Hey, look – it's a giant mobile phone. No, it's a TV. Okay, it's both.
Whatever it is, it rotates. You heard that right – the Sero TV, a revolutionary device that rotates the screen to a horizontal or vertical position for viewing – is the latest innovation from Samsung.
It resembles, in its vertical position, a giant mobile phone. That's no accident because this TV is aimed at people who live on their phones…you guessed it – millennials and Generation Z. It is closely linked to the user's phone, rotating to a vertical or horizontal position depending on whether the phone is in landscape or portrait mode.
Samsung, the world's leading producer of TVs, prides itself on leading the way as the humble TV set becomes something much more. The Sero is a part of Samsung's Lifestyle TV range which also includes The Frame (a wall-mounted set which displays art works when it is not in use as a TV and which looks like a picture frame) and The Serif (a free-standing work of art itself).
Both are lifestyle "statements" – as is The Sero, only this has been built for folks with a certain lifestyle in mind.
Specifically, the person whose life is intricately entwined with his or her mobile phone – and, let's be honest, there are a lot of them seen every day, walking in the street and looking at their phone, not where they are going.
The Sero is the most mobile-friendly TV yet invented and its unusual design showcases its purpose. In vertical mode, it is ideal for watching anything on the user's phone on a big screen with major advances in QLED colour and 4K clarity and detail.
That includes Tik Tok videos, Snapchat, Instagram Stories, YouTube and any other social media that millennials and Generation Z know, love and use. And the big plus? Those horrid black bands that appear when watching some videos are gone, replaced by a colourful, full-screen experience.
Those black bands are the result of incompatibility between the video's origin on the internet and the device over which it is being played. The Sero takes care of all that, dispatching the black bands and, if you have a Samsung Galaxy phone, just tap it on the side of The Sero to produce instant screen mirroring with the phone (though The Sero is also compatible with Apple and other phones).
Once the social media appetite has been satisfied, just rotate the screen back to horizontal for use as a traditional TV.
Samsung Group Marketing Manager Adam McElroy says while The Sero is the most recent addition to Samsung's Lifestyle TV range, "it will probably appeal most to a younger demographic – millennials and Generation Z, who are often immersed in their mobile experience.
"It always makes sure the TV is in the right viewing angle, so it rotates up for looking at mobile content and apps and back to landscape for TV and movies."
The importance of vertical video has been known for some time. It's been a huge digital trend over recent years, accelerated by consumers who are constantly connected to their phones.
So the position consumers view content has become more important, with some studies suggesting that users hold their phones vertically about 94 per cent of the time – with less than a third willing to turn their phones to watch a horizontal video on mobile.
In New Zealand a Datareportal survey in 2019 reported that 71 per cent of the entire population are active on social media, nearly all accessing it by mobile. On average, Kiwis spend 1 hour and 43 minutes per day on social media – nearly challenging the amount they watch traditional TV (at just over two hours).
"I think The Sero also performs well on an aesthetic level," says McElroy. "It has a beautiful design that will resonate with the mobile phone users. It sits within a room's décor well – but it also has a cutting edge feel."
To allow for its rotating design, the Sero has a non-removable stand that includes a 4.1-channel, 60-watt speaker system. The stand has a base protruding below the screen, giving enough vertical clearance to prevent the TV from hitting its head on the floor when it rotates.
The Sero comes with a 43-inch screen with a RRP of $2799.95. It is available exclusively at Noel Leeming.
