The Korean company’s cheapest 55in Quantum Dot TV doesn’t quite nail it
55in QLED television | £699 | whf.cm/QE55Q60B
The Samsung QE55Q60B talks a very good game for a TV that is now available for just £699. Its 55in screen uses a premium Quantum Dot system to create its colours; it is significantly brighter than most TVs in its class; and it even uses Samsung’s patented Dual LED technology to, hopefully, deliver more colour control than you would expect to get from an edge-LED lighting array.
As usual, Samsung has split its latest TV range into the Quantum Dot haves and the Quantum Dot have-nots. The Q60Bs are the cheapest Quantum Dot haves, which makes the QE55Q60B the most affordable 55in QLED TV in Samsung’s current range.
In fact, the price it now sits at, following a flurry of recent reductions, is low enough to pitch it against lower mid-range sets from more traditionally value-based brands such as TCL and Hisense. That is despite the fact that its Quantum Dot picture quality benefits from the extra colour-enhancing controls afforded by Dual LED technology (more on this later).
No-nonsense design
From the front there is nothing particularly special about the Q60B’s looks. It’s just a thin, black frame wrapped around the screen with a couple of fairly plain-Jane, blade-style feet attached a few inches in from each side. The best that can be said about this front view is that the build quality is robust, and the feet are so narrow when the TV is viewed head-on that you barely notice them.
The 55Q60B becomes a much more premium-looking proposition if viewed from the side or rear, as it’s then that you notice how impressively thin it is for an LCD TV – just 2.6cm from front to back.
The Q60B is a 4K TV capable of supporting the HDR10, HLG and HDR10+ HDR formats but, as ever with Samsung, not Dolby Vision HDR. It backs up this solid range of HDR support with a Quantum Dot colour system capable of delivering a wider, more dynamic and more nuanced colour range than regular filter-based LCD TVs.
Now, about that Dual LED technology. This finds half of the edge-mounted LEDs that light the picture emitting a cool (bluer) light, and half emitting a warm (redder) tone. The idea is that this increases the control the TV has over colour toning, potentially resulting in more natural images.
Solar flair
The Q60B can be controlled by either of two supplied remotes, one of which, surprisingly for the TV’s price, is one of Samsung’s solar-powered SolarCell models. This means you will never ne
