Philips' Vision For 2017

FOR Punchy image, good 4K and HDR performance; design

AGAINST Short on picture subtlety; limited catch-up apps

The 55POS901F marks so many firsts for Philips, it might as well have graduated from an Oxbridge college. Despite being officially launched at IFA last year it is Philips’ first model available in 2017, the first to use Android’s Marshmallow operating system and, most importantly, the company's first OLED TV. It's also the first with a super-slim panel.

Finally following in LG and Panasonic’s footsteps (like Sony) Philips has picked this year to join the OLED race, now run by no fewer than five brands in the UK market. The CES 2017 show in Las Vegas saw the unveiling of many TV innovations – Samsung’s QLED (rival to OLED) technology, Sony’s screen-generating sound and LG’s 2.57mm-thin flagship – all coming this year (see page 52).

Of course, that’s all alongside the now-prevalent 4K and multiple HDR technologies, ever-evolving smart functionality and the unwritten rule that any new TV must compete for thinness with the average envelope.

What’s in – and out

The Philips 55POS901F brings a fair few of those things to the table, including 4K, HDR and Android OS, as well as its own immersive Ambilight feature and an integrated 6.1 sound system. Sometimes, though, it's easier to assess a product by what it hasn't got. So let’s start there.

Firstly, Philips looks to have well and truly killed off 3D by continuing to leave it off its TVs’ spec sheets. We doubt it’ll be a deal-breaker, but that won’t necessarily be the case for the omission of UK on-demand catch-up apps. While many rivals have all of the five available, the 55POS901F has only BBC iPlayer. As it stands, the Philips doesn’t support HDR content on Amazon Video either, although we’re told it’s coming via software update.