Get yours here :
In case you missed it, LG’s W7 series “wallpaper” OLED TV was the toast of
CES 2017,
and for good reason. For many, it represents the ultimate in TV design.
At just 2.57mm thin – about the thickness of three quarters stacked
together – it looks more like a window on the wall than any TV you’ve
seen before. And at about 16.5 pounds, the display panel is light enough
to hang like a piece of art, held fast by a set of magnets. In terms of
cool-factor, no other TV can touch it.
Except, of course, its upcoming follow-up,
the LG W8 OLED.
Keeping all the same design cues, right down to the included soundbar,
the W8 improves on the W7 in a number of ways. LG’s new a9 (pronounced
Alpha 9) chip not only offers a speedier experience with webOS 3.5, but
offers enhanced picture quality with reduction in color banding and a
host of other improvements. The W8 also features Google Assistant and
LG’s
new ThinQ platform,
which work together to offer up a strikingly large number of unique
voice commands. While the W8 is the new kid on the block, that could
mean a price drop in the W7, so if you’re interested in possibly saving a
few bucks on a TV that is still a great pick, read on.
Striking design is just the beginning of the story here. Certainly,
because it is an OLED TV, reviewers such as myself are necessarily going
to trip over themselves coming up with new ways to describe just how
much of a feast for the eyes it is, but the W7 series is part of a new
breed of OLED televisions for LG – one that is brighter, more accurate,
and more capable than those of the past – making the task even tougher.
What’s more, while the W7 itself is certainly a remarkable TV,
perhaps more exciting is the fact that every series in LG’s OLED lineup
this year uses the same panel and the same processing chips. That means
that, depending on your demand for fancy design elements and enhanced
audio systems, you can get the same stunning picture quality throughout
the line, right down to the “entry-level” B7 series, expected to be
unleashed in April 2017.
Given the Signature W7 OLED’s unique must-mount requirement, LG opted
to bring reviewers to the TVs rather than send TVs to reviewers, who
likely wouldn’t be able to temporarily install a panel that uses an
unconventional mounting system. I was flown to San Francisco for a
reviewer’s workshop and given a rundown on what’s new for LG’s OLEDs, a
fascinating tour of Dolby’s laboratories, and roughly 4 hours of alone
time with a production version of the Signature W7 to evaluate its place
within this year’s crop of ultra-premium TVs.
Truth be told, I only needed a few minutes.
Unusual, but ultimately easy to setup
I didn’t get an opportunity to un-box the 65-inch Signature W7 OLED
myself, but I know what comes in the box and what happens after you open
it. Now is as good a time as any to address the 25-pound, silver-backed
gorilla in the room.
Okay, maybe likening this TV’s requisite soundbar to a gorilla is a
bit of an exaggeration, but considering how svelte the display is, it’s
hard for the sizeable soundbar not to come off as a little bit imposing.
It is neither slim, nor is it light. You can’t wall-mount it, and
there’s no point in trying to tuck it away, either, as it is the TVs
sole source of sound. Like it or not, the W7 comes with company – but at
least it sounds good.
