Augmented reality

The first thing that you notice about Sony's 55-inch Bravia HX92 LED 3D television, even before you switch it on, is its looks.

When you lift the TV out of its packing box and unwrap it, a glossy, sleek, slim black panel looks back at you, appearing as if it has been hewn from a single block of black granite. No wonder Sony calls the design ‘monolithic'.

The unit will look good mounted on any wall or — when you add the stylish, wafer-thin brushed-metal finish central pedestal stand — placed on any TV bench.

A small drawback here is that the surface is prone to collecting smudges. But then this is a TV, not a touch screen mobile phone, so Sony is forgiven. Once you've set it up there's no reason for it to get smudged any more.

Setting up the unit is simple enough, even for the average, technologically challenged person. Just connect a signal source such as a set-top box or a Blu-ray/DVD player to one of the four HDMI ports, switch on the set, select Wi-Fi from the menu, punch in your security code and you are in business. You can now access content from the internet or hold a living room film festival with your own movie collection.

Though there aren't too many widgets on the home screen, the main ones that you are likely to use most frequently are all there, making for an uncluttered view and ease of navigation. So you can quickly access Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Skype and the browser, giving the HX92 the potential to be your communication hub.

Amazing picture quality

Where this Sony really excels is in its picture quality. Assisted by an ambient light detector and an auto-dimming facility, the HX92 delivers just the right contrast for almost all light levels that your living room can throw at it. Detecting the amount of ambient light available, it brightens or darkens the picture accordingly and we found our eyes were seldom strained in 2D mode even after long hours of viewing. Even in 3D mode we experienced eye fatigue-free viewing for a much longer time than on most competing models.

And it is 3D that the HX92 seems built for. The set comes supplied with two 3D glasses that incorporate Sony's active shutter technology —powered 3D glasses, charged through a mini USB port. The supplied cable connects to the set itself whenever you need to charge them.

Sony claims this active shutter is the key to the HX92's performance. The edges are razor-sharp, the colours vibrant and lifelike, the resolution detailed and the depth of the 3D images stunning. In fact, such was the picture quality, it seemed we were viewing augmented reality — they seemed better than real life. Watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the HX92's 55-inch screen was somehow a better visual experience than watching it on IMAX 3D.

This is not to say there were no gripes. For starters, the 3D glasses are bulky and your nose and ears will ache after about half an hour of bearing their weight. They also have fat rims of black plastic that will sometimes impair peripheral vision, requiring more head motion than usual.

The picture quality remains good even in 2D mode and compares favourably to any other make, but you can no longer call it exceptional. However, when you feed in signal that is any less than full HD the output falters badly. This makes watching most internet content and YouTube videos a pain — but the paucity of 3D and HD content on the internet cannot be blamed on Sony.

And then there is the fiddly remote. For an accessory that controls so many functions and inputs, the buttons are cluttered and badly spaced out. Fear not, though. A Media Remote App is available to turn your iPhone, iPad or Android device into a full-function remote control with a dedicated Qwerty keypad for text input.

Get that and the Bravia HX92 is a winner, and its Dh12,999 price will seem money well spent.