OnePlus officially announces OnePlus TV with Android TV and OnePlus Connect

OnePlus has formally announced the first-ever OnePlus TV, which comes in two models, the Q1 and Q1 Pro. Both models have a 55-inch 4K QLED display, with OnePlus saying it's custom-built to cover 96% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 120% of the NTSC color gamut. It supports Dolby Vision HDR and also promises a color range that's 13.1% higher than its closest competitor.

OnePlus is using a chipset called the Gamma Color Magic chip, which optimizes video quality to be clearer and smoother. It can help reduce color banding in photos, and artificially increase the framerate of videos, making 24fps and 30fps videos appear to be played at 60fps.

In terms of sound, the OnePlus TV features a 50W set of speakers with support for Dolby Atmos, which is hidden behind the TV on the cheaper Q1 model, and built into a soundbar on the Q1 Pro. The soundbar on the Q1 Pro has two back-facing speakers and six forward-facing speakers, two of which are tweeters. OnePlus says the soundbar uses a forward transmission system, which means sound is aimed directly at the user, rather than firing downwards from the TV.

OnePlus also focused on design for the OnePlus TV, and, for example, the soundbar is hidden when the TV isn't being used, and silently (with a noise level of 32dB) slides out when the TV is turned on. It also has LED lights that glow white when you turn on the TV.

The TV has a 95% screen-to-body ratio and it's just 7mm thin at its thinnest point. OnePlus says it also cared about designing the back of the OnePlus TV, making use of a carbon fiber texture that covers the entire back. The ports will be hidden behind a magnetic plate which lets wires come out of the back without exposing the ports.

Another aspect OnePlus highlighted is the remote controller, which has only six buttons and a touchpad in an aluminum unibody design. Rather than using replaceable batteries, the controller has a built-in battery that charges via USB Type-C.

Even more interesting, though, is the ability to control the TV with your phone. With the OnePlus Connect app, users can use the phone as a touchpad to navigate the interface, using the phone's keyboard to type more quickly, and more. The app can display suggested video content, it provides quick shortcuts to your TV apps so you don't have to use the TV interface at all, and Google Assistant integration is also on board so you can use your voice to control your TV. It can even take screenshots of your TV content and save them directly to your phone.

In terms of software, the TV runs the Pie version of Android TV, and OnePlus is promising three years of software updates to improve the experience. OnePlus is using its own Oxygen Play software to make it easier to find relevant video content, too. When you're not watching TV, it can display photos from the OnePlus community, and it can also be used as a Bluetooth speaker for your phone.

The OnePlus TV Q1 and Q1 Pro will be available starting on September 28 on Amazon India for ₹69,900 (roughly $986) and ₹99,900 ($1,409), respectively. There's no word yet on international availability, but there will be a European launch event for the OnePlus 7T on October 10, so it could be that more information will come at that time.