I decided to combine in one article an overview of the TV and Android TV. It’s hard to smash them (where is Sony’s customization, and where are Google’s native chips).
The wait for google or sony to stop cutting budgets will find money for an Android TV review, apparently it can be endless.
I bought this device a month ago when I moved, so I heard the geek people, which Google brings to us without marketing tinsel.
Let's start with the device and move on to sweets.

Sony 55w807c

Minimalistic design . Aluminum frame, status diode (on / off) can be disabled in the menu. The back ledge is an electronics unit.
External power supply: 100W 19v.
Included are bolts-spacers for wall mounting (align the back wall in a plane). In the LG 650 series, there were none, bolted from Leroy.

55 inches, 1080p
Here many have a question, but what about UHD? I started my search by turning on the 4k filter on the Yandex market. But plunging into the subject, removed the tick.
1) There is no 4k content, well everyone knows that. Why not? It turns out that film bosses still can’t set standards, agree on codecs, on HDR (extended color / brightness range). And when they agree, the current TV will turn into a pumpkin. And if with codecs you can get around an external player, then HDR - no way.
2) at a distance of 2 meters or more, 4k should be taken 65 inches and above. The price tag becomes tangible, and taking into account paragraph 1 - the money will go down the drain, which is not good.
3) Projects in many TVs have not yet caught up with the resolution in terms of power (merging with scaling). At 1080p, everything is already debugged.

Matrix * VA
The general leitmotif now is

• IPS - for cartoons and watching TV shows.
• * VA for movie buffs.

This is a general rule, there are exceptions.
Since the matrix * VA is 3D active (shutter glasses). There are no points in the set.
The backlight, judging by the thermal imager, the two electronics boards also contribute to the heating.

Input lag a little more than 30 ms
TV from Sony has been holding the “best buy” brand for game consoles for several years. This year, by the way, they worsened a little, last year the 55w828b had a reference of about 20 ms.

One of the best uplifters on the market.
And this year you can customize it even more for yourself, made even more parameters (black frame insert, etc.) for editing.

Remote slag
In principle, everything is in place, but it is lightweight and weighs 50:50 - when you take it blindly, in 50% of cases you take it upside down and it "does not plow."

Wifi
There is, but I trust more wires, I will not tell you how with stability.

Bluetooth
supports 3D glasses and a joystick from the PS4, like the keyboard and the mouse will work (not tested).

Price
I took for 73 rubles, a variable in recent times.

This year, Sonya switched to the Mediatek platform on her TV. No, but what? If Android, then why chipsets should be different from mobiles.
And then begins the review of more AndroidTV than the glands of Sony.

Android TV

Why did Google’s previous attempt to enter the TV market suffer “zilch” - there was a separate OS, its own market, etc.
This time, everything is different: this is a regular vanilla Android 5.0 with a Google customized launcher (for 4 arrows, Home, Enter, Back). The same market as on the mobile \ tablet, only the list of applications is still small - not all applications have passed the access to this part of the market. But what is now, already covers most of the needs (I will describe the main applications below).

The first inclusion
The first inclusion is very long - 5-7 minutes for sure. Like a mobile phone out of the box. The initial setup application starts.
Subsequent reboots occur faster, about a minute.
To force a reboot of the TV, hold the on / off button on the remote control for 10 seconds.

I turn off the TV ... But do I turn it off?
Now the on / off button works like on a mobile phone, it extinguishes the screen and euthanizes all processes. Accordingly, turning on and off does not take a second.
Here are the power measurements:

And this hibernation mode + Google Cust really does magic, against the background of the rest of the screen mirroring prostheses (Miracast, WiDI, etc.).
What is their main trouble? It is necessary to turn on the TV (look for the remote control, select input) and further.
Android TV in standby is visible in the mobile application, one click - the TV wakes up and continues to play the video from youtube, or the GoogleMusic album. This is cooler than chromecast - for it to work, turn on the TV and select the hdmi input. In the new scenario, the mobile is driving everything, the telly is its appendage.
I found a video with "Masha and the Bear" on the mobile, one button and the picture went on TV.



Launcher
sections of the home screen from top to bottom:
- the recommendations of all applications (configurable application from which is available the recommendations)
- the recommendations of the applications themselves (this slag, apparently with these application Sony has a certain percentage, or they paid for accommodation No one not used.)
- inputs (customizes which inputs to show, how to call names)
- applications (right here Google Market)
- service (settings, help, firmware update)


Broadcast TV
Ordinary antenna, pulls out a very bearable picture.

TuneIn
The first place in the total time of use as background music, the option to turn off the screen here is very much at the box office.


KODI (xbmc) The
best media player. Generations of users Smart TV wants to watch movies with a smb network ball and this happened (from where they did not wait). A DLNA server is not needed, although it plays from it.
Out of the box is a right-click problem. It is necessary to put Add-on: Keymap Editor - from the native repository, then for 30 seconds the context menu maps to the i + button on the remote.


GoogleMarket
If we entered google credentials, then Market is available to us.
The view is unusual, there are not many applications yet.


SPB TV
Internet TV, many channels. The picture quality is significantly better than with the broadcast antenna.


ES Explorer
Also sees network balls, we need it for the next item


Make it not safe for me
As in a regular Android, go to the settings, put a daw on installing applications from left sources and rush ...
Download any application from the market to a USB flash drive or a network share. Find and run through ES Explorer. Profit
You can still play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.tv.sideloadlauncher

AnTuTu Benchmark
Well, why not?


Useful
- the Action Menu button on the remote.
At any time, draws an overlay menu to select picture settings and turn off the screen.

- Discovery button on the remote.
In any running application, draws an “quick menu” overlay. The composition is customizable, I left a list and

- screensaver
If you do not touch the TV on the homescreen for a while, the slideshow begins with very good photos.


- sound
At the same time it outputs sound both in optics and on speakers (as a rule, one thing is plowed in TV sets and it is necessary to switch through the menu depths).
I have wireless headphones through optics, it’s very convenient - I pressed the mute, and weakened my ears.
I met on foreign forums crying about a problem with sound in optics (pass-through felts, or something else - if anyone knows, enlighten me in comments, I haven’t encountered) on Android TV.

PS - Why is true Android TV in the title?
There was a review of the Philips TV on android 4.2.2. geektimes.ru/company/mvideo/blog/246754but it is not related to Google’s Android TV. This is a self-written shell with a regular market, how philips applications with a remote control will not work (hence the heap of negativity on Android “as it were” TV).
Update Whoever has the TV freezes on the broadcast without sound when turned on after a long period of inactivity (turned down). Solution: go to settings - network connections and turn off the ability to wake up over the network.