SUMMER OF SPORT
TENNIS WIMBLEDON
SONY KD-48A9
Well, you don’t want to get court with a substandard gogglebox
When is it?
28 June to 11 July
Where’s it on?
BBC
[ Image AELTC / Tim Clayton ]
Squirty all
The KD-48A9 runs Android, so you get Chromecast and Google Assistant built in, but it also supports Apple’s AirPlay and HomeKit plus Alexa.
With their polite applause,
penchant for Pimm’s and unrivalled capacity for queueing, tennis fans probably aren’t likely to go in for something as gauche as a TV the size of a double mattress.
But Sony’s KD-48A9 crams all the stuff you’d expect from a top-end 4K OLED into something more discreet.
The A9 is a fair bit chunkier than the slimmest screens you can buy, but it’s solidly built and has a minimal bezel around the 48in panel. Any concerns about skinniness will be immediately banished when you turn it on anyway, because this TV aces pretty much every department. Colours have all the impact of a Kyrgios serve, and contrasts really pop from the screen – the players’ bright whites will look like something in a Daz advert. Motion is natural and well controlled too, so it’ll have no bother with even the most intense rallies.
The A9’s relative girth does have its benefits too. It means you get Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio technology, which turns the whole screen into a speaker (with a small subwoofer built in too). That makes this one of the few TVs where you can genuinely get away without adding a soundbar – although, much like the umpires on Centre Court, it doesn’t like loud volumes, so you’d still be advised to employ one if you like to turn things up to 11. £1399 / stuff.tv/A9
KEY SPECS
● 48in 3840x2160 OLED ● 4x HDMI, 3x USB, Ethernet, optical, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth ● DR 10, Dolby Vision, HLG ● Android TV
STUFF SAYS ★★★★★
Don’t be fooled by its slightly smaller size: the KD-48A9 is a real smasher
4K love The Beeb is taking its best cameras this year, with all games from Centre Court being shown in 4K via iPlayer on compatible TVs.
SONY XPERIA 1 III
NOW ADD THIS...
If you’re hoping to capture Djokovic mid-leap, Sony’s Xperia 1 III has the fastest shutter speeds and autofocus in the west, plus a 6.5in 4K HDR 120Hz OLED display. £tbc / sony.co.uk
TENNIS CHAMPS SEASON 3
...AND PLAY THIS
This game isn’t new, but with all the playability of old-school 16-bit tennis titles and a fine career mode, it’s an addictive smash-’em-up. from £free / iOS, Android