Samsung LN52A850 52” 120Hz, 1080P LCD TV: The Living Review

Samsung LN52A850 Product Views

Granted, this is Samsung’s own rendering but it shows a good impression of what the LN52A850 looks like. Many of you with 650 and even 750-series Samsung TVs will notice right away that the “Touch of Color” on this new 52” model is toned down and much more subtle. I personally think the thin red bezel adds a great little design element that makes this set stand out from the competition. Trust me; if you are like me and are coming from a drab black-housing TV, you are in for a breath of fresh air.

Other than the slim red bezel, there really isn’t much different about this TV other than the fact it is so damn thin. We are talking about an amazing 1.7” thick here and with the touch-sensitive front panel buttons, even your non tech savvy grandparents will be oohing and ahhing in no time flat.


When not looking at the picture-perfect renderings, we can see that this LCD TV has a gloss finish on the black bezel and a semi gloss “anti glare” panel on the screen itself. Believe it or not, neither of these was distracting during normal viewing even with the proximity of a large window within ten feet. Many other TV’s, laptops and monitors on the market use these anti glare panels and I for one hate them with a passion since they usually cause more reflections than they prevent. That is why I was so surprised that this particular Samsung panel didn’t put me off one bit.

The LN52A850 comes with a base which allows 178° of swivel but due to the shear massiveness of the screen, I really can’t see this feature being used that much.


The back of the TV holds the VESA mounting holes which are based off of a 600mm x 400mm pattern for those of you who want to mount this beast up on a wall. Additional thought has been given to cable routing as well with the addition of a rubber cable strap which is mounted at the bottom of the back panel.


Here we have a bit better view of the ToC (Touch of Color) and what it looks like in the daylight. As you can see, it is quite muted but it does add a certain “je ne sais quoi” to the overall design of this set.


The front of the TV also has a glowing red light when it is on but it can be easily turned off through one of the menu options we will cover a bit later.