Matthew DeCarlo
It’s okay. You can admit it: You like to shoot vertical videos on your phone. Samsung is ready to back you up with a new 43-inch 4K QLED TV that can connect to your handset and automatically rotate to match its orientation.
For all the OLED and Mini-LED televisions we saw at CES, Samsung’s new Sero TV made the strongest impression on us with a design that’s ideal for social media addicts. If you watch a lot of videos on Facebook and Instagram, you’re bound to find content that was captured by someone holding their phone vertically. Maybe that someone was you—like we said, it’s okay.
As you’re watching videos that bounce between landscape and portrait, you can adjust your phone accordingly and Samsung’s Sero TV will follow suit. One bummer here is that this auto-rotating feature is limited to Android phones. While the Sero TV supports AirPlay 2 and iOS devices can connect to stream video, the television won’t auto-rotate for iPhones. We also hear that it pairs easier with Samsung’s Galaxy devices than any old Android phone, but that part isn’t fully clear yet.
On the bright side, the TV comes with a remote that lets you swap between orientations, and Samsung’s SmartThings app provides the same functionality (Android, iOS). Manually rotating the screen isn’t quite as magical but it should still get the job done. Along with being handy for watching TikTok videos, the ability to go vertical also seems like it would appeal to mobile gamers.
The Sero TV is mounted on a motorized non-removable stand that is tall enough to keep the screen from hitting the floor while it spins. More than just being a way to prop the TV up, the stand has a 4.1-channel, 60-watt speaker system built-in, which should deliver some pretty beefy sound compared to the speakers you’ll find in other 43-inch TVs. The stand also has wheels so you can cart the TV around with little effort.
To complement the rotating display, Samsung’s Sero TV comes equipped with a feature called “Sound Wall” that can be used to display photos, posters, and visuals. Beyond that, you’re looking at a pretty typical 43-inch 4K QLED television. That’s not a bad thing, of course, though if image quality or screen size are a primary concern for you, this probably isn’t going to be the best value option.
Samsung hasn’t said when the Sero TV will ship or how much it will cost. However, the set was first released in Korea last year and is making its way to the rest of the world in 2020 after what was presumably a successful trial run in the company’s home turf. Last year’s Korean model had a launch price of 1.89m KRW, which works out to around $1,600. But again, that price isn’t official for the Sero TV that’s coming to the US.
Source: Samsung
