Smart TVs have been getting more and more accessible to the lower end of the market, with major brands starting to offer lower bigger displays equipped with smart capabilities at lower prices. It looks like that trend is about to continue, with the official launch of Coocaa, a brand that aims to bring affordable Smart TVs to the South East Asian market.
Owned by Chinese electronics company Skyworth RGB Electronic Co, Coocaa was initially launched in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam in 2018—the brand considers themselves to be a pure e-commerce brand, with products only available on Lazada.
The brand achieved the remarkable feat of becoming the number 1 best-selling home appliance brand in Lazada SEA in their first 8 months. In addition, Coocaa is also the number 1 TV brand on Lazada in Indonesia.
Moving on to the good bits, how affordable are these Smart TVs? Read on for more details.
5 models available locally
Coocaa tells us that they will be releasing 5 variants to the Malaysian market which will be exclusively available on Lazada:
- The Explore series will be sold in 2 sizes—50″ and 55″. Both models will have a 4K UHD resolution of 3840×2160.
- The Change series will be available with a 40″ Full HD display.
- The Innovate series will come in either 32″ (720p/HD) or 40″ (Full HD).
From what we know, the Explore and Change series will come with Android 8.0 as its OS, although it remains to be seen if these TVs will be operating on the official Android TV OS, or simply a forked version of the open-source version of Android. From what we can tell from the appearance of the Android version, it does look like the official Android TV OS.
Do note that non-official Android TVs might have issues with streaming providers like Netflix, as Netflix only allows devices that are officially certified with them to play content in Full HD and above. For example, many set-top Android boxes only play Netflix content in SD, while official Android TV players such as the Nvidia Shield or Mi Box S are fully-supported by Netflix.
On the other hand, the Innovate series will be operating on Coocaa Lite, a proprietary OS from the Chinese company. However, there’s a little confusion here as the official spec list we received lists the operating system as “Netflix 5.1” for the series. Amazon Prime will be built-in on the OS, although there isn’t a mention of Netflix support at the moment.
Retail prices are as follows:
- COOCAA 55 Inch 4K Android Smart LED TV – Slim Wifi Ultra HD Model 55Q5: RM2,299
- COOCAA 50 Inch 4K Android Smart LED TV – Slim Wifi Ultra HD Model 50Q5: RM1,899
- COOCAA 40 Inch Android Smart Frameless FHD LED TV – Slim Wifi Model 40S5G: RM1,299
- COOCAA 40 Inch Smart Amazon Prime Video Built-In Frameless FHD LED TV -Slim Wifi Model 40S3C: RM1,199
- COOCAA 32 Inch Smart Amazon Prime Video Built-In Frameless HD LED TV – Wifi Model 32S3C: RM899
Pre-sale offers on Lazada
Exclusively on Lazada, Coocaa will be having a pre-sale offer from the 29th of June until the 11th of July. After paying a deposit of 5% during this period, customers will be entitled to a discounted price on the 12th of July.
Here’s a look at the deals currently offered:
We haven’t gotten our hands on a unit for review yet, but the prices certainly look good—well below the market rate for mainstream Smart TV brands. It will certainly be interesting to see how well Coocaa Smart TVs do in Malaysia after their reported success in other countries in the region. The TVs are covered by a 2 year warranty and they are providing 1 to 1 swap for the first year.
