Sony Bravia A1E

This is a flash hands on review to give you the chance to see what the Sony A1E is all about as soon as possible. Stay tuned as we'll be expanding and upgrading this review very shortly with more info.

Sony’s TV range has returned to using OLED screens for the first time since 2008 and marks a different direction for the TV brand.

Upon first impressions, the A1E series looks to be one of the best TVs announced at CES 2017.

There's stunning picture quality paired with some innovative new ideas that may make this one of the best TVs to buy this year.

The Sony Bravia A1E combines an OLED panel with HDR for second to none picture quality. As soon as you see the screen you'll likely be in awe.

Design wise the bezel on the TV is super thin, as is the set itself. This will sit flush against any wall – although not as thin as LG’s latest offering – and would look good either mounted or on a stand.

Behind the screen, Sony has installed a 4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme to ensure high levels of brightness. The blacks on this set particularly are great, as is the color range.

The OLED panel also has good viewing angles meaning if you have a complicated living room set up you’ll be able to watch this screen from anywhere in the room.

Sony has also decided to include Dolby Vision technology to allow you to watch 4K HDR content on the set.

Any further spec from Sony in terms of the picture quality is currently unclear, but we’ll be sure to find out more as soon as possible.

For sound, the Sony OLED A1E has a very interesting idea called Acoustic Surface where the display itself transmits the sound. It pushes the sound through the screen rather than the edges of the display.

This is a brand-new tech from Sony, but sadly the demonstration we saw at CES didn’t show off the TVs audio capabilities.

Another new addition is Google Home integration for those lucky enough to have the voice controlled box in their home. 

It means you’ll be able to control your TV with your voice, but again we weren’t able to see this feature in action with our demos.

Early verdict

The Sony A1E includes a variety of new ideas to make a genuinely interesting update to the Sony TV range.

The picture quality is flawless, the new audio idea is interesting and the design of the set is thin plus would suit almost any living room.

It's missing the wallpaper-thin design of the new LG set or the new mounting ideas of the Samsung QLED range, but the Sony A1E will hopefully still hold its own against tough competition in 2017.