Honor Smart Screen 5 debuts as new 4K/144Hz VRR home theater option with gaming-friendly boost

Honor hints that its latest smart TV is capable of helping the user do more of the things they have come to do in their media rooms as of late besides content consumption. The Smart Screen 5 is rated to adapt its refresh rate from 48Hz to 144Hz automatically by default; however, it it also touted as having a "fast high-speed refresh mode" with a 240Hz peak rate that kicks in for activities such as gaming.

That features is powered by the Smart Screen 5's MediaTek MT96534 processor, backed to perform 15% better than its previous generation. The "high-performance 4K flagship chip" is accompanied by 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage in this new smart TV.

It runs a build of MagicOS for TV, a first for the Smart Screen series that allows an Honor smartphone user to 'cast' calls received to the 5's bigger screen. The first-gen UI also supports features such as split-screen, smartphone-based controls and sharing 15-second video clips to connected smartphones.

Those clips would be taken with the Smart Screen 5's "ultra-wide-angle" webcam, which has a range of "AI-powered" features besides video calls that include interactive fitness and game 'apps', as well as child-safety viewing distance alerts. The camera also benefits from an in-built privacy shutter.

The Smart Screen 5 has 65-inch and 75-inch size options, both of which have the same 3840x2160 resolution, DCI-P3 color gamut coverage and delta-E value of about 2; however, only the bigger SKU is touted as having a screen-to-body ratio of 98% or more.

That might be why it will go to retail from July 20, 2023 at 5,299 yuan (~US$730), whereas the slightly smaller version can be pre-ordered in China from now at 3,699 yuan (~US$515).

Buy a Sony X80J on Amazon