Smart TVs have been a total disappointment to many, myself included. You’ll end up with a panel that can score well, but usually requires thousands (if not more) of your local currency to enjoy a reliable viewing experience as intended by the manufacturer. If you don’t spend well or choose wisely, you’ll end up with a pile of plastic that doesn’t do what it promises in the store. Remember the days when TV only played what was delivered via cable or wireless? Set-top boxes did all the heavy lifting, but now we have smart TVs.
These things happened with good intentions. Turning your “dumb” TV into something similar to a small computer or other electronic device. It would have a capable operating system with updates. Apps can be installed and smart functions can be activated quickly. Broadcasting had to be front and center alongside live TV. It was set up to usher in a golden age of modern television entertainment, but unfortunately it fell flat. Many of these smart TVs have a weak processor that cannot handle the operating system and everything that runs on it.
This results in a terrible experience. Manufacturers want to outdo this thing with cheap internal components. It simply won’t work. A smart TV like a grown-up netbook and $35 streaming stick can often do a better job.
Smart TVs are not smart at all
They are often worse than they were before
How can a $600 TV have worse hardware and experience than a $35 streaming stick? Well, it’s all about cost cutting. Televisions aren’t getting better like they used to. Things have slowed down a bit, leading manufacturers to look at other means of improving the user experience, mostly through software. These improvements, features and updates cause the software to require more hardware resources, most of which the TV simply cannot afford. My 2019 Samsung smart TV has always been slow. It has no wireless capabilities and the UI is just terrible.
I feel like Google TV has helped some things. The TV we recently bought for the bedroom is a TCL with Google’s TV OS, and it’s pretty good. Sure, the internals aren’t incredible, as this is a budget-oriented TV, but it’s good enough for the OS and everything feels like it fits together. It’s incredible to think that because TCL makes the hardware and downloads Google’s software. Two separate entities coming together to power the same device. Samsung controls everything, and the living room experience has always been subpar, requiring a streaming bar.
This is where something like the Amazon Fire TV Stick, Nvidia Shield, or Apple TV comes into play. Depending on how much extra budget you have left after buying a smart TV, you may have a working streaming solution in no time. One thing that bothers me about smart TVs is unnecessary advertising and tracking. Remember when Samsung asked people not to discuss personal matters in front of branded TVs because they would always be recording? Samsung is not the only guilty party here. You can often find privacy policies, guidelines, and other documents covering such practices.
- Resolution
-
1080p
- Integrations
-
Alexa
Setting the bar for affordable TV sticks for a while, Amazon’s latest version integrates Alexa with a remote and can draw power directly from your TV’s USB port.
Combating planned obsolescence
Longer lifespan of technology
Almost everything we buy these days has some form of planned obsolescence, where the manufacturer deliberately does this to release devices at their planned end of life. This could be limited updates after some time or weaker internals that don’t last long. Smart TVs are no exception, with poor software support, the aforementioned weak internals, and aggressive marketing on newer models. Streaming sticks and other similar devices help combat this by moving all functions from the TV to a separate device. A smart TV becomes a TV again.
All smart TVs are good for these days is to show more ads than you can comfortably chew. A separate device to handle streaming all your content frees up the TV to handle a single output, which is better on the processor. The only issue is that you sometimes have to fiddle with the TV GUI before the streaming box will start, although this depends on the make and model. We should always aim to make our gadgets last as long as possible. That’s why you’ll often see XDA recommend using an old laptop for other purposes, such as a home lab server.
The same goes for smart TVs. Why shouldn’t they last a decade (or more)? Using a dedicated device allows you to download everything from the TV, so if the streaming bar decides to no longer work, we can even replace it without considering the TV itself. You can go one step further and unplug the TV completely. Keep it offline so that nothing is sent to the manufacturer. There are fewer ads to load and live TV is a thing of the past if you don’t want to watch any shows or if you’re like me in the UK where we don’t pay a TV license.
Streaming sticks are king
Better user experience and features
Streaming sticks and other devices do this better. They often have more intuitive user interfaces, are better equipped internally to manage everything, and are supported with frequent updates. After switching from native software to single stream sticks and boxes, I haven’t had nearly as many issues as before. Unfortunately, we almost always have to use external hardware to improve the TV experience, but it’s a small price to pay to get the most out of the big screen.
