Sony Bravia KDL-40EX640 LED LCD HDTV Review

Overall Design

The bezel is made of a stippled gray plastic material. This textured surface is not readily noticeable, so as to not be distracting, but when we tested the reflectivity we saw that it really cut down on the brightness of the bounce light. We feel this design foregrounds the display rather than attempts an overly modern style, or takes over a room with an industrial chunkiness.

Front

Back

Sides

Stand/Mount

The stand is unobtrusive, made of a thin sheet of black plastic, and connected to a heavy metal neck that swivels about 20º in either direction.

On-set Controls

There are manual controls located out of sight on the right side of the display. There are grooves in the shape of a plus sign on both the volume and channel buttons that help you know where you are in the dark. The layout makes sense such that you will know exactly where the buttons are without having to look at them at all.

Remote Control

We could not be anything but disappointed with this remote. There is no way to emphasize enough that if you add advanced features to a television, you need to add advanced controls to a remote. How can the old remote possibly be useful for a brand new generation of television?

Now that we have seen new generations of remotes, clever devices using a full keyboard, or RF connectivity for a computer mouse-like experience, we can't go back.

We could say things like, these buttons have excellent tactile feedback, and the weight of the remote is great, but who cares? This remote is responsible for much more than changing channels and it is just not up to the task. Lack of control hinders every feature of the Smart TV experience. When there are better remotes out there to help you cruise through the Smart TV world, why bother with something that doesn't quite work?

In the Box

In the box we found a television, a remote, batteries, a USB dock adapter, a WiFi adapter dongle, a manual, warranty documents, and a quick setup guide.