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Usability
No smart TV seen to date makes its smart features as brilliantly easy to access, setup and understand as the 55UB950V. As mentioned, this is down to LG's inspired Smart+ TV system developed on the webOS platform.
The smart menus do a fantastic job of judging just the right amount of content links to show on screen at once without making things look too daunting or complicated, and the speed with which you can whisk through all the options with LG's excellent point and click 'magic remote' control is sensational.
Also much appreciated are all the cute little animations that accompany your navigational adventures. They give the interface a genuine personality, and also empower the user by visually rewarding them for every little navigational move they make.
You even get a charming animated character – the Bean Bird – to help guide you through initial set up. This seemingly playful touch is perhaps the most striking single example of the underlying Smart+ TV philosophy. People will be much more likely to actually use smart features and thus become invested in LG's platform if finding and accessing those features feels engaging and immediate.
LG's picture, sound and network setup menus aren't integrated into the webOS platform as fully as they perhaps could be but they're still nicely designed and responsive. There are certainly some areas where the 'webOS mindset' can be seen, such as in the way connected picture set up tools appear together side by side, so you can slide easily across from one to the other.
This makes fine-tuning colours in particular a much more intuitive and straightforward process than having to always jump in and out of fully separated menus, as happens with all other TVs.
It's no exaggeration to say that Smart+ TV with webOS, together with the latest magic remote, revolutionises the way you interface with modern TVs. So much so that it could be enough reason in itself to persuade plenty of people to buy an LG TV this year.
Sound quality
The 55UB950V is a smooth and consistent audio performer. Its speakers deliver a well-balanced, richly toned and, best of all, distortion-free performance unless you crank them up to unrealistic volume levels.
Also appreciated is the way the TV delivers plenty of subtle soundstage detail without feeling the need to be showy or 'forced' about it, contributing further to the soundstage's cohesive, immersive feel.
The 55UB950V is no rival for the revolutionary audio of Sony's X9005B 4K TV series. Sony's set exposes a pretty limited store of bass from LG's offering, as well as an inability in the LG set to really expand the soundstage much when handling an action scene. But the 55UB950V's audio remains a solid effort by the standards of the flat TV world generally – especially given how slim its bezel is.
Value
The 55UB950V costs between £300 and £400 less than rival Sony and Samsung 4K TVs, giving LG's model a key advantage in today's ultra-competitive marketplace. Especially when you consider that the 55UB950V's feature count doesn't seem at all compromised by its price. On the contrary, thanks to its groundbreaking Smart+ TV with webOS interface it's the smartest smart TV in town.
The catch is that some fundamental contrast shortcomings and a weird 3D crosstalk issue prevent the 55UB950V from matching its key rivals in the rather important picture quality department.
