Movies, series, cartoons, documentaries, commercials, all are made in landscape, wide, 16 by 9, 21 by 9 or whatever you want to call it. Then smartphones came into our lives, which are also equipped with cameras that can take photos or videos. And the most natural way to do that is vertically because that's how you hold your phone.
This way of vertical filming has been blamed for a long time, but now it finds its role in social media, where we only see vertical filming on Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook. Relying on this popularity, Samsung has thought of making a TV that can turn vertically. So one question that this review needs to answer is this: Why would you want a TV that can be used vertically, but also horizontally, what is its usefulness? I've been thinking about this all the test period, and I'll give you the answer at the end. Until then, we are talking about design, display, performance, sound and functionality.
DESIGN - Samsung Sero
We've already established that the Sero isn't a regular TV, so the design isn't trivial either. This TV stands in its natural position and has a stand at the back that is fastened with a few screws. Also at the back we find all the connectivity ports.
And we have 2 USB ports, 3 HDMI, one of which is eARC and one CI + slot. We also have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, of course. The TV has a diagonal of 43 inches, which is 108 cm, so it is not a large TV, but because it is built to rotate and has a built-in audio system, Sero is a heavy 33.3 kilogram TV with a stand . It is a TV that is harder to move, the good news is that you can buy wheels separately for it and thus move it easily where you need it. In terms of thickness, this is not a thin TV, and we are talking about 6 cm in the thickest part. The rotation mechanism is hidden, and the construction is made of plastic with some metal in the stand area and a textile part that hides the speakers.
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PICTURE
Sero is a 4K QLED TV, has 10+ HDR support and covers 100% of its volume with Quantum Dot. It's also bright and you won't have any trouble watching it, even on sunny days, no matter what type of content you watch. In addition, the colors are contrasting and beautifully rendered. As expected, you have several types of settings for displaying content: Dynamic is the brightest, then there is standard, natural, film and filmmaker. You can turn on smart mode and the TV takes care of all the picture settings depending on how you think it's best, but I don't like it because it introduces that soap opera effect into movies. You can get rid of it by changing the settings.
Overall, the TV seems to show a very nice picture with good colors, high contrast, but the white balance is maybe a little cold for my taste. I watched native 4K content and it looks great, even FHD productions have good upscaling. I didn't plug it in to tell you how the TV shows are.
The refresh rate is a classic 60 Hz, so it's not necessarily great for gaming, but it has a game mode that reduces response time and works fine with PlayStation 5. It doesn't have Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos. In landscape mode, an ambient mode can be used to play back images and sounds. This way you have a kind of next-gen painting in your living room.
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Samsung Sero is a TV that will not disappoint you in terms of image and I think it is only good for Netflix, movies, series and the internet. But not necessarily the best considering that at this price you also have access to quality OLED TVs.
As this TV cannot be placed on a dresser or TV, but must sit on this stand, the manufacturer was smart and incorporated a high-performance audio system at the bottom. Because attaching a soundbar would be weird. We're talking about a 2.0 system that supports Dolby Digital Plus and has adaptive sound + and dialog enhancement. First of all, the TV has an impressive volume and you can quietly give a party without adding other speakers. Very good for movies or music. If you are very hipster you could use Sero as a smart speaker for music playback. It also has a built-in Bixby but it works a bit slow.
Social Media on a 108 cm screen
And now let's talk about how you can use this TV in portrait mode, that is, vertically and why you would do that.
Obviously, this type of TV is perfect for viewing content vertically, and it is the most widespread on social media. So you can connect your wireless phone to the TV and so you have TikTok on a 108 cm screen and you can see semi-naked women, cute animals, pranks and dances on a big screen at home. You can connect by screen mirroring, and the process works great and in a few seconds you have your phone screen on the TV.
But a more interesting method would be tap to view, and the idea is that you come with a Samsung phone and touch the TV and the connection is made immediately. Well, in my case it was about a moment of Benny Hill, that is, I touched the TV with the phone several times, on all sides, and when it finally detected the movement it blocked the connection. It went about 2-3 times during the test period.
I had all the updates up to date, I reset the phone and so on, but without success. The screen mirroring process is getting faster. Once connected: you can surf the internet, social media, read articles and so on with your eyes on the TV screen and your phone in your hand. The problem is that you have to look at the phone screen again to navigate and it will take you some time to get used to handling the phone and looking elsewhere. However, where I think this system works best is in the gaming segment, and your phone thus becomes a controller. Of course you can do screen mirroring on other TVs, but if the game is vertical you have black edges, and if the game is horizontal, Sero also detects and switches horizontally. And here, however, you will have to get used to not looking at the phone, but on TV and getting used to the position of the buttons.
Another interesting thing you could do with this TV and a Samsung phone is to use DeX wireless. You connect a mouse and a bluetooth keyboard and you have a kind of PC with a big screen to work on. You can make excellent excel tables, send emails, edit texts or make presentations. A phone like the Note 20 Ultra is more than enough for office work.
You can use some applications installed on the TV vertically, but not in full screen, which is a shame. It would have been great if it had switched apps in a mobile way, but maybe in the future after a software update. Just like in landscape you have the ambient mode and in the vertical you have something similar and you can display images with you, your cat, the places you have been to or you can choose to display the clock or other images.
The remote control is small, excellent and I already appreciated it in the Samsung M5 monitor review.
Why would you want a TV like Sero? I say it's not for social media consumption because no one gets home and now says to go to bed and watch TikTok for two hours. In my opinion, social media consumption is sporadic, but not necessarily for long periods of time. I watch 5 minutes now on Facebook, I watch TikTok 10 minutes at noon and on Instagram before bed. In addition, those who would afford such a TV would not watch TikTok for 1-2 hours on this TV.
I'd rather buy a TV like Sero as a statement piece. Some of you may have been upset, but this is Sero: an object that everyone will notice when they first enter a room. It looks different. A strange elongation, in a world of black rectangles. I see Sero in showrooms, in modern bedrooms where you don't want a TV on the wall or in a dresser. It is a modern TV that fits into a modern interior design.
That being said, I don't think Sero is as useful as rotating vertically, but it's something else. It is a beautiful, unconventional product, and buyers will want it for this, not necessarily for image or functionality.
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