TCL has a new cheap 4K TV for the UK – but can it improve on the EP658?

TCL has just announced a brand new 4K TV for UK viewers: the TCL P715K series.

Priced at just £379 for its smallest 43-inch size, with 55-inch and 65-inch models in tow and a larger 75-inch iteration set to land in 2021, the TCL P715K offers affordability at a mix of sizes. 

You can also expect support for the Alexa voice assistant, key streaming apps such as Disney Plus (which you won't find on Panasonic TVs yet), and an Android smart TV operating system.

With a 'bezel-less' panel, too, this is a set that seems to ape the premium appearance of more expensive flagship sets, such as the Samsung Q950TS 8K QLED. While the materials will no doubt have been cheaper, the metal casing should feel more premium than the plastic usually found at this price point.

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This is an HDR TV, too, meaning it has support for basic HDR10, adding expanded color and contrast – though not the dynamic HDR10+ and Dolby Vision standards. TCL has made much of its Smart HDR feature, which aims to give SDR an HDR-style boost to luminance and color volume, but our review of the EP658 found this really just ramped up the brightness to the point of eradicating picture detail.

The EP658 retailed at slightly less, at £329 for a 43-inch size, but we wouldn't recommend trying to push the P715K to its limits either.

New kid on the block

Android seems to be having something of a moment in affordable 4K TVs, with UK TV brand Cello launching a 2020 range of Android sets – the first time Cello has collaborated with Google's TV OS – though you won't be getting 4K resolution on those specific models, even for a 50-inch screen.

TCL has an advantage with its 4K models, then, but the Chinese electronics brand still has yet to really make a splash in the UK. Its first UK models, the DP648 and EP658, didn't score very highly in our own tests, though the introduction of QLED models this year could help raise TCL's profile on these shores.

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