp, equally detailed white tones: Philips doesn't use one of the newer super-bright OLED panels enjoyed by LG's and Sony's pricier 2021 models, but it's capable of punchy, compelling contrasts, nevertheless. Equally impressive is the color fidelity, with an extremely wide palette available and more than enough subtlety to make even the smallest differences in hue or tone obvious. Colors pop when needed, but can also be subtly nuanced, even within the same scene. The OLED806 distinguishes between "natural" and "vivid" with more confidence than many alternative OLEDs for that kind of money.
(Image credit: Philips) The edges are drawn with real confidence, and it follows that even the most intricate designs (of which this movie has plenty) are rendered without alarm bells. Shimmer or tracking is virtually non-existent, even on tight patterns or complicated textures. The balance Philips has struck is impressive: sometimes this level of rigor can give images an unnatural tone, but the OLED806 seems almost instinctively right. Even motion management, where in the past Philips has tended to overthink, can be tweaked until it's safe, fluid and convincing. We're not claiming this is the easiest thing to do, nor are we claiming it can't be completely screwed up by misusing the setup menus, but as long as you a) put in the time and b) know when to do it. it got off to a pretty good start on its own, solid and secure motion tracking is on hand. Upscaled 1080p images benefit from all of these positives, though naturally with some caveats. An Amazon Prime video stream of The Matrix is slightly crude compared to native 4K content, with a bit less savvy in the darker tones, and a touch more aggressive in how edges and skin textures are rendered. But it's still a performance that's composed, controlled and, above all, watchable. The onboard TV tuners prove to be perfectly adequate, and even if you enjoy truly vintage content (anything playing during the day, basically), the OLED806 is capable of...