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Android Test. Philips PUS8506 4K Smart TV

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How to Mirror Android to Philips TV

Screen mirroring is one of the best solutions if you want to display your phone’s screen on a larger monitor like a PC or a TV. With this method, you can watch movies, stream videos, and easily cast and browse images from your phone directly to your TV. The process is very easy if you have an Android TV like Philips TV. With the help of this article, start to Mirror Android to Philips TV using the following tools listed below.

Ways to Mirror Android to Philips TV

ApowerMirror

The first solution that we have in this list is ApowerMirror. This screen mirroring app is indeed one of the best tools that you could ever have to connect your Android phone to your Philip TV. With this useful app, you can freely enjoy watching any media saved on your phone, be entertained with the movies, and share gameplay on your Philip TV. Listed below are the simple steps that you need to follow to successfully mirror your Android to your Philip TV.

• Download and install the app on your phone and TV.
• Connect your Android and your Philip TV to the same LAN.
• Open the app on your phone and tap “Local Cast”. Search for your TV and tap its name. You may also use the QR code to connect.

Free App – LetsView

If you are looking for the best tool that can help you connect Android to Philip TV, LetsView is one that you can rely on. This amazing screen mirroring tool is a multiplatform tool that you can use with any device like your Android phone and Philips TV. Aside from being a superb mirroring application, it is totally free and offers great features like video recording, screen capture, and markers for annotation. To start using LetsView, just follow the steps listed below.

• First, get the app and install it on your Android phone and Philips TV. Download
• Launch the app on both devices and make sure that they are connected to the same Wi-Fi.
• Using your Android phone, tap the asterisk icon, then input the PIN code displayed on your Philips TV to begin mirroring.

Chromecast

Another way to display Android to Philips TV is with Chromecast. This device is a dongle that needs to be plugged into your TV to help you connect and display your Android phone’s screen to your TV. You can stream videos, watch movies and play music from your Android phone to your TV fast and easily. If you have your Chromecast dongle and want to use it, check the steps provided below as a guide.

• Plug in your Chromecast dongle to your TV using an HDMI cable.
• Set up your TV source to the HDMI that is connected to the Chromecast.
• On your Android phone, download the Google Home app. Open the app, tap Cast Screen / Audio. Choose the name of your Philips TV from the list then the mirroring will begin.

AirBeamTV Screen Mirroring app

If you want to cast Android to Philips TV, you can also use the AirBeamTV Screen Mirroring app. This app allows you to easily stream your Android device to your TV without using any cables or any other external devices. You can directly mirror your device to stream movies and other files stored on your Android phone, and display them on your TV screen. To display your Android phone on your TV, take note of the steps below.

• Download the AirBeamTV Screen Mirroring app and install it.
• Open the app then choose the name of your TV from the list.
• Finally, tap Start Mirroring then the procedure will commence.

Conclusion

The listed tools above are 3 of the top stools that you can use to display and mirror your Android phone The 3 tools listed above are the best choices to display and mirror your Android phone to your Philips TV. All tools offer great mirroring ability with a high video-quality display. If you have a Chromecast dongle, you can use the steps listed above, or if you want a wireless tool without using external hardware, you can use LetsView or AirBeamTV. Between these two wireless tools, LetsView is great for those who want to mirror anytime, anywhere.

Lively pictures, good HDR format support and a Smart decision by Philips to shift to the Android TV platform, but the user interface suffers from a Saphi hangover.

Overall Rating: 3.8/5

Price: Rs 45,990 to 59,990

We have reviewed a couple of Philips TVs in the recent past, and we liked what they offered, except for the Saphi platform they were based on, which seemed clunky with extremely limited app support. In order to address that, the company has made a shift towards Android TV with its new 8200 series of 4K LED TVs. We received the 55-inch variant from the series for review. Let’s see how it performs.

Philips 55PUT8215/94 4K Android TV

Philips 55PUT8215/94 4K Android TV. Design and Connectivity: 8/10

The new Philips 55PUT8215/94 looks quite like the 58PUT6604/94, but just a little smaller (understandably). It has an elegant, near bezel-less design on three sides and a more distinct bottom bezel. The IR receiver is placed at the right end of the bottom bezel, while the company logo is on the left. The TV isn’t as slim as the OnePlus 55U1 TV, but not too bulky either. It can be wall-mounted or placed on a desk using the bundled metal stands.

All four HDMI ports support ARC. Image: Tech2/Ameya Dalvi

The port placement isn’t ideal. One HDMI, one USB, and a 3.5mm headphone out are present on the left side, while the rest of the ports that include another USB port, three HDMI ports, an optical audio out and a LAN port are placed along the bottom edge of the back panel. Four HDMI ports are great to have, but the bottom ports can be hard to reach irrespective of whether you place the TV on the wall or on a table. Interestingly, all four HDMI ports support ARC.

Four HDMI ports are great to have, but the bottom ports can be hard to reach irrespective of whether you place the TV on the wall or on a table. Image: Tech2/Ameya Dalvi

Philips 55PUT8215/94 4K Android TV. Features and specifications: 8.5/10

This Philips 55PUT8215/94 TV has a 55-inch Ultra HD panel with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and a 60 Hz refresh rate. The company has neither specified the panel type nor the peak brightness. The TV is powered by a quad-core processor with ARM Cortex A53 cores and Mali-G51 GPU. Each of the four CPU cores can throttle between 1038 MHz to 1500 MHz. Giving it company are 3 GB RAM and 16 GB of internal storage, a huge chunk of which is taken up by the Android TV 9.0 OS and the pre-installed apps. You are left with less than 5 GB of free space, which is the lowest I have come across on a TV with 16 GB of storage.

Sound output is rated at 16 Watts RMS, and the TV speakers are compliant with Dolby Atmos. This Philips TV supports all popular HDR standards such as HLG, HDR10, HDR10 and Dolby Vision. You get dual-Band Wi-Fi and support for Bluetooth 4.2. It has Chromecast built-in, and lets you cast content to the screen from compatible apps on your phone or tablet. The TV also supports the DTS Play-Fi feature, which lets you connect to compatible speakers in any room and listen to audio. It can be handy for listening to match commentary or music while you are away from the TV. I did not have a compatible speaker handy to test this feature out.

The company bundles a stylish remote control that works on both IR and Bluetooth. It has hotkeys for Netflix and YouTube, along with a wide array of other keys ranging from numeric keypad, volume control to playback controls and more. It can accept voice commands as well and is compatible with Google Assistant and Alexa. Its build quality is quite solid, and two AAA batteries needed to power it are bundled in the package.

Philips 55PUT8215/94 4K Android TV. OS and User Interface: 7/10

As I mentioned at the start, this Philips 8200 series TV runs Android TV 9.0 OS, but has a heavily modified user interface. On the homepage, you have your usual row of installed apps, the shortcuts for which you can add, remove or shuffle around. Other rows display last played or suggested content from various platforms. A layer deeper, the settings menu has been completely altered and feels cluttered. While it is great to have a lot of options to fine-tune different aspects of the TV, it can be intimidating for many. Also, the back button on the remote often knocks you out of the settings menu, instead of going one level back, even if you are three levels deep into the menu, thus impacting navigation and user experience.

The interface is mostly text-based and not the most intuitive. At times, you may have to wade through several options to find what you were looking for. The grouping could have been better for some of the options. A lot of these UI elements have been carried forward from the Saphi OS, which I feel is completely unnecessary and can use a fresh approach. On the bright side, the UI is snappy and stutter-free on this TV. Even better, you can access the settings menu from any app or input source. However, the quick settings menu could have done with fewer but more focused options, rather than the entire laundry list.

Apps for Netflix and Prime Video are pre-installed on this TV, along with apps for a handful of Google services. But that’s not all: you also get another dozen pre-installed apps on this TV, some of which I have never even heard of. No wonder there’s so little free space left in the internal storage. Thankfully, at least half the bloatware can be uninstalled. Another small UI issue being, every time you boot the TV, it halts at the channel tuner screen, rather than going to the Android home page. Since digitisation, it is a redundant feature in India and Philips should have tweaked the software accordingly for units sold here.

Philips 55PUT8215/94 4K Android TV. Picture quality: 8/10

The picture quality of this Philips TV is quite impressive. It uses Philips’ new P5 engine, which is at the heart of some of its premium models. The panel is sufficiently bright, has good contrast and the picture is tuned reasonably well out of the box. However, it can be improved further using dozens of options at your disposal. If you are feeling too lazy to explore, do a couple of things. Switch off all kinds of Dynamic and Auto contrast from the settings, as the contrast feels a lot better that way. Second, look for the motion settings and tone them down to low or simply switch them off, because the motion feels unnatural, and you can spot ample motion artifacts.

The colour reproduction of this TV is generally excellent, and colours feel vibrant yet natural in most cases. However, if you look closely, you will notice a green tinge in the picture. It is not overly conspicuous, and some may not even notice it, but if you do, it is hard to ignore. And that makes the green shades feel slightly more blown out. Barring that, there’s no major issue with the picture quality. The black levels are more than decent for an LED TV, but not the best I have seen.

The Philips 55PUT8215/94 supports all popular HDR standards including HDR10 and Dolby Vision. 4K videos encoded in those formats (on Prime Video and Netflix respectively) look excellent on this TV, with great contrast. Dolby Vision content looked even better. Details in darker areas in the picture had ample clarity and there was absolutely no flickering in high-contrast scenes, as is the case with some other TVs. The green tinge is present even in HDR videos, but don’t worry, it doesn’t feel like you are watching The Matrix. A logo for the specific HDR standard being used flashes on the screen for a few seconds when you start the video, which is always handy.

4K SDR videos look just as good on this TV, and the difference in quality is barely noticeable. 1080p videos scale well and look nearly as good as their 4K counterparts. 720p videos look watchable, but are not in the same league as Full HD and beyond; the drop in quality is significant. Anything lower than 720p looks quite soft and pixelated. No surprises there, as that’s the case with almost all large screen 4K TVs.

Philips 55PUT8215/94 4K Android TV. Audio quality: 7/10

The TV has a pair of stereo speakers that deliver a total rated output of 16 Watts RMS. The speakers produce crisp audio with a decent amount of bass, to a point that the music is actually enjoyable on the TV speakers. Vocal clarity is passable, but not the greatest I have heard. The audio is acceptable when watching soaps, news, sports and even some music. It is also fine for the occasional movie or web series, but you really need to push the volume upwards of 75 percent most of the time for dialogue clarity.

Yes, the speakers are Dolby Atmos-certified, but they are a pair of 16 W stereo speakers after all and can do little to add anything substantial to the virtual surround sound experience. The speakers aren’t the loudest around, but suffice for a mid-sized room when you push the volume sufficiently high. I wish the TV had more audio settings beyond presets to tweak the sound a bit more. The TV does offer you headphone out, digital audio out and HDMI ARC along with Bluetooth to plug in a soundbar or a speaker system and enhance the audio further.

Philips 55PUT8215/94 4K Android TV. Overall performance: 7.5/10

The Philips 55PUT8215/94 TV boots in 35 seconds, which is brisk for an Android TV, but gets stuck at the aforementioned channel tuner screen; add another five seconds to get to the home screen from there after hitting the home button. It supports the quick resume feature, and the TV can be switched on from standby mode in a couple of seconds flat. The video file format support through USB is excellent on the default player. It managed to play pretty much everything I threw at it with various codecs, including our 4K test videos. There was no noticeable lag, either.

The company bundles a stylish remote control that works on both IR and Bluetooth. Image: Tech2/Ameya Dalvi

The remote control here is a bit temperamental. Firstly, it has a weird liking for alkaline batteries and keeps warning you to replace the batteries if you put basic ones in it. Ironically, the company doesn’t bundle alkaline batteries with the TV. Despite all the warnings, the remote functions fine. While it can operate over Bluetooth, it tends to unpair with the TV on and off, and even freezes at times. Removing the batteries and putting them back sorts this out. At times, the voice commands work fine, but the rest of the remote works over IR. Too moody for my liking.

Philips 55PUT8215/94 4K Android TV. Price and verdict

There is a huge variance in the pricing of this TV. The Philips 55PUT8215/94 4K Android TV was launched at an MRP of Rs 89,990 and generally sells online for anything between Rs 45,990 to Rs 59,990. Philips offers a two-year warranty on this TV, which is an added benefit. All things considered, this TV is a rather good buy as long as you can purchase it for under Rs 50,000. While its picture quality is undoubtedly good and supports all popular HDR formats, competition is quite stiff. It does compete well with other 55-inch TVs priced around the Rs 50,000 mark such as the OnePlus TV 55U1 and Mi QLED TV, but the UI needs some refinement.

Philips offers a two-year warranty on this TV, which is an added benefit.

The Android experience here does seem like a first attempt from the company in the Android TV arena and can do with a few more coats of polish. During my interaction with company officials, I was informed Philips will release periodic updates to fix the shortcomings, and an Android 10 update is also on the cards later this year. All said and done, the Philips 55PUT8215/94 is a fine Smart TV that can be a great option around the Rs 50,000 mark if the company can tweak the UI soon and put the Saphi hangover to rest.

The 7 Best 55-Inch TVs. Spring 2023 Reviews

55-inch TVs were once the most popular TV size, but larger TVs like 65-inch and 75-inch models are becoming more popular. Still, a 55-inch TV is good if you have a smaller living room, and finding the best 55-inch 4k TV for your needs depends on your usage, viewing conditions, and budget. High-end TVs tend to be great for a variety of uses and both in bright and dark rooms, while budget TVs are better if you need something simple and don’t want premium performance. If you want something bigger, check out the best 65-inch TVs instead.

We’ve bought and tested more than 380 TVs, and below are our recommendations for the best 55-inch TVs to buy. See our picks for the best TVs and the best Smart TVs. Most brands have started releasing their 2023 lineups, so make sure to vote on which ones you want us to buy and test first. If you want to find out more about the 2023 models, check out our 2023 TV lineup page.

Best 55-Inch TV

Samsung QN55S95BAFXZA

The Samsung S95B OLED is the best TV we’ve tested that’s available in a 55-inch size. It’s a premium TV that delivers fantastic overall picture quality and has a huge selection of Smart features that are sure to please anyone. It’s fantastic for gaming, thanks to its four HDMI 2.1 inputs, meaning you can take full advantage of the new-gen consoles, like the Xbox Series X and the PS5. The built-in Tizen OS is simple and easy to use and has a great selection of streaming apps. It’s a fantastic choice for watching the latest HDR content in the dark. It has impressive peak brightness in HDR, delivering a bright, impactful image that respects the content creator’s intent. It’s been replaced in 2023 by the Samsung S95C OLED, which delivers similar overall picture quality but a refined design and an external Slim One Connect box for a sleeker, cleaner install. The launch price of the S95C is significantly higher than the current price of the S95B, so until the price comes down, the older model is the better buy.

Best 55-Inch Smart TV For Home Theaters

Sony XR-55A95K

If you want the absolute best home theater experience possible, then the Sony A95K OLED is a better choice than the Samsung S95B OLED. It’s significantly more expensive, but it has much wider format support for home theater setups, including support for Dolby Vision HDR, which is more widely supported than Samsung’s HDR10 format, ensuring you’ll get the best HDR experience possible from almost any source. It also respects the content creator’s intent better than the Samsung TV, so the overall brightness and colors in HDR look how they were supposed to look. Although both models support eARC audio passthrough, only the Sony supports advanced DTS and DTS:X audio formats. DTS is the most common format used for Blu-ray and 4k UHD Blu-rays, so this capability is especially important if you still prefer physical media and want the best sound possible. It delivers similar picture quality to the Samsung, though, as they’re based on the same panel, so they’re both amazing choices for a dark room.

Best Upper Mid-Range 55-Inch TV

Samsung QN55QN90BAFXZA

If you’re not in a completely dark room, a brighter LED TV like the Samsung QN90B QLED is a better choice than the Samsung S95B OLED. This TV delivers excellent picture quality, with very deep blacks, thanks to its Mini LED local dimming feature, which improves the appearance of dark scenes and brings out bright highlights. It makes it a worse choice for a dark room, as there’s some distracting blooming around bright highlights in dark scenes. However, it’s better than the S95B and the Sony A95K OLED, thanks to its high peak brightness and superb reflection handling, so glare isn’t an issue. It’s a great TV for pretty much any use. It has a great selection of gaming features, including HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four HDMI inputs, meaning you can enjoy 4k @ 120Hz gaming from the new-gen consoles or a recent PC graphics card. It also supports Xbox Cloud Gaming, so you can enjoy some of the latest Xbox hits without investing in an expensive console. Like the S95B, it runs Samsung’s proprietary Tizen OS interface, which is fairly easy to use and has a great selection of streaming apps.

Best Mid-Range 55-Inch TV

LG OLED55C2PUA

The best 55-inch mid-range TV is the LG C2 OLED. Like the top two TVs on this list, it’s a premium TV with an OLED panel that delivers stunning picture quality, especially in dark rooms. OLEDs are unique because they can turn individual pixels off, resulting in a near-infinite contrast ratio for perfect blacks in dark rooms, and there isn’t any blooming around bright objects either. It also has a wide viewing angle that makes the image remain consistent from the side, which is ideal if you have a wide seating area as everyone sees the same thing. Its fantastic reflection handling and good SDR peak brightness make it a good choice if you want to use it in a well-lit room. It has decent HDR peak brightness that makes small highlights stand out and respects the content creator’s intent. Unfortunately, it uses an older type of OLED panel than the Samsung S95B OLED and the Sony A95K OLED, so colors aren’t as bright and vibrant overall, but they still look good.

Best Lower Mid-Range 55-Inch TV

Hisense 55U8H

If you want high-end performance but don’t want to spend high-end prices, check out the Hisense U8H. It’s significantly cheaper than the LG C2 OLED but delivers impressive picture quality. It has a great Mini LED backlight, letting it deliver incredibly bright highlights and deep blacks simultaneously, with barely any blooming around bright objects in dark scenes. HDR content looks incredible, and like the Sony A95K OLED, it supports Dolby Vision for the best HDR experience possible. Blacks aren’t quite as deep and inky as the C2, and it has a much worse viewing angle, so it’s not as versatile. It runs the Google TV interface, which is fast and easy to use, and it has a great selection of streaming features, so you’re sure to find your favorite shows. It’s great for gaming thanks to its two HDMI 2.1 bandwidth ports, which are great for 4k @ 120Hz gaming on the Xbox Series X or PS5 consoles.

Best Budget 55-Inch TV

TCL 55S555

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The TCL 5 Series/S555 2022 QLED is a great choice if you’re looking for something on a budget. It’s a great TV for the price, with surprisingly good picture quality. It looks great in a dark room thanks to its superb contrast and decent full array local dimming feature, so dark scenes look amazing, with very little blooming around bright areas of the screen. It’s just as good in a bright room, thanks to its great peak brightness in SDR and decent reflection handling, so you don’t have to worry about glare. It’s a great TV for gaming, as it has superb low input lag and variable refresh rate support, so the action on-screen is in-sync with your actions on the controller, and there’s very little screen tearing. Unlike the Hisense U8H, it’s limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, which is a bit disappointing for new-gen gamers, but it’s still great for visually-intensive games that target 4k @ 60Hz in their ‘Graphics’ mode.

Best Cheap 55-Inch TV

Hisense 55A6H

If you want a basic TV and don’t want to spend very much, the Hisense A6H is the best cheap TV we’ve tested that’s available in a 55-inch size. As expected for the price, it’s a simple TV with limited picture quality and few extra features, but it’s a great choice for an office or guest bedroom. Like the Hisense U8H, it runs the Google TV interface, with a huge selection of streaming apps available. It has a wide viewing angle, which is great if you watch TV while walking around, as the image remains consistent when viewed from the sides. Unfortunately, unlike the other TVs on this list, it’s not a good choice for a dark room. It has a low contrast ratio, and by going with a cheap TV, you’re losing out on advanced features like local dimming to improve the appearance of dark scenes. It also can’t display a wide color gamut, so although it supports Dolby Vision HDR, it’s not a good choice for watching movies in HDR in a dark room, as dark scenes are distracting due to the raised blacks.

Recent Updates

All Reviews

Our recommendations are based on what we think are the best 55-inch 4k TVs currently available. They are adapted to be valid for most people, in each price range. Rating is based on our review, factoring in price and feedback from our visitors.

If you would prefer the make your own decision, here is the list of all of our 55-inch TV reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. Most TVs are good enough to please most people, and the things we fault TVs on are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.