Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
Ease of use
The higher resolution Smart Hub menu design on the 55LM660T works superbly well. It manages to handle vast amounts of information clearly and succinctly, and its organisation is straightforward and effective.
Even the presence on the Smart TV platform of dozens and dozens of pointless b-list apps isn't a problem, as these apps only appear if you want them too; only 8 appear on the main Smart Hub screen.
LG has also put right a problem we had with last year's Smart TVs, so that you can now instantly access the TV's Settings menus via a dedicated button on the main remote, rather than having to first go into the Smart Hub menus.
The settings menus look a bit 'low-fi' versus the Smart Hub ones, it has to be said, but they're still attractive enough, and more importantly they're pretty easy to learn your way round.
Many brands this year are attempting to offer alternatives to standard remote controls with their Smart TVs - and LG is no different, with its take on proceedings being a revamped version of its previous launched Magic remote. This broadly replicates the functionality of a Nintendo WiiMote, allowing you to just point the remote at the right place on the screen to select your desired option.
This new Magic Motion Remote features a more ergonomic, banana-shaped design, as well as introducing a navigation 'wheel' you can use for scrolling up and down selected menus.
The addition of this wheel is a great touch, making it much easier to quickly access options than was the case with the previous Magic remote iteration. In fact, with the onscreen pointer reacting quickly and accurately to your movements, there's really nothing not to like about the Magic Remote. It's certainly not a stretch to imagine that most people will quickly find they prefer the Magic Remote approach to using the standard TV remote.
The 55LM660T delivers a further major ease of use boost over last year's LG TVs when it comes to its networking functionality. For while last year's LG networkable TVs routinely struggled to talk to at least the Macs in our building, the 55LM660T managed to connect immediately and effortlessly to both resident PCs AND Macs. It even showed a picture of the PLEXed-up Mac in a source 'icon' on the TV's screen, just to make it absolutely clear which computer sources were which.
In fact, the 55LM660T is possibly the most easy-to-network TV we've seen, suggesting that LG has put a heck of a lot of (very worthwhile) effort into improving its multimedia infrastructure for 2012.
Sound quality
While it's a technical challenge to get great picture quality out of a TV with such tiny bodywork as the 55LM660T, it's a near-impossibility to get any half decent audio. So it's not especially surprising to hear the 55LM660T sounding rather cramped and a little harsh in the middle of a typical Hollywood blockbuster action scene.
However, it does manage a half-decent stab at producing some bass; voices seem to be given special emphasis so you never lose track of what's being said; and the harshness never becomes unbearable. So the 55LM660T can certainly be considered an adequate enough audio performer to tide you over until you can afford an external audio system.
Value
The £2,200 55LM660T has the misfortune to arrive hot on the heels of Sharp's 60-inch 60LE636 - a screen we've now seen selling for under £1,000.
However, the LG set enjoys a much more advanced Smart TV service than the Sharp, as well as lots more features including, of course, 3D. It's also a better performer for the most part, especially when it comes to controlling the consistency of its backlight. And the LG's design is in a whole other stratosphere.
All in all, £2,200 seems a fair rather than irresistible price for what the TV has to offer.
