Here’s the thing about Samsung’s Smart TVs: They’re gorgeous to look at. We’ve had 4K displays for some time now, but that doesn’t mean Samsung is resting on its laurels. With the announcement and launch of the Samsung 8K QLED TV it seems fitting to say, “That’s a lot of Ks! What can we even do with so many Ks?” That’s a good question, anonymous person and one we’re sure plenty of others will ask too. When your TV gives you images that crisp, you want to get the most out of it.
You already know the best apps to binge using your Samsung Smart TV but this is a little different. Try and imagine the Smart TV apps that look the best. Apps that take advantage Samsung’s 8K-boosted clarity and offer an image quality that goes beyond what everyone else is offering. Let’s dig into it, shall we?
Samsung TV Web Browser
The thing about 8K imagery is that it’s still pretty new. Samsung’s 8K QLED is an advanced piece of equipment so in order to see those pixels really shine, you might have to surf the mildly tepid waves of the internet. Fortunately, Samsung has you covered with a well-designed and dynamic (and pre-installed) web browser. The last thing you want to use to traverse the web is a TV remote and yet…it just works. By simply pressing the remote’s cursor controls button you have a wireless mouse that navigates all your favourite webpages, with the help of the digital keyboard.
Even better, the web browser app accommodates everything you’d want, going so far as to offer you an option to choose which browser you’d prefer to use: Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. Once you’ve selected Chrome, all the features you’d expect are right there. Multiple tabs, bookmarks, a search history and even the option to watch TV using picture-in-picture, meaning you can aimlessly scroll through Facebook while catching up on Survivor. What a life.
YouTube
Netflix’s only problem is that there’s only so much good stuff to go around. Right? Once you’ve gone through the Originals that are worth your attention and you’re left with the dregs of the streaming app, there’s nothing really keeping you around until whenever Netflix launches new content. But you know who has new content every day? YouTube. While the video sharing app sometimes has a bad reputation due to vloggers and clickbait channels that flooded it in recent years that doesn’t detract from the fact that there’s plenty of great content on the platform.
Want to learn about an incredibly niche topic that no-one else would dream about making a documentary on? There are hundreds of video essays analysing obscure films, TV series, video games and books. Fancy catching up on the latest memes or reliving your favourite Vines? Plenty of compilations on YouTube. The best part is that many channels, often video game focused, upload videos in resolutions that are 4K and higher. While the majority of people might not be able to appreciate that kind of clarity, the Samsung 8K QLED lets you take advantage of that footage for some truly stunning imagery.
Crunchyroll
There is a lot of anime out in the world and while some of it might be…less moderated than the rest that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write off the style entirely. Crunchyroll is the ultimate pass into premium anime territory, collecting hundreds of different titles all within a single streaming service. It has the classics like Dragonball and Akira to modern favourites like One Punch Man or My Hero Academia. Why would you spend hours trawling across the Internet to see these spectacular fight scenes when you could just install the app directly to your Samsung Smart TV?
Which you should totally do, by the way. Anime is known for having some of the most fluid and detailed presentation in the business and if you’re not keen on catching every single particle effect then what are you even doing here? A Samsung Smart TV offers the best quality and the most convenient way of watching your favourite heroes punch each other across a football field. If you’re a fan of the art form, you should already be adding this to your cart.
Steam Link
You’ve got that ultra-powerful PC. Good on you for investing all that hard-earned cash. That thing is future proof, but do you really want to play games on a monitor that small? Like, it’s a decent size but is it a full-blown TV? Probably not. You should get Steam Link onto your Samsung Smart TV right now. It’s a simple little app that lets you start up a game on your PC and broadcast the image over onto your Smart TV. Handy.
You’ll not only be able to play games at the highest possible settings; you’ll be able to experience them with the biggest and most powerful screen possible. Once you’ve played The Witcher 3 on the 8K QLED TV, you’ll never want to sit back at your desk and play on that dinky old monitor ever again. As long as you have an internet connection that supports streaming gameplay from you PC to your TV, Steam Link is an absolute banger of an app that shouldn’t be overlooked.
