This year has been pretty extraordinary in innumerable ways …so the fact ASDA has slashed the cost of a 50-inch Smart TV for Black Friday – like it does every year – is supremely reassuring. Yes, the retailer has dropped the cost of an Ultra HD-compatible flatscreen to herald the start of their annual Black Friday sales and if you’re looking to recreate the big screen experience at home without breaking the bank, this is a solid option.
ASDA is charging a mere £269 for a 50-inch Smart TV complete with an Ultra HD (4K) panel and support for HDR (High Dynamic Range). Yes, you did read that correctly.
Usually priced at an already-pretty-competitive £329, this 50-inch 4K gogglebox includes Wi-Fi support, so you don’t have to worry about plugging in a Chromecast or Fire TV Stick to stream the latest episodes of your favourite boxset on Netflix or Prime Video on the telly. It also has two USB ports for charging or presenting a slideshow of your family pictures on the big screen, and three HDMI 2.0 ports.
The set is built by Polaroid and has a number of smart features you’d expect on 4K tellies that command higher price tags, including built-in Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube apps. In fact, there’s even a shortcut to the Netflix app on the remote, so you don’t need to waste any time getting to the next episode in your binge-watch of The Crown.
Freeview Play is also support out-of-the-box, which means you’ll be able tune-in to some 70 live channels, 15 High Definition (HD) channels, and seven on-demand catch-up apps. Not only that, but Freeview includes seven days of catch-up built-in to the TV Guide, so you can scroll backwards to travel back in time and see what you’ve missed – without worrying about loading the right app to find the show you’ve missed.
As you use Freeview Play, the service will begin to make suggestions of new shows or movies that it think you’ll like, based on your previous viewing habits. These recommendations will be from the on-demand players, displayed by genre.
With its LED backlighting, the Polaroid telly promises to be bright and colourful, whether you’re watching Good Morning Britain or Strictly Come Dancing. HDR is designed to make the picture clearer whenever there are extreme contrasts in light on-screen, like a bright phone screen illuminated in gloom of a cave. Sky Q added support for HDR earlier this year, with Sky Cinema and Sky Sports being updated to support the new format in the coming months. With 4K and HDR support baked-in, this 50-inch TV is pretty future-proofed.
If you want to pick-up the Polaroid TV, it’s only available in-store from ASDA. Thankfully, you won’t have to wait around until Black Friday itself, which falls on November 27 this year.
The discounted Polaroid TV is available to buy at this ludicrously low price from Monday November 16.
For comparison, last year, ASDA sold a 49-inch Polaroid TV as part of its Black Friday deal for £229. However, the telly wasn’t compatible with either Ultra HD or HDR – showing how far things have come in the last year. And how much more you’re getting for your money if you managed to hold-out upgrading your TV over the last 12 months since the last Black Friday bonanza.
