Buyers, beware! Never buy a PHILIPS Android TV!

I've just bought a PHILIPS Android TV. It's a 1080p 47" TV, that cost me about £350. It looks nice, Has some fancy lights that change colour depending on stuff happening on the screen, and so fourth.
Now, you're not gonna believe this. Even though, it's a 1080p TV, the resolution is set to 720p by software. And you can't change it. What kind of bullshit is that?? And you can't root it. You know, why? Well, first of all, the wankers at PHILIPS replaced the default Settings application with their own. It not only has a shitty UI, but while the default Settings has all kinds of stuff in it, the "PHILIPS Edition" only has settings for the display, and Wi-Fi... But somehow the default Settings APK is still in the system, so you can load it up with Terminal Emulator. But! You can only get into the Security side menu, because everything else has been locked by PHILIPS. Now, you might think, that's very convenient, because the Unknown Sources setting is in there, so you can install Towelroot, or Kingroot, or whatever to root your shit and change the resolution. BUT NO! The Unknown Sources is get this... It's bloody grayed out! I cannot facepalm hard enough at these guys. And I've found the reason on the Internet. And it's ridiculous. Get this: They did all this crap, because "while you can root a £2 Android phone, you don't have the permission, to do this on a £350 TV."
I'm speechless. I'm fucking speechless. What the hell do they think they are? It's my TV, it's my responsibility. What is this bullshit? I don't have the "permission" to root my fucking TV? FUCK YOU, PHILIPS!

DO NOT EVER BUY AN ANDROID TV FROM PHILIPS, IF YOU WANT TO DO STUFF WITH IT.
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Comments

The Real Jdbye
@smileyhead
In that case, get a refund. I'm sure there are laws against false advertising in many countries, which this very much is.
Depending on what the law is like where you live, you may be entitled to an equivalent product (of what was advertised) for the same price (that's a very big "maybe" though, I'm not that well versed in law, so you'll have to look that up yourself)
 
Sono
What Android does it have? I may or may not know some exploits ;)
Edit: appearently I can't read. 5.1 :/ Sorry :(
 
The Real Jdbye
@Veho
My previous TV was a Philips, and there was not much wrong with it. My only gripe with it was an automatic screen turn off thing that activates whenever there is no screen input for a few seconds and the screen doesn't come back on until there is input. Even if you unplug and replug the power adapter. It's still "on", the standby LED doesn't turn on, which confused me as well as the repair people when I sent it in for repair after this happened. Twice.
Then after I got it back from repair the second time and this happened again, I started to see the pattern, and indeed the screen turned back on when it got screen input. Then I got an idea, and discovered that turning it off and back on with the power switch on the side got the screen to turn on again. For some reason up until that point I had tried pretty much everything EXCEPT that.
I really thought there was something seriously wrong with that TV until I discovered that simple fix. After that, it's been fine. It was really cheap too, so I can't really complain all in all. It just sucked being without a TV for those weeks it was being repaired.
 
Veho
I dunno, every Philips device I have ever owned fell apart for no reason. Not worth the money.
 
spinal_cord
You sure it's genuine Full HD and not just HD ready?
Philips do way better upscaling fro low resolutions though, make an N64 look almost as crisp as an emulator.
 
The Real Jdbye
@smileyhead
Again, I have to reiterate, this is NOT a Full HD TV and you should get a refund. If the advertisement or product page says it's Full HD, and you receive it and it turns out it can't display Full HD at all, it doesn't matter what resolution the LCD panel itself might be, it's still false advertising. You can get a refund, and like I said in my last post, you might even be able to get an equivalent replacement product (in other words, a proper 1080p Smart TV)
Of course, it depends on how stubborn you are. They won't want to give you a full refund or an equivalent replacement, but if you check the law beforehand and point to it when they say no, they don't have much choice.
 
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L
So it's locked to 720p arbitrarily? Do you have access to the developer options? Perhaps there's some shit in there you can play with.
 
smileyhead
@Team Fail
I can access the developer options (There's a shortcut to it in the "Settings.apk PHILIPS Edition", but there's nothing relevant. All I have is:

Code: 
Disable Sleep Mode
HDMI Optimalization (It just asks me if I want to focus on FPS or resolution)
Bluetooth HCI logging (I have no idea what it does)
Show touches (It doesn't even have a touch screen XD )
"Location of pointer" (I'm not sure if it translates to this. My system language is Hungarian. This is the thing, where it shows the X and Y coordinates of your touches)
Show boundaries(Show hitboxes)
Show GPU Rendering (The thing where it causes an epileptic seizure when the screen changes)
Show GPU-covering (It makes every screen element red, green or blue.)
Show hardware layer (Makes the  button I'm clicking on green for a split second)
Show rendering (Basically the same as Show GPU-rendering)
Size of window animation
Size of transition animation
Size of animation
Enable strict mode (Another wanker who wants seizures)
Show CPU-Usage (That weird overlay in the top right)
Profile about GPU-Rendering (gives me a thing that moves when something on the screen moves)
Enable logging(Log shit to Logcat, Systrace or [something about glGetError])
Disable the storage of applications (I think this has something to do with multitasking, but Android TV doesn't even has a Recents screen, so I don't see the point)
Background process limit
Show all ANR stuff
 
EarlAB
I prefer Samsung or LG. No Smart TV for me, but 3D would be nice. My parents TV downstairs automatically converts EVERYTHING into 3D.
 
smileyhead
No, thanks. I already have one in my computer, and even a cheap, Chinese (but reliable!) portable one. But thanks for the offer! ^_^
 

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