OLED TVs are gaining in popularity in India but options for consumers remain limited. Now Haier has come out with C11 TVs, and at relatively lower prices compared to what other brands are asking for. In this Haier C11 OLED 55-inch TV review we explore if it is worth buying.
Compared to LG, Samsung and Sony, Haier may not be a brand that jumps into thoughts when someone says TV. But I believe it is changing fast. And that is because Haier is getting aggressive not only at reminding Indian consumers that it offers everything that Koreans or Japanese do, but also everything competitive at prices that are lower. We are seeing this in ACs and refrigerators and now with C11 TVs we are beginning to see this in televisions.
advertisem*nt
Haier recently launched C11 TVs in India. The one remarkable feature, at least on paper, is the price of these TVs. The C11 TVs - they come in 55-inch and 65-inch - use OLED panels and yet they cost in terms of MRP around 20 to 30 per cent less than the OLED TVs from other brands.
The question then is: if an OLED TV is on your mind, should you take a look at the Haier C11? And to answer this, we take a closer and thorough look at the C11 OLED 55-inch in this review.
Packed with features, good design
Even before I got the C11 OLED, I knew a fair amount about it. And what I knew made me all excited for it. This is because the C11 OLED is packed with almost all the features you can think of plus, of course, the kitchen sink.
What do you need in a TV? A good panel, good sound hardware, good internal hardware, maybe a fast screen. The C11 OLED has it all. Like the name suggests, it has an OLED panel. I will come back to this in a while. Along with the panel, which supports Dolby Vision and HDR 10+ both, you have Harmon Kardon speakers with support for Dolby Atmos. The screen of the TV also comes with support for 120Hz refresh rate, which makes it suitable for pairing with a gaming console like Xbox or PlayStation, and usual features like MEMC. Pro Tip: When you get a TV, you should turn off MEMC the moment you power on the television. Of course, the TV supports UltraHD resolution, has support for Bluetooth 5.0 and is powered by Google TV (more on this in a while).
In other words, there is everything you may want in a TV and there is probably no other OLED TV in India, which offers all this at a price of Rs 1,58,990.
The design of the C11 is usual but there is enough flair in it to make it look premium. The most appealing aspect of it is its stand, which is made of metal and is fairly hefty. It is also a stand that attaches in the middle of the TV and has an oblong shape. This is the kind of stand that is better for TVs because it allows large TVs - in this case a 55-inch TV - to be placed on shorter TV units. When I kept the TV on the table, I also found that the stand supports its weight - around 24 kgs - very well and without any wobbles.
advertisem*nt
The quality of build is also premium and in no way feels cheap. The bezels are, if not razor thin, are thin enough. The body of the TV is made of plastic, but it is sturdy and has a heft that makes the C11 look and feel like an expensive Rs 1.5 lakh TV.
One thing which is somewhat unusual is the design of the speakers. Instead of integrated into the television and its frame, the speakers are in a slim sound bar under the screen. The frame of the bar is made of metal, and the speaker grille has a synthetic fiber finish. It looks totally cool.
advertisem*nt
In terms of connectivity there are a fair amount of options. There are four HDMI ports, including one that supports eARC. There are 2 USB 2.0 ports, there is a port for Ethernet and there is one for even a SD card. Although, I feel it would have been great to see USB C or USB 3.0 ports as well. Sadly, the C11 is missing that.
A word about remote. It looks usual and works usual. But two things need mention. One, it has volume up and down buttons on the side. Like we have on phones. It is quite intuitive. Mute button too is placed on the side. And two, given that we are talking about Google TV here, the remote has a microphone so you can press the voice command button speak to search for content. In general also you can voice commands - say to lower volume or to open apps. I used the voice commands often while trying the C11.
Runs on Google TV
advertisem*nt
There are two ways to use the C11. In a TV mode, after connecting it to a set-top box or an entertainment box like Apple TV. I often used the C11 with the Jio set-top box and the combo worked flawlessly. The other option is to use the TV without a box attached to it, in which case it is a Google TV, complete with inbuilt Chromecast.
The TV is powered by CA73 Mediatek processor, 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. Is it enough? On paper, it should be. But I also found Google TV software a little iffy.
Actually, Google TV is somewhat different from Android TV. It sure has a more pleasing user interface, but unlike Android TV which can be used without any Google account, the Google TV cannot be used unless you supply it your Google details. And once you start using it, Google TV interface is often full of recommendations etc from Google, which in other words means Google tracks everything I watch on my TV. Sneaky!
There is an app only mode in Google TV, which is kind of no recommendations and no tracking mode but using that too requires you supplying the TV your Google details.
But Google's shenanigans aside, how is the experience of using C11? I found the interface somewhat cluttered in the default Google TV mode. There were ads and recommendations, which were annoying. But more significantly, I found the C11 user interface on the slower side. Opening apps takes a few extra seconds, and even scrolling through apps and navigating through menu and options in apps like Netflix and YouTube was laggy.
Haier C11 OLED picture quality and audio
Given that C11 has an OLED panel, I was expecting great picture quality from it. And it didn't disappoint. The colours on the C11 pop, like they do on an OLED screen. They are vibrant, even gorgeous in some instances. The screen has a glossy finish, but the way the TV was set in my room there was no direct sunlight on it. Although it did have a tubelight on the wall opposite of it. Despite this light I found that reflections on the C11 were well controlled even on evenings when all the lights in the room were turned on. This I think was because of the colour depth and contrast from the OLED panel.
Some examples. I watched Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Heeramandi and in that show the C11 effortlessly projected the grandeur in the show's frames. The intricate details of the background sets, jewellery, actors' features - everything came alive and full of a richness that I could perceive.
Another show where I absolutely loved the picture quality of the C11 was Ripley, which is in black and white but is shot exquisitely and has arguably some of the best cinematography in a TV show. The 55-inch screen of the C11 proved to be perfect to capture the symmetry contained in Ripley shots and the black and white grain on the faces of the characters popped and was extremely detailed.
Of course, like all OLED TVs the C11 is best at 4K content. The content that is not in 4K resolution, or doesn't have extremely high-bit rate is obviously not that appealing. But I am happy to say that even in lower resolution content the image engine in the C11 does a fair job of upscaling the picture quality, although this aspect of modern TVs is almost always very subjective. Some people prefer a certain kind of upscaling while some other want something else.
As far as sound quality is concerned, I used C11 with its inbuilt speakers. I found the audio performance of the C11 superior to what I have experienced in some other TVs. Haier offers two unique features in the C11 sound system: background noise reduction and dialogue enhancer. Both make a difference. In particular I liked the background noise reduction. Even with traffic noise from the road or from the children playing outside, I could watch my TV in relative peace. The noise from outside didn't impact my experience much and I didn't need to drown the background noises by increasing the TV volume. Most of the time the volume at 50 to 60 per cent level worked fine. Similarly, enhancing the dialogues - the option is in the audio settings - made watching the TV series and films significantly better. I watched several high-quality series and videos on Netflix that supported Dolby Vision and audio, and the overall experience was truly immersive.
Haier C11 OLED 55-inch review: Should you buy it?
Of course, Haier C11 is not an expensive TV. But relative to what it offers I feel at MRP of Rs 1,58,990 it offers fantastic value. In fact, I am guessing that the selling price of C11 might be even lower.
By spending Rs 1.6 lakh you are getting a moderately large (55-inch) TV with an OLED panel, that supports all the Dolby and HDR it needs to support and comes with a panel that offers 120Hz refresh rate. The picture quality, as expected from OLED, is sublime. But what came as a pleasant surprise is the sound quality of the C11. Usually TVs are not good at sound. But C11 is an exception.
Overall, the Haier C11 is a very capable and mature TV. And it should be on your shortlist if you are looking to get a premium TV this summer.
Published By:
Divya Bhati
Published On:
May 22, 2024
