Samsung QN90A Neo QLED 4K TV review: Colour us impressed

In 2020 when people were buying new TVs or upgrading their home entertainment solutions, price tags were of concern given the then socio-economic situation globally. However, the tech industry witnessed significant investments being made by people who wanted to bring the movie theatre experience home. The companies kept up with the demands by adding more features and products to their repertoire across price points. But one thing became clear in all this, if you really wanted to create an experience at home, you need to invest wisely. This is where Samsung’s new Neo QLED QN90A series come in, and make sense. The new Samsung QN90A Neo QLED 4K TVs are available in four sizes - 50-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch, and 85-inch, with prices starting from ₹175,990. ₹175990 is no small change, but you get what you pay for.

We tested the 55-inch Samsung QN90A Neo QLED and this 4K smart TV comes with very thin bezels and a chunky stand. Setting the TV up is very easy once you figure out how to put the stand in place. The whole operation is a little cumbersome since one part of the stand, the metal part, is quite heavy, as is the TV - so all in all if you are trying to set up the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED alone, it’s going to be difficult. You can also wall-mount the TV if you want, but it works well if you place it on a table as well, as we did.

Thanks to the way the TV stand is, you can try putting in a slim soundbar underneath it but in our experience, we did not need to use a soundbar or see the need for one. The sound on the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED is perfectly adequate for a medium to large-sized room. This TV’s speakers fire audio outwards from all sides of the screen, this is something Samsung calls Object Tracking Sound+ (OTS+) since it follows the trajectory of the action on screen. OTS+ can also work in tandem with a soundbar if you do attach one.

The Samsung QN90A Neo QLED features a full-array local dimming backlight. The company says the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED has 792 dimming zones. The reason why Samsung is providing so many dimming zones is because it is using mini-LED backlighting on this TV, a first for the company. This feature is new and quite “hot” in the premium LCD TV segment and unlike conventional LED backlighting, there can be thousands of mini-LEDs fit into the same space. There are no thousands of mini-LEDs here though, just hundreds of them.

The company has managed to address the off-centre picture fade on the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED, an issue that often plagues LCD TVs. Things here don’t get as good as they can on OLED TVs, but it’s enough.

Like other Samsung TVs, the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED does not support Dolby Vision, but there is support for HDR10, HDR10+, etc. We faced no issues whatsoever while watching anything on the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED though. The TV’s Artificial Intelligence capability works to enhance images frame-by-frame in all picture modes apart from the Filmmaker mode. Samsung explains that the AI enhancement processing is minimised in the Filmmaker mode to ensure that that the creative intent of the filmmakers isn't altered.

All the ports on the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED are on the back. There is an HDMI 4 port that offers support for HDMI 2.1 features along with support for 4K/120Hz output. If you are a gamer, you can utilise this TV.

The Samsung QN90A Neo QLED comes with a MultiView feature that lets you watch multiple sources at the same time on the same screen. Thanks to the Samsung Tizen Smart TV support, you get access to popular content streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime Video straight from the remote and all other apps can be download. There is Amazon Alexa and Bixby support on the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED along with compatibility for Google Assistant. You can control this TV via the Samsung Smart Things app too.

One of the unique features of the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED is the remote. This non-backlit remote needs to be paired with the TV first before you can do anything else. You can charge this remote via its USB Type-C port or let it charge up through the light sensor on the back - there are no batteries. One of the issues we had with the remote was that its flat buttons get triggered very easily. This happened very often and we went from whatever we were watching to some random show on tennis on Samsung’s TV Plus channel.

I watched quite a bit of American Horror Story’s second season on the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED and I wasn’t disappointed. Thor Ragnarok also looked particularly good on the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED. The blacks were deep and the colours were vibrant. Unlike what we’ve seen on other TVs, the dark episodes on Game of Thrones, particularly those from the final season, looked pretty good on this. In all, there’s not a thing to complain about, except for that remote.

Should you buy it?

The Samsung QN90A Neo QLED is a good investment to make if you are looking to upgrade your home entertainment system. We were particularly impressed with the panel and the colours. You may want to add on a soundbar if the room is large, but in a normal-sized room, what the Samsung QN90A Neo QLED can deliver is adequate. If you have the money to spare, consider this.