Samsung UE48JU7000T review

Samsung has pretty much gone back to the drawing board for its 2015 TV operating system – and the results are broadly welcome.

Its Tizen interface is superimposed over your TV pictures for the most part rather than replacing it, as happened last year, which makes it feel much more modern and less unhelpfully obtrusive. It also sensibly puts a much greater focus on showing links to recently used content sources rather than trying to force content on you, as Samsung's previous system sometimes felt it was doing.

The smart remote control Samsung provides as an alternative to the drab 'basic' remote control is the result of apparently hundreds of hours of consumer research, and it is indeed far more intuitive than last year's version.

The old touchpad navigation system has gone, and although you do still get both normal button navigation controls and a point-and-click-style system, these has been given greater separation, so there's far less chance of accidentally mixing up the two systems and making incorrect selections.

Samsung has arguably reduced the button count on the smart remote control a little too much; direct access to things such as the electronic programme guide and basic picture control settings might have been useful.

But Samsung assures us the buttons included are the ones that its research showed were most used, so maybe this is one area where my usage as a TV reviewer differs slightly from normal consumer use.

Sound

The 20W speaker system inside the UE48JU7000T is a decent effort by flat TV standards. It's particularly effective at reproducing subtle details in the mix, helping it create a strong sense of audio space and ensuring good-quality movie mixes sound lively and dense.

The speakers also keep a tight grip on vocals, ensuring that voices always sound clear and distinct from the rest of the sound mix without, at the same time, becoming dislocated from the action or sounding artificial.

The downside is that the UE48JU7000T doesn't have enough bass to deliver the sort of audio gymnastics produced by the best TV sound systems in Sony and LG's arsenals, leaving dense action scenes sometimes feeling a touch harsh and compressed.

Value

Hopes that the UE48JU7000T would represent a value sweet spot in Samsung's 2015 UHD TV range initially seemed to be roundly dashed by its out-of-the-box motion problems.

However, while having to work round such a severe issue is hardly ideal, especially given how few people actually ever take the time to adjust their picture settings, the fact remains that it is possible to get superb pictures out of Samsung's UHD mid-ranger.

And in the end it seems only fair to judge the TV based on that.