OnePlus TV Y1S Edge (43in) review

There’s a visible difference between the Y1S and the Y1S Edge. The Edge here has a nice metallic coating on the bottom bezel. OnePlus says it looks a wee bit better and premium and you can only find the Edge variant in offline stores. This goes to show that the OnePlus Y1S Edge is for the masses.

And the mass appeal is done right. At first glance, the OnePlus Y1S Edge telly looks absolutely gorgeous. No bezels and a solid metal construction around the 43in sheet of display.

The display is surprisingly really nice. Especially with HDR content. Stranger Things on Netflix had rich colour and deep blacks. Something that is not very common with tellies at this price. The HDR content was way more remarkable than we anticipated. The OnePlus Y1S Edge supports HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG format. Although there’s no support for Dolby Vision, the Y1S doesn’t feel like it's limping through content to deliver great picture quality.

It’s better to keep the dynamic contrast off and reduce the sharpening to 2 or 3. Other than that, the Y1S is fantastic out of the box. There’s little to complain about here. Compared to the Redmi Smart TV (43in), the Y1S Edge looks cleaner and has better audio quality.

There’s a 24W speaker with Dolby Atmos support on the OnePlus Y1S Edge. The non-Edge variant has a lower Watt speaker. This telly has a proper dynamic range and a great soundstage. There’s even a bit of bass to make the gravelly sound in cars in Ford v Ferrari sound meatier and punchier. Push the audio higher and the telly can fill the room with good quality sound.

Playing games on this thing is not great though. There’s a lot of screen tearing and jittery frames that really dilute the gaming experience.

Like most OnePlus devices these days, the OnePlus Y1S Edge comes as an easy recommendation for anyone in the OnePlus ecosystem (Yes, OnePlus has an ecosystem). The complimentary features between OnePlus devices are unrivalled at this point. Even for a budget telly, the Y1S Edge punches above its weight and delivers meaningful OnePlus specific features.

Got a OnePlus smartphone? You can now use OnePlus Connect 2.0 to control the telly and get the content from your smartphone onto the TV with ease. The OnePlus Buds also connect to the telly as soon as you open them. Similar to how they work with your smartphone. It will even connect with your OnePlus Watch and let you control the TV. Although that seems a bit fiddle in practice, there’s one great feature. The OnePlus TV can turn off if the Watch detects you’ve fallen asleep. Nice. 

You can also set a timer, manage data, see screen time and set the telly to Kids Mode. It’s all possible here. To be honest, the list of features is quite similar to the expensive OnePlus Q and U Series tellies. It’s great that all these new features have also made their way into the budget segment. The OnePlus Y1S Edge doesn’t even stutter while moving through the menu and UI. It works as smoothly as you’d expect. Summoning Google AI is also fast and snappy, although the AI itself needs a bit more polish on Android TV in general. Mind you, it’s still a telly first so temper your expectations. It can’t offer the same smoothness and snappy UI as your smartphone or those lakh rupee tellies.

There’s very little to object to about the OnePlus Y1S Edge. It, like its expensive cousin, is smarter than a fifth-grader. You can control the whole telly with your smartphone and bring in the OnePlus devices like the Buds and Watch, and unlock a whole new way of interacting with the telly. Like all OnePlus devices, it rewards your loyalty to the brand with extra features that work seamlessly with other OnePlus devices.

Although it’s a telly first and for all the smart gizmos it can have, the majority of your time will be spent sifting through content and watching some. And in that area the OnePlus telly delivers. It’s got punchy colours, commendable HDR and likeable audio quality.

Sadly, you can only grab the OnePlus Y1S Edge in offline stores. So if you’re willing to step outside and find a store near you, then the Edge makes it worth the effort, especially for that higher watt speaker.