Verdict
The Frame 2020 is equipped with a premium QLED panel, a powerful Quantum 4K processor and is available in a wide range of diagonals. Compared to the first The Frame, which was released in 2020, the new designer TV from Samsung has become much more attractive, although not without some drawbacks.
Arguments for"
- Great design
- Replacement frame
- Premium QLED screen
- Ambient graphics mode
- Wall mount included
Arguments against"
- Low detail in dark scenes
- Low brightness
- Lack of Google Assistant virtual assistant
- Full access to Painting mode is paid
In search of new meanings: why Samsung turned The Frame and The Serif series TVs into paintings
Lately, we have been constantly hearing talk about the high rate of change in the modern world, about some kind of digitalization (transferring part of our lives into a digital virtual world) and about how our lives are changing under the influence of technology. How a new generation appeared and reached maturity (for whom the Internet and mobile communications have always existed). It’s not always possible to understand what all these beautiful and clever words are about, but I’ll try to explain their essence to you using a fresh example - the new Samsung designer TVs, which completely change the perception of the TV in the house, making it part of the interior and ideologically turning it from a huge black spot into wall into a modern interactive tool that reflects and emphasizes the interests, preferences, tastes and even the current mood of its owner.
Samsung designer TVs: the first appearance of The Frame and The Serif in public
We first learned about this direction of TV development in 2017 at the presentation of the Samsung QLED TV line in Paris. At that time, only concepts were shown that reflected only the visual component of this idea: the point was to rethink the modern role of the TV and expand its use cases, making it even more useful in the home. Designers openly experimented, trying to find interesting solutions that could interest buyers and find a response in their hearts. For example, they used the idea of the so-called 360-degree design, which appeared in Samsung TVs in 2020. That is, the TV should look beautiful from any angle, including if it is in the center of the room and you are looking at it from behind. It is interesting to watch the development of the idea of a stand - since we are talking about paintings, why not offer an option with a stand like an easel? The concepts also had options for a round stand, but in the end this was abandoned (that’s why they are concepts).
Samsung The Frame concept: the essence of the idea
But this is what the Samsung Frame series TVs looked like in real life and they practically did not change in appearance. The key visual image was the idea of a painting placed on the wall and capable of broadcasting a static image in the time free from the main work of the TV. LG uses something similar in a series of designer air conditioners, but Samsung has gone even further, because the TV opens up unlimited possibilities for displaying pictures, unlike static posters printed on paper. Part of Samsung's The Frame concept was the use of interchangeable frames to better fit the TV into the interior. And, if necessary, replace the frame.
Samsung The Serif concept: the essence of the idea
If The Frame series TVs are more appropriate on the wall of a room, then The Serif series is designed to place the TV on high legs and play with it in the interior. For this purpose, for example, its frame is made wide to act as a shelf if necessary. But in general, just two years ago, this concept had nothing besides a visual idea (and it was not even planned to be sold in Ukraine), but now the Serif idea has been filled with meaning, properly packaged and focused on the selected target audience, without forgetting about the technical capabilities.
Why all this complexity? It's just a TV
Difficulties begin when consumer habits change. Ask 18-year-olds what they think about TV? In most cases, they will tell you that they don’t watch TV, meaning that they don’t watch traditional linear (terrestrial) TV channels - the same scenario that their parents and grandparents have. But does all this mean that 18-year-olds will not use TV at all? Of course not! TV is and will always be the best device for watching video in all its forms. It has a huge screen and powerful acoustics - all this will never be found in smartphones, tablets, or computers. The only question is how to properly present the idea of TV in a new way. And this should be done not only for 18-year-olds, because they have not yet entered the stage of respectable buyers (they are still studying, and, as a rule, they do not earn money on their own).
Okay, then who needs these designer TVs?
A TV that can turn into a picture on the wall may appeal to everyone who, at a minimum, appreciates and loves art. These are designers, people of any creative professions (artists, musicians, journalists, and so on). Although in fact, if you ask your wife, she will also not refuse a TV on the wall, which can turn from a black spot on the wall or information noise in the form of a film, TV channel or series into a seascape, still life or a world masterpiece of painting that is more everything suits the current situation and will help create the right atmosphere: a birthday, a romantic evening, a meeting with parents or a party.
What makes Samsung The Frame TVs different?
Samsung The Frame series TVs look best on the wall, where they are not just part of the interior, but actively influence its perception. Instead of the screen being turned off, they do not spoil the view of the room with a black rectangular blob, but in the “Picture” mode they display one of 1,200 paintings by famous artists and photographers selected from the largest galleries and museums in the world: the Louvre, the Prado, the Victoria and Albert Museum. There are paintings from the Albertina, Tate and Uffizi galleries. All of them are available in the TV app called "Art Store".
And The Frame series TVs have six frame color options, which can be changed from black, white, walnut and beige, light beige and burgundy. This is what the series’ promotional video used in Ukraine looks like:
What makes Samsung The Serif TVs different?
If Samsung The Frame are TVs that turn interiors into paintings, then Samsung The Serif are themselves the embodiment of modern design. Their appearance was developed with the participation of brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. Today they are among the world's most renowned furniture designers. Samsung The Serif TVs have a metal base, a stylish wide frame that can act as a stand or shelf in the interior, and the same 360-degree design that allows such a TV to fit even into the center of the room. Unlike Samsung The Frame, created for classic interiors and buyers under the age of 35, The Serif series is more technologically advanced, interactive and aimed at active youth (target audience under 25 years old) who are ready to experiment. In addition to the ability to display paintings, these TVs have a special Serif Ambient mode, in which, in addition to classical paintings, works of contemporary artists and designers can be displayed, as well as interactive ones - clocks, family photo galleries, abstract compositions. These TVs also support NFC and easily interact with smartphones, allowing you to stream content from them after simply touching the TV.
Here's Samsung's promotional video for the series:
And here is a short video with an emphasis on Ambient mode:
What's under the hood of Samsung The Frame and Samsung The Serif TVs?
Most often, gadgets that focus on appearance do not have the most advanced technical characteristics. But in this case, both of these designer TV series are equipped to the highest standard. What you should pay attention to:
- Screen technology - QLED (we wrote about the advantages of quantum dot screen technology, for example, here and here). The very fact that Samsung recommends using static images in standby mode suggests that the company is not worried about the panel burn-in effect that all competitors with OLED panels in TVs are susceptible to.
- Quantum 4K processor with 4K resolution and AI technology that enhances audio and video in real time
- HDR10+ standard support . High dynamic range is coming to TVs and is becoming the de facto standard for new films and TV series
- Smart home technology using the SmartThings and voice control
- Supports Apple AirPlay 2 technology, allowing you to easily stream music from Apple devices
In addition, as I already said, replacement frames will be available for The Frame series TVs, and Serif series TVs have NFC support for easier data transfer from a smartphone. And interactive Ambient themes for displaying content in standby mode.
Prices and diagonals
I don’t know why, but any price announcements cause a violent negative reaction among geeks, as if everything new should cost, if not less than the old, then at least the same. In practice, this only happens with equipment that uses technologies from previous years. This is always clearly visible on smartphones in the middle and lower price segments - every year they offer something that is already available in older models, but a little cheaper than before. Each time, thus stimulating new demand. This doesn't work with design. Unusual and new design itself has the power to attract buyers' attention and create value that buyers are willing to pay for. Therefore, one cannot expect prices for designer TV models to be at the level of the “bottom” of the market. Although there is nothing cosmic (compared to other QLED TVs) about them either.
On the Ukrainian market, Samsung TVs from The Frame series will be sold with diagonals of 43″, 49″, 55″ and 65″. With prices starting from 32,999 hryvnia.
Samsung TVs of The Serif series will be presented with diagonals of 43″, 49″ and 55″. Their price starts from 29,999 hryvnia.
Bottom line
What do we see in this new direction of TVs? Samsung is turning a new page in the history of these devices by being ahead of the curve and offering consumers new sensations and new user experiences. TV screens are evolving and becoming larger, taking up more and more space in our homes. Therefore, for people with a heightened aesthetic perception, it makes sense to think about how a huge TV hanging on the wall can turn from an ugly black spot into a part of the interior that actively participates in creating the necessary atmosphere. And change depending on the time of year, day and even the mood of its owner. And if the Samsung The Frame series is created for more conservative buyers with good taste and a love of fine art, then the Samsung The Serif series will appeal more to the young and courageous, accustomed to living in a constantly changing world, where today it is worth trying one thing, and tomorrow another. Where nothing is static, and the world is filled with constantly changing information coming from all corners of the information-saturated world. No one yet knows how such an experiment will end. Perhaps this will completely change our perception of televisions and in 5-7 years they will all have such capabilities. Or maybe an offshoot of designer TVs will appear and they will become a separate subclass. Everything is in the hands of buyers. They are the ones who determine the development of technology in the modern world.
For those who want to know more
- Quantum dots and where they live: what kind of technology is it and what does it provide?
- Samsung QLED TVs 2020: what quantum dots provide
- Why it's time for you to consider buying a 75-inch 8K TV
- The Unsung War: QLED TVs are winning
- 10 technologies that have always been there for our children
Preface
Samsung The Frame is an interesting concept that combines both a piece of furniture and a TV at the same time. Design without visible wires, a magnificent view when mounted on a wall, interchangeable frames that give the screen the appearance of a painting, a special mode for displaying masterpieces of painting - all this attracts the attention it deserves.
The original 2018 The Frame was also a great example of a stylish TV, but its picture quality left much to be desired. The inexpressive brightness and color overshadowed its beautiful appearance.
Two years later, we already have the third coming of The Frame. Now the model is equipped with a premium QLED screen and is offered in as many as five diagonal versions. The 2020 The Frame is an attractive TV, although there are still some criticisms regarding black depth and color accuracy.
With frames that come in a variety of colors that can be easily changed, and a wide selection of artwork, textures, and screensavers that can be displayed, The Frame fits seamlessly into any decor. The variety of appearances that a TV can take, its versatility and even portability (thanks to additional stand options) will undoubtedly appeal to many buyers.
Good UHD picture, but with an unpleasant drawback
The technology behind The Frame is based on current developments from Samsung Series 6. It uses a very good VA panel with a UHD resolution (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) that emits up to 486 cd/m². The maximum contrast is 7.774:1, staggered contrast is 201:1. Thanks to HDR support, colors appear especially rich and natural. This is especially noticeable when playing Blu-ray. However, the picture quality doesn't compare to top models like the Sony KD-55A1 or LG OLED 55E8. However, the differences are visible only with direct comparison.
The only (and very sad) drawback is the disgusting image quality when changing the viewing angle (due to the VA panel). As soon as you move away from the TV, the contrast drops noticeably. This is especially annoying in art mode, because in this case the TV can no longer be disguised as a painting - the difference is too noticeable.
It would be nice to improve the relatively flat sound of the two 10-watt speakers. This is where it makes sense to invest in a soundbar or external sound system.
While Samsung's The Frame doesn't offer flawless picture quality, the test results still rank it as one of the best UHD TVs we've tested. Image: Samsung
Price and range
The Frame is available in the following diagonals:
QE43LS03TAU – 109 cm
QE50LS03TAU – 127 cm QE55LS03TAU – 140 cm QE65LS03TAU – 165 cm QE75LS03TAU – 190 cm
Prices at the time of review range from 81 thousand for the smallest size to 219.9 thousand rubles. for the largest, which in the QLED hierarchy places The Frame between the Q70T and Q80T.
Design
Design is undoubtedly the main advantage of The Frame. This is a model for which appearance comes first. The idea of the developers is clear: in most cases, the TV sits idle for hours in the homes of their owners, not working, and is a dull black panel, “showing off” in the most prominent place in the room. Therefore, the main purpose of The Frame is to blend harmoniously into any interior thanks to its unique features.
The interior frame of the TV is made of dark metal with a beautiful brushed finish. For a small additional cost, you can purchase outer frames in a variety of colors that attach magnetically, giving the screen the appearance of a real painting. There are 6 options to choose from: white, black, brown, beige, red and walnut.
The TV body with a solid frame cannot be called super-thin, but it has a very smooth profile without protruding parts. The rear panel has a recess for a bracket, which allows installation on the wall with a tight fit to its surface. The mount also allows you to tilt the screen. At the bottom of the case there are sockets for the legs, which are simply inserted into them without the need for screwing, which is very convenient. However, all the splendor of The Frame manifests itself, of course, when mounted on a wall.
This TV, like the flagship QLED models, is equipped with an external One Connect module, which collects all the connectors, including power, HDMI, USB, etc., which eliminates the need to run a bunch of wires to the TV. This is a good solution that gives the TV a neat and aesthetic appearance. It is surprising that the functions of all connections of the external module are provided only by a thin, barely noticeable cable that connects it to the TV.
Like other premium Samsung models, The Frame comes with two remote controls. One of them is basic with many rubberized buttons, and the second is stylish and elegant with several basic functions. Despite the minimal configuration, the latter is much more pleasant to drive. To understand its commands, you will have to read the instructions, but there is nothing complicated about it (hint: a single short press on the power button switches between TV mode and Art mode, and pressing and holding turns it off).
Hardware Specifications
All TVs in The Frame 2020 line support Ultra HD or 4K resolution (3840x2160 pixels) and are based on QLED quantum dot technology. There are digital and analog tuners, four HDMI outputs and three USB connectors (for the 65-inch model), Ethernet, voice control (Russian language support is available) and support for the HDR10+ standard. The latter provides, among other things, automatic optimization of the contrast level and works in tandem with a light sensor, which adjusts the image brightness taking into account the level of external lighting. Additional features of the new Samsung TVs include a built-in motion sensor - if there is no one in the room, it will signal the TV to turn off to save energy.
Samsung The Frame serves for content consumption and interior decoration
The 2020 Samsung The Frame software has expanded support for Apple services and devices. The integrated iTunes Movies/TV Shows application is responsible for this, plus there is support for Apple AirPlay 2 technology.
Tizen platform
The Tizen platform is one of the best on the market, as we are once again convinced of by the example of The Frame. Its main ribbon with applications is displayed on top of the program you are viewing along the bottom edge of the screen. When you select any icon above, a second row opens with available content.
The appearance of the main feed can be customized according to personal preferences, pinning your favorite applications, arranging them in a certain order, and deleting unnecessary ones.
There are two programs for voice control - Amazon Alexa and Samsung Bixby.
Picture and Ambient modes
The Painting artistic mode is one of the main unique features of The Frame. When activated, the TV screen displays paintings and other fine arts, natural landscapes or your own photographs.
To make this mode possible, Samsung has partnered with a number of renowned museums and galleries, including the V&A and Saatchi from London, the Van Gogh Museum from Amsterdam and many other institutions from around the world. The Frame catalog contains hundreds of works, but only 20 of them are available for free use. A monthly subscription is required for full access. However, even without paying, The Frame can offer you plenty of background graphics to fill the screen.
In Picture mode, the TV consumes about 30% of normal power consumption. In our opinion, this is quite a lot, but this is the price to pay for the special atmosphere that The Frame is capable of creating.
Another mode close to “Picture” is Ambient. It includes animated images and customizable color textures that match your mood and can make your TV blend into the wall. The choice of graphics in this mode is extensive, and you can also display the clock, weather information and major news headlines on the screen.
What art do you prefer?
For a TV to become a picture, it must be “smart”. In The Frame, the familiar Tizen in the latest version and a companion application for the smartphone are responsible for this. The excellent, smooth-running system has received several new features for the new series of TVs.
The operating system of the TV itself offers access to a huge number of applications and basic settings. But the “Picture” mode through the shell has limited capabilities.
Without a special application, the maximum that a user can do is select one or several sequential images from the memory of a TV or an art store. You can also create your own set: you can save up to 300 pictures in 4K to the TV memory from a USB drive.
The art store has become one of the main features of The Frame. In his memory, already upon purchase, there are 100 digital copies of the best paintings in the world. If that's not enough, Samsung offers access to the Art Store, which contains the best examples of paintings, graphics, and photographs from art museums around the world. A couple of clicks - and they are on the TV in your living room.
With high resolution, by the way. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find something similar - most of the options offered by Samsung are not only highly artistic, but also digitized an order of magnitude better than those from free photo stocks.
It is through the Samsung SmartView application that you can set fine settings for the screensaver and the operation of the light sensor. For example, a mat with blurred or sharp edges is installed here to combine several images on one screen. The width of the fields also changes, as does the background color (however, only 10 colors are available).
If you want something special, you can install your own images - via SmartView or upload from a USB drive. The only limitation is the size of photographs or drawings, as they are not scalable.
Image quality
The Frame is unique in terms of design, but does not have the greatest image quality.
Of course, compared to the original The Frame, 2020 has made a significant step forward. Thus, the new model is equipped with a powerful Quantum 4K processor, which provides excellent transformation of standard television programs and films on old discs into high quality close to 4K.
The TV handles fast-moving scenes well, aided by the Picture Clarity feature, although The Frame does just fine without it. We screened programs from every source available to us, and almost all of them looked great, with a few exceptions.
We're used to the high brightness of QLED panels, measured in the thousands of nits, but The Frame is a bit more modest in this regard, producing only a few hundred nits. This is, in principle, a normal indicator for daily TV viewing. After all, you don't want to be blinded by Mona Lisa's 2,000 nits of light. However, the picture in The Frame is not as impressive as in some other Samsung TVs.
The image quality in the SDR format is excellent with excellent color reproduction, as befits a picture TV. But what The Frame does best is to capture the HDR format with vibrant, colorful tones. However, we were somewhat disappointed by the unnatural flesh tones, especially in non-white races. We tried different settings, but we couldn't get the characters' facial colors to be accurate.
Our other point concerns the depth of black tones. Movies that feature predominantly dark scenes lack definition in the shadows, which often blend into one solid piece. For moviegoers, this is hardly good news.
What does Xiaomi offer?
There are also interior TVs in the Xiaomi model range - in April 2020, it introduced an updated line of Mi TV TVs, which included the Mi ART model. This is actually a full-fledged competitor to Samsung The Frame, since Mi ART is also stylized as a painting and also has a remote unit, to which it is connected via a barely visible cable. Here this unit is made in the form of a soundbar, and the package also includes a subwoofer.
Xiaomi Mi Art is noticeably cheaper than Samsung The Frame
The 65-inch Mi ART uses a Samsung 4K matrix, which also displays paintings by famous artists in a special Art Mode. This Xiaomi creation costs $1040 (67.7 thousand rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate as of June 4, 2020) when ordered from China.
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Sound quality
The audio system in The Frame produces a standard 20 W of power and does not stand out in anything special.
There's no support for Dolby Atmos or a set of surround-sound speakers. At the same time, the audio system performs its main function well, conveying dialogue clearly. The sound is generally balanced, but distortion appears at high volumes. For fans of loud music or movies with special effects, we recommend adding a separate soundbar to The Frame.
If the audio system is important to you, then you may want to consider the LG OLED GX Gallery, which has a similar picture TV concept. It produces an impressive 60 W of power and, in addition, supports Dolby Atmos surround format. However, the price of this competitor is an order of magnitude higher than that of The Frame.
Samsung The Frame - technical specifications
Of course, we must not forget that there is not only a frame, but also a TV that will be used to view many high-quality materials.
Let's check if this is really possible (we will know the answer to this question after analyzing its technical specification):
- Screen size – 55 or 65 inches
- Resolution – 4K UHD
- Smart TV – Samsung Tizen
- HDR –
- PQI (Picture Quality Index) – 2100
- Speakers – 40 W
- Connectors – 4xHDMI, 2xUSB
- Communication – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, DLNA
- Control – Smart Control
- Equipment – light sensor and motion sensor
