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realme Smart TV (43in) review: An affordable hub for your smart home

Last year, we’ve seen realme broaden its horizons from not only offering quite a lineup of smartphones throughout the year, but also through its AIoT offerings. 

2020 was also the year the company was recognized as the number one smartphone brand in the Philippines so it only makes sense to further reinforce its presence in the country.

This year, the company is heading straight to smart homes with the same idea of bringing the latest tech at reasonable prices. 

Design

This is the realme TV. What we have here is the 43-inch variant with Full HD resolution. There are only two variants available right now with the other being a smaller 32-inch model with HD resolution. 

Realme says it’s positioning the 32-inch variant as more for those living in smaller spaces like condos while the bigger 43-inch model could be set up in living rooms or even as digital boards for small businesses. 

The package comes with its own plastic stand. It’s a bit wobbly at first but really tighten the screws underneath and you’ll get it to be stable. 

Of course, it’s preferable to have a more solid stand but the included plastic ones feel sturdy enough. Besides, the TV itself is not that heavy so it feels like the plastic stand could easily support the TV.

And if you prefer hanging it on a wall, that’s also possible and the realme TV is compatible with the standard VESA bracket. 

In terms of design, it does look up-to-date with its thin bezels measuring only 8.7mm. At the back, we have a series of ports for connectivity including three HDMI ports, two USB, SPDIF, DVB-T2 for digital TV, and an Ethernet port. 

For audio, there are two sets of speakers at the bottom consisting of one full-range speaker and one tweeter each. These have a total power of 24W which realme says is more powerful when compared to its competitors. We’ll get to audio quality in just a bit. 

The included remote control comes with dedicated buttons for Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, and even access to Google Assistant so those are just one click of a button away at all times. 

Features

Being a smart TV, it does come with a number of features and is mainly the selling point of this product. It has a built-in Chromecast and brings all the features that go along with it like casting photos or videos from your phone to the TV.

And one of our most used features on this thing is its Google Assistant. Again, it works just like it does on an Android smartphone. Just press the dedicated Google Assistant button on the remote, and you can give commands to your TV by using the remote control as a mic.

With this feature alone, your TV now acts as a central hub if you have a smart home setup. We have a couple of smart lights installed at home so we could now control their brightness, color, and intensity through the TV. Really useful.

It also comes with pre-installed apps popular for smart TVs. You can easily connect to platforms like Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, and Live Channel.

Third-party videos, music platforms, movies, and even games can also be downloaded through the Play Store. Just make sure you have Bluetooth-enabled game controllers. That means it has Bluetooth connectivity for controllers and wireless speakers as well as WiFi at 2.4GHz.

The realme TV runs Android TV OS based on Android 9. And just like Android’s user experience on smartphones, the layout is both easy on the eyes and simple to navigate through.

There are a lot of apps to choose from which we like since it gives you a way to personalize your TV. Some of our personal picks are Hue Essentials for our lights, Spotify of course, and Live Gallery for keeping the TV on in the background.

And in terms of picture quality, the realme TV boasts the company’s Chroma Boost Technology that we’ve seen in their smartphones that enhances overall clarity, contrast, and color to aim and improve overall visuals. 

The TV also supports HDR 10 for brighter images and more realistic picture quality. On top of this, you can also choose between different display modes depending on your preference and the content you’re viewing. 

Overall performance

Inside, the realme TV runs on a MediaTek quad-core 64-bit processor partnered with 1GB RAM and 8GB of storage. This combination resulted in decent performance and speed when navigating through the menu and jumping in and out of apps.

For image quality, we really like how the realme TV produces bright images which work well especially when in bright rooms. Details are impressive and watching HD movies on Netflix shows good picture quality. 

There are some noticeable artifacts and color renderings that are not that smooth but they’re not big issues and some wouldn’t even notice them. Its Chrome Boost Engine effectively made sure colors were punchy but they don’t go overboard.

The display also has good viewing angles so you can sit in more areas around the TV and still enjoy good picture quality. 

As for its audio, we do appreciate the 24-watt speakers that do go loud. We also like the implementation of having Dolby Audio solution to ensure more vivid audio. But of course, they still wouldn’t replace dedicated speakers especially if you’re really into immersing yourself in the environment of what you’re watching.

While these do make the quad-speakers decent enough for normal viewing, turning them all the way up will produce distortion so it’s best to keep the volume in check. 

Creature Feature

In our reviews, The Modern Creatures aims to find special features in devices that make them worth having. Something that would make a product stand out from its competition. And for the realme TV, it would definitely have to be its built-in Google Assistant.

This feature alone can not only bring you quick facts or show you the latest films, but it also turns your TV into a hub for your smart home. And with today’s accessibility to affordable smart products, a smart TV is a great addition to have. 

Pricing and final thoughts

realme has been known to bring premium features to more people and the new realme TV is no exception. It’s able to offer not just entertainment but also functionality for everyday use. 

This is also a great choice if you want to start your smart home setup as you’ll get a feel for having a digital assistant around. 

The realme TV starts at PhP 11,990 for the 32-inch model and PhP 18,990 for the 43-inch variant. There will be an exclusive PhP 3K off for Shopee’s 3.3 Sale as well as a free realme soundbar for every purchase. 

You may read more about the promo here.