TCL Google TVs just put Roku and Fire TV on notice — here’s why

TCL Google TVs just put Roku and Fire TV on find — hither'southward why

(Image credit: TCL)

TCL has simply announced some large news this week: A total slate of TCL Google TV models are coming in the side by side month or and then. This includes new Google-powered versions of the highly popular TCL 6-Series and 5-Serial smart TVs.

With this being only the second major launch of Google TV-based smart TVs from a bigger name manufacturer — the first was in the Sony 2021 Idiot box lineup before this year — it represents a big footstep forward for the large-screen operating arrangement. In terms of market share and accessibility, it puts the successor to Android Goggle box onto a lot more than affordable displays.

Merely at that place's more to information technology than that. By partnering with TCL to whorl out several new Google Idiot box products, Google is taking aim squarely at some of the near pop smart Tv platforms on some of the nearly affordable smart TVs you tin buy.

Put simply, Google is directly taking on Amazon's Fire TV and Roku smart TVs, and Google came to win.

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Why TCL TVs matter

The TCL name has been very closely associated with Roku over the last few years. The two companies have worked closely with one some other to make TCL Roku TVs some of the all-time affordable smart televisions you can observe. While other TV manufacturers take offered Roku-powered displays, a quick glance at our picks for the best Roku TVs shows a lineup heavily slanted toward TCL products, and for good reason.

TCL makes actually good hardware, and the visitor owns its full manufacturing supply chain, from the panel to the finished Goggle box. That allows for a very high level of quality.

Innovations introduced past TCL, such equally the combination of QLED and mini-LED backlight as seen in our TCL six-Series Roku TV (R635) review, has had a significant impact on the home theater marketplace, with mini-LED-lit quantum-dot TVs since being introduced by both Samsung and LG.

TCL released its starting time Android TVs last yr, but relegated the platform to its less expensive and less avant-garde 3- and 4-Serial models. These Android-powered models are largely identical to their Roku-powered counterparts, but the TCL Android lineup hasn't been as widely promoted or even as widely available through major retailers. The spotlight has always been Roku.

The result is that TCL has been able to brand its cheap Roku TVs a major presence in televisions. And so why add Google Idiot box to the mix?

Google TV: Android smart TVs grow up

For starters, Google Idiot box represents the latest evolution of Android Tv, which has been the proper name of Google's smart TV interface for the last several years. Based on the same Android operating system equally many phones and tablets, the Television set-oriented version of Android benefits from the rich selection of apps and services in the Android ecosystem, too as a flexibility that lets it run on all sorts of hardware.

Also, Google's smart TV interface is non tied to any ane Television manufacturer, unlike LG'due south webOS or Samsung's Tizen platforms. As a result, Android Idiot box has been licensable to several Television set manufacturers, making it one of the only brand agnostic options available for TV shoppers, alongside Roku.

In many ways the switch to Google TV is a branding movement, since the underlying software is still Android. The change in branding is accompanied by several new features, including advanced content suggestions that combine Google'southward many content channels (YouTube, YouTubeTV, Google Play Video, etc) and search chops, linking TV viewer profiles to Google users and letting y'all relieve and share watchlists betwixt phone and TV, among other things.

The movement to Google Tv set also offers enhanced smart abode compatibility, drawing on Google'south deep ties to its own Nest products and a growing ecosystem of other smart home devices as those product categories accept matured. Both Sony and TCL Google TVs are outfitted with far-field microphones, substantially making the TV a big smart speaker, but like a Google Habitation, complete with functions that tie in to smart thermostats, video doorbells and myriad other devices.

The event is a polished version of what was already an excellent smart TV experience. It's a significant plenty comeback that we gave it the Tom'south Guide 2021 Award for the best smart TV platform.

TCL's large bet on Google

The improver of Google TV to TCL'south higher-quality, just yet budget-friendly models in the 5 and 6 Series, represents an important shift for both TCL and Google. Every bit the smart TV category matures, we expect this to result in some of the best smart TVs to hitting the market place at ambitious prices.

This motility likewise seems similar a carefully calculated footstep on TCL'south part. TCL'south 2020 TV lineup included several of the best TVs we saw last year, only for 2021, TCL opted to conduct those same models frontwards equally the flagship TVs for the new twelvemonth. That's a scrap of a run a risk, betting that some of the best affordable TVs of concluding year wouldn't exist replaced past models from competitors like Hisense and Vizio. (Both of these competing manufacturers take in fact delivered great TVs this yr, and then this was not at all a safe bet.) Merely the bet has so far paid off, as evidenced by the TCL 6-Series reigning still as our favorite value amid the best TVs.

It seems likely at present that TCL'due south plan all along was to launch these new Google TV-powered versions of those award-winning TVs. Information technology effectively combines the aforementioned tiptop-notch hardware with Google's revamped operating system to make a play in that same high-value category.

What about Roku? Given that TCL besides simply launched the TCL Roku Tv 6-Series 8K (R648) in partnership with Roku, I doubt that the TCL/Roku pairing volition go away anytime soon. Only the addition of Google Goggle box is a big step.

For the moment, information technology looks like TCL's Google TVs will be a footling more than expensive at launch than the equivalent Roku models from last year. The new sets are available for preorder, with the 5-Serial starting at $599 and the half-dozen-Series models starting at $999. What I await, notwithstanding, is that the small price increase for the new Google Television sets will soon vanish as release windows laissez passer and sales start knocking downwards prices to levels closer to what the current Roku sets bring in.

What it means: Better TVs, more contest

We'll have to look on individual reviews and hands-on time with the new TVs to make a more detailed case for TCL's new sets. But the fact remains the TCL has just put Roku and Amazon on detect. Budget TVs are near to go a hotly contested infinite.

As a reviewer and smart Television receiver enthusiast, I couldn't exist more than thrilled. The premium smart TV category dominated by LG, Samsung and Sony has long offered the sort of expansive functionality that well-nigh people want from a smart Television set, simply premium TV prices go along those models out of virtually homes. You but aren't likely to pay $2,000 for a loftier-stop model when all you want is a 4K display that tin play Netflix and Disney Plus. Equally a result, virtually people don't become the coolest smart TV features, and that's a existent shame.

If TCL can do for Google Television set what information technology'due south done with Roku smart TVs — namely, evangelize above boilerplate quality at surprisingly reasonable prices — then affordable TVs could be in for major improvements across the board. That includes from these new TCL Google TVs and those from Roku and Amazon as the contest heats up. Information technology could be the best matter to happen to smart TVs in years.

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Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom's Guide, covering everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.