TechRadar Verdict
A slight upgrade on the UE48H6400, the 48-inch UE48H6700 adds Micro Dimming, a quad core processor and more refined, better contrasted and always very clean 2D and 3D images from all sources. A good value step-up set.
Pros
- +
Smart Hub platform
- +
Smooth motion
- +
Detail, contrast & colour
- +
2D & 3D performance
Cons
- -
Voice interaction
- -
No swivel stand
- -
Small remote controls
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.
Until recently those after a bigscreen TV had to choose between a 42-incher and a monster sized 50-inch telly, but the recent advent of 48-inchers like the UE48H6700 bring yet another option for the living room.
With Samsung's Micro Dimming and some quad core processing inside, the UE48H6700 is top of the brand's Series 6, and it's all about achieving a high performance for a lower price than its Series 7 screens. The smart stuff, including apps and voice control, is present, too.
Selling for around £850 in the UK, the UE48H6700 is a great looking TV, with a rectangular aluminium desktop stand complete with a leaning tower column lending an industrial, though classy, look. The TV itself has a sleek-looking 9mm surround on three sides of the screen, which does create just enough of a floating effect for the money.
On the underside of the TV is a transparent plastic rim, which nicely catches the light, though there's not much motion to get excited about; that desktop stand can't swivel even a few degrees. Does it look as good as Samsung's curved TVs? No, but it's pretty close and a fraction of the cost.
Features
There is no curve here. Instead, you get a Full HD Edge LED-backlit LCD screen with Micro Dimming. Inside is a Freeview HD tuner and a Freesat HD tuner, an active 3D system, and, perhaps most importantly of all considering this set's comprehensive suite of Smart Hub apps, a quad core processor. The system also incorporates some voice interaction, though not gesture; there's no pop-up camera on the UE48H6700.
Apps
Apps including Amazon Instant, Netflix and YouTube make up Smart Hub's streaming video apps, with an exhaustive line-up terrestrial UK TV apps including all of the big guns; BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD and Demand Five. There are countless others to download from the platform's app store, including BBC Sport, STV Player, Vimeo, PictureBox, Eurosport, USA Today, Tune In radio, Skype, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, AccuWeather and Wuaki.tv.
Ins and outs
In the past few years, Samsung TVs have become adept at offering all kinds of ins and outs as standard, and this example is no different. On the rear of the TV's right hand side, as seen from the viewing position, is both an indented side panel and a rear facing plate of ins and outs. The latter houses a couple of HDMI slots above a headphones jack, a wired Ethernet LAN slot and a full RGB Scart.
Next-door is a set of component video inputs (the green one of which also doubles as a composite video input), some left/right stereo phonos, and an optical digital audio output. Meanwhile, the side panel includes two more HDMI inputs, three USB sockets, an RF feed for the Freeview HD tuner alongside the two LNBs needed to fuel the Freesat HD tuner.
Hardware
Unusually for a mid-range big-screen TV like this, there is a choice of two remote controls. The first one is the normal, standard offering that will be familiar to all of us, although it is perhaps a tad smaller than the hard button remote normally supplied (it looks more like the kind of remote control you might find with a Blu-ray player).
Samsung makes up for that by providing a rounded, palm-sized remote, a slinky affair that includes standout, braille-like buttons as well as a built-in touchpad and microphone for powering the sets innovative (though ultimately disappointing) voice interaction system.
However, users of this TV will find that new remote just as handy for operating the volume and changing channels, and perhaps most useful of all for its iconic Smart Hub cube button in the centre that launches Samsung's excellent app platform.
Also available
So what's the difference between the cheaper (about £700) UE48H6400 and the UE48H6700? The answer is that the UE48H6700 adds Micro Dimming and an upgraded Clear Motion Rate 600 system, both within the superior 3D HyperReal Engine picture processing suite. It's accompanied by the 40-inch UE40H6700 and 55-inch UE55H6700. The pared-down UE48H6400, meanwhile, is available as the 32-inch UE32H6400, 40-inch UE40H6400, 55-inch UE55H6400, 65-inch UE65H6400 and whopping 75-inch UE75H6400.
