Chinese electronics firm Xiaomi has just taken the wraps off a new and extremely affordable new TV aimed at U.K. buyers. It’s called the Xiaomi TV F2 Series and it has Amazon Fire TV built-in.
The most attractive thing about this new TV is its price tag, with the 43-inch version going for just £339, the 50-inch model priced at £449, and the 50-inch size costing just £499.
The Amazon Fire TV interface is as slick as they come and provides a viable alternative to Android TV, Roku, or Samsung’s Tizen platform for example. It also has an extremely wide selection of apps and services, with the likes of Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney+ et al adding to U.K. services such as iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and NOW. The TV also supports Apple AirPlay 2, so streaming from an iPhone or iPad is also an option.
The interface provides a personalised home screen that pulls content recommendations from across the various supported streaming services and channels, and there are of course voice-powered controls thanks to Amazon Alexa integration. Besides controlling the TV, Alexa also enables some smart home functionality, allowing users to turn on and off smart light bulbs and view who just rang the doorbell, for example.
The Xiaomi TV F2 Series is pretty mediocre in terms of hardware, though that’s not unexpected given its low price. For instance, while there are four HDMI 2.1 ports on the TV, don’t get too excited, because the only advanced gaming feature that’s supported is Auto Low-Latency Mode for auto-switching to a lower latency gaming mode. The TV doesn’t support 120Hz because it only has a 60Hz panel, and there doesn’t appear to be any Variable Refresh Rate either. The company also hasn’t confirmed if it supports HDMI ARC or eARC for adding a soundbar, though it does provide an optical digital output.
HDR support is limited to regular HDR10, meaning no Dolby Vision or HDR10+. That’s disappointing because those premium HDR formats are supported on similarly priced TVs from Philips and Samsung. On the audio side, the TV is equipped with two 12W speakers and support for Dolby Audio, DTS Virtual:X and DTS-HD, but no Dolby Atmos.
Even so, the Xiaomi TV F2 Series is not a bad little TV considering its price tag. With the Amazon Fire TV platform built in, buyers will at least benefit from the kind of highly polished and capable software platform that, once, was only available on much higher-end TVs.
