TCL C8 (55" & 65") 4K AI Smart TVs First Look: Smart TVs With Hands-Free Voice Commands Support

Priced Higher Than The Mi TVs

If you notice, the price point of the TCL's C8 smart TVs is noticeably higher than the recently launched Mi TV 4X series. However, the company claims that the new smart TVs bring some never before seen AI features to the table and also deliver better audio quality than the competition. What are those features? Let's find out.

Hands-Free Voice Control

The C8 Smart TV range from TCL is the first one to offer 'Hands-Free' voice commands support. Unlike other smart TVs that need a remote control to perform voice-based operations, the C8 series comes equipped with ‘Far-Field Voice' technology that allows you to give voice commands directly to the TV.

What this means is that you won't need the remote to operate the smart TV as you can simply give voice commands to stream content and to control other smart home devices. You can add devices on the TCL Home app installed on any smartphone to create the smart home ecosystem.

Control IoT-Enabled Devices With Just Voice Commands

We briefly tested the AI feature at the demo zone to stream some content and to control the installed smart devices. The smart TVs were able to switch on/off lights and AC, and also managed to stream the content with just voice commands backed by Google Assistant. The feature can come quite handy and makes much more sense in a smart home ecosystem where you have multiple IoT-enabled devices such as smart LED lights, smart speakers and air-conditioners.

Premium Aesthetics With Almost Bezel-less 4K Panels

The C8-series is by far the best designed smart TVs from the house of TCL, especially the 65-inch variant that flaunts an almost bezel-less design. The smart TVs have a contemporary design complemented with edge-to-edge panels and an aesthetically clean t-pedestal stand. The 4K UHD panels are quite sleek and come surrounded by all-black borders that enhance the viewing experience. You can also wall-mount smart TVs as per your requirement.

4K UHD Panels With Dolby Vision And MEMC

Both the Smart TVs flaunt 4K UHD panels with Dolby Vision and HDR 10 support. The 55" and 65" panels offer a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and also come equipped with MEMC support for smoother picture delivery by improving the refresh rate of the panel. The TVs with MEMC technology are usually free of motion blurriness while streaming fast-paced multimedia content. The recently launched 65-inch Mi TV 4X also comes equipped with the MEMC technology for better picture quality.

We streamed some high-resolution content on smart TVs to evaluate the picture quality. The 55" and 65" panels by TCL produce vibrant colors and have good viewing angles. As the TVs come equipped with HDR and Dolby Vision technology, the output seemed crisp and immersive. We will talk more about the new TCL C8 smart TVs in our detailed review.

Audio- Onkyo Speaker With Dolby Atmos

TCL has equipped the new smart TVs with Onkyo speakers. Both the variants feature a built-in horizontal soundbar attached at the bottom of the panel that looks aesthetically clean and adds to the premium look of the smart TVs. The company's website mentions that the soundbar on both variants houses 8W + 8W speakers backed by Dolby Atmos support. We were not able to evaluate the audio performance in detail at the demo zone during the launch event. Stay tuned for our comprehensive review where we will talk more on the audio performance of the new TCL smart TVs.

As far as connectivity is concerned, the TCL C8 smart TVs offer three HDMI ports, 1 USB 2.0 port, SPDIF digital audio optical port, 3.5mmheadphone jack, and other required connectivity ports.

Hardware And Software

While the company hasn't shared any concrete information about the underlying hardware, the TCL's website mentions that the C8 series is powered by a quad-core CPU and a dual-core GPU. The smart TVs have 16GB internal memory out of which 11GB is available for usage. As far as software is concerned, the smart TVs run on Android 9 Pie and offer Google Play support. You can install Android apps directly from the Google Play store to stream multimedia content. The smart TVs support all major media streaming apps such as Prime Video, Netflix, ZEE5, Hotstar, and more.

Should You Buy The TCL C8 Smart TVs?

The newly launched TCL C8 smart TVs look promising and offer some exclusive features that Xiaomi and other brands fail to offer. The hand-free voice commands will please consumers who are eyeing a full-fledged smart home ecosystem where a smart TV serves as a hub to control all other IoT-enabled devices. We will review the 55" and 65" variants of the TCL C8 series in the coming weeks to evaluate the AI smart features and the audio-video performance.