Samsung UE46ES7000 review

Samsung's high-end TVs can generally be relied on to set some sort of bar for the AV world each year, either with their designs or their feature counts. Or, as happens with the Samsung UE46ES7000, both!

Design-wise, the 46-inch Samsung UE46ES7000 is a stunning television, courtesy of its ultra-slim bezel (which is barely 1cm across), its striking cross-style chrome stand, and the little bulges in the middle of its top and bottom edges containing a built-in camera and the Samsung logo, respectively.

As for its features, as well as being an active 3D TV - complete with two pairs of included 3D glasses - it has the latest and easily greatest variation of Samsung's Smart TV online service, as well as new voice, gesture and touchpad remote control options that have the potential to revolutionise the way you communicate with your TV.

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It also uses dual-core processing to deliver one of Samsung's most sophisticated picture processing engines yet, and can even potentially be upgraded in the future with a more powerful processing system.

The 46-inch Samsung UE46ES7000 - priced at £1,699.99 (around $2,655) - sits between smaller brother the 40-inch, £1,299.99 (around $2,030) Samsung UE40ES7000 and bigger brother the 55-inch Samsung UE55ES7000, priced at £2,299.99 (around $3,595)

The Samsung ES7000 series of TVs sit just below the Samsung ES8000 models in the brand's latest range, distinguished from their flagship siblings by their black and transparent bezel (versus the metallic silver of the ES8000s) and their use of Micro Dimming Pro versus the ES8000's more sophisticated Micro Dimming Ultimate.

This latter difference is the most significant, since it is concerned with the amount of picture 'zones' the TV analyses on the fly when calculating its ideal picture settings.

Just below the Samsung ES7000 series, meanwhile, you'll find the Samsung ES6800 models, which lose the gesture, voice and touchpad remote control options, and feature a further step down still in terms of picture processing. Plus they use a more standard design, with a more regulation-sized bezel.

We'll cover the competition in more detail at the end of the review, but key rivals are Panasonic's GT50 plasma models, Sony's HX853 models, and LG's LM660T LCD models.