Television sets are, well, television sets — and only a few stand out. Samsung’s The Frame is one of the most interesting devices available, as it falls into the lifestyle category. It has a palatable design and can be more than just a big slab in the middle of the living room. Its slim build and always-on display let you customise what is shown on the screen — be it photographs or artwork — when it is not in use.
The customisable frames give it a museum-like experience, which brings us to the new 55-inch QLED (LS03F) version of The Frame 4K smart TV. This is a high-quality TV-viewing experience. Besides offering a high-end display, it’s also energy-efficient and covers your media needs for years.
There are deep, uniform levels of black, and QLED produces a wide range of colours. Samsung QLED TVs deliver 100% colour volume with Quantum Dot technology for vivid, accurate, and consistent picture quality. Backed by TUV Rheinland’s ‘Real Quantum Dot Display’ certification and cadmium-free materials, they stand as safe and genuine QLED TVs.
(Clockwise from top left) You can enjoy fitness routines, use SmartThings to connect all Samsung devices, communicate with Copilot, or watch free television channels on The Frame
Though it would be doing an injustice to the concept of The Frame, you can keep it on a table. A pair of sturdy “feet” comes in the box, and unlike most television sets, it is not a bend-outward design. Further, it is extremely easy to install it all by yourself, even though Samsung will offer its installation service. Since the review unit was 55 inches, we decided to go with installation.
In the Frame
The TV is designed to be placed on a wall with minimal gap between the set and the wall, just like a picture frame. One of the main reasons for buying this particular TV is its beautiful design. Sure, it’s intended to display artwork, but the TV itself acts like a museum piece when hung on the wall.
The television is compatible with a wide range of swappable bezels that come in different colours and materials. Prices of these “frames” vary depending on the TV size, but more important is how they can change the look of the television set. The frames magnetically attach, so you can install them yourself.
To make the slim design possible, Samsung has offloaded all the connections to the One Connect box, which can be tucked away from sight. The only cable running from your television will be a high-quality, slim wire.
Besides a power connector, there are plenty of ports on this box — USB 2.0, antenna, optical audio out, ethernet, four HDMI ports (one with eARC), and on the side, more USB 2.0 ports, which make it easy to connect a hard drive to the set.
One of the biggest advantages of The Frame is the anti-reflective screen, which eliminates the sheen you normally see on TV screens, making art displays look more realistic, even with bright lights in the room.
Televisions have become so boring that people have stopped caring about their looks — something The Frame tries to fix.
When you are not watching a movie or a show, The Frame can take advantage of a wide variety of curated art or anything you choose to upload, like a family album or pictures with friends.
The TV uses brightness sensors to automatically adjust pictures to keep colour tonality as accurate as possible. Can you get any artwork to display on the screen? There are quite a few free options, but for something like Vincent van Gogh’s work, you need a membership to the Art Store, which offers monthly and annual plans.
The SolarCell remote is light and has all the functionalities you need to control the TV
The Frame is also energy-efficient. When it is in Frame mode, the refresh rate drops drastically from 120Hz. If you upgrade from an older Frame, you will notice changes in your energy bill.
There is also a sensor to detect motion in the room. If there are no people present, the TV goes off, but when somebody enters, the display kicks back on. You need to enable motion sensing in the settings.
Picture perfect
The Frame has impressive viewing angles. Even if people sit off-centre, The Frame does a good job, especially the latest one, with a matte coating on the display. The colours don’t degrade if you are looking at the screen beyond 45 degrees.
What you get is a 4K panel with 3,840 x 2,160 resolution. The living room where we installed the TV has plenty of natural light streaming in, yet The Frame managed to beat the brightness. There is, obviously, support for HDR, HDR 10+, and 4K AI upscaling, besides ‘supreme’ UHD dimming and Motion Xcelerator of 144Hz.
The high brightness and contrast ratio, combined with anti-glare technology, make this an awesome purchase for movie viewing. Further, it handles motion-rich content effectively, so F1 fans wouldn’t have a problem, thanks to AI upscaling and quick picture processing.
But if it’s news channels that take up most of your time, a cheaper television set would be a more feasible option.
Performance power
We need to talk about the user interface. Being a Samsung TV user for almost a decade, I’ve seen the UI evolve from functional to genuinely helpful. Even four-five years ago, one had to fumble to find things, but now recommendations have improved drastically, and so has content grouping.
If fitness-related content excites you, there is quite a bit of that — provided you pay a subscription fee. There is also food-related content, enriched by the Samsung Food app.
There is no problem accessing apps like Apple TV+ or hooking up an Apple TV media box. In fact, if you combine the Apple TV box with this particular QLED panel, it will be very difficult to move to another brand of displays.
Style The Frame to your taste with customisable bezel frames
Coming back to the user interface, you can play around with the feel of the content quite a bit. We mostly kept it in ‘filmmaker mode’ because at home, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino have sway. Equally good is ‘movie mode,’ but I find the ‘eco mode’ holds back the full power of the colours this display can show. There is also the option to play around with calibration, but unless you know what you are doing, it’s best to avoid this section.
Having the NQ4 AI Gen2 processor makes picture and sound quality shine. It uses the power of 20 neural networks to optimise what you see and hear. It even helps when you are playing video games.
Many have high-end Samsung refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines at home. For them, the SmartConnect app is a step towards building a smart home. The Frame can become that smart hub from which you can control everything — enough to merit an article of its own.
Further, Samsung has incorporated Microsoft Copilot into The Frame. All you have to do is log in using your Hotmail account in the Copilot app and ask for whatever you have in mind.
Make the call
What if you are not keen on displaying art all day long? There are several other options from Samsung or Sony that will make any film look good. Another point to note: The Frame is not cheap.
Samsung has invested quite a bit in the remote control, which charges via solar power. It’s a clean design, but two things: Something other than white would be helpful, and a metal finish would be a good addition.
You must be wondering about the sound quality on such a slim television set. There is 40W sound output via 2.0.2 channel, and there is support for Dolby Atmos. The sound is room-filling, but you can always get a soundbar for an added boost and boom.
The TV ticks all the boxes for gamers, be it PlayStation, Xbox or Switch. One of the HDMI ports supports 4K and 120Hz with variable refresh rates, drastically cutting input lag time. You can even highlight shadow detail.
The One Connect Box allows you to connect your cable, satellite box, or video game system to The Frame. You can hide all the wires when you hang the TV on the wall
Set aside the price component because that depends on the buyer. Before using The Frame, I wondered how big a pull the artwork-displaying capabilities would be. You will be blown away. The matte QLED display looks like a canvas that you can stare at for hours. If it’s an oil painting, from afar, it looks like an original artwork. That’s the charm of this Samsung TV — it blends into your living space and replaces the boring with something exciting. With a matte finish, Samsung’s latest version of The Frame redefines the category of ‘lifestyle TVs.’
At a glance
Device: Samsung The Frame QLED LS03F Smart TV
Price: Upwards of ₹94,990 for the 55-inch version
High notes
Looks like an artwork on the wall
Matte screen minimises glare
Excellent colour performance
Allows customisable frames
Wireless One Connect Box reduces cord clutter
Great gaming experience
Muffled note
One year of free subscription to the Art Store would have been a bonus