Samsung The Frame QA55LS03FAWXXY (55")
VerifiedMPN: QA55LS03FAWXXY5 reviews
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Never Again - And I mean that across all of Samsung's product line Samsung makes visually impressive hardware, and the Frame TV is a strong concept when it comes to design and presentation. However, the overall experience is undermined by the way Samsung manages software, control, and long-term product behaviour. The ecosystem is heavily locked into SmartThings, a platform that feels mandatory rather than optional, and limits how users can interact with devices they own. Over time, firmware updates have repeatedly changed functionality in ways that reduce control, restrict access to features and APIs, and alter how core functions behave after purchase. In particular, simple features like reliably controlling Art Mode when the TV is not in use have become less consistent and more constrained.
Across three Samsung Frame TVs in my own use, each one behaves differently due to firmware revisions and ongoing changes introduced by Samsung after purchase. This lack of consistency between identical products is frustrating and undermines confidence in the platform. It feels like the goalposts are being moved after the fact, with no real regard for existing owners.
While the Frame TV can still serve its basic purpose as an artwork display for casual users, it comes with the expectation that software behaviour may change at any time, potentially removing or limiting functionality that was previously available. There are also concerns around the level of data being transmitted by the devices, which adds to the lack of trust in the system.
As it stands, I can no longer recommend the Samsung Frame TV. Years ago, I would have strongly endorsed it, but the ongoing erosion of user control, inconsistent firmware behaviour, and restrictive ecosystem design have changed that view completely.
Purchased in at Appliance Central.
What's a good hardware if the software is bad? From the outside the Samsung Frame TV is fine, elegant even. It is easy to put together and I love how there are minimal cables. The remote works fine, maybe a bit tedious with the design, like why would you need speed buttons to only Disney, Netflix and Samsung tv plus? The layout of these buttons increases chances of accidentally pressing them. Even this is fine to a degree.
I think the most problematic issue with Samsung TV products is that it force feed you their TV PLUS on you. There's no way to turn it off, I've tried everything including manually turning off auto-play for Samsun tv plus in their advanced setting, yet every time I switch on the tv it plays that frustrating channel.
My conclusion is that Samsung makes a good hardware, but would try to sell you snake oil with their software. Once you bought it, you are forced to take it as it is.
Purchased in at JB Hi-Fi Retail Stores for $600.
Our experience with Samsung support has been frustrating and unnecessarily drawn out. Our 55" Frame TV stopped working after 3 years. We followed all troubleshooting steps on Samsung’s website and then booked a service through their recommended provider. A technician attended on 27 February, over time they identified faulty components, and repaired the TV at no cost. The TV is now working.
However, we paid a $193.40 service fee upfront and are still waiting to be reimbursed.
Since late February, we have contacted Samsung Customer Care multiple times. The process has been slow and inefficient — we’ve had to repeat information to different representatives, details have not been consistently retained, and promised follow-ups have not occurred.
I last spoke with Customer Care a week ago who were going to get back to me again, they haven't, last convesation I was told I shouldn't have to pay the service fee but, that the service provider should refund us, not Samsung. From a customer perspective, we followed Samsung’s process and used their authorised provider, so resolving payment between parties should not fall to us. We have had this issue for months and want you to respond and resolve it.
Under Australian Consumer Law, where a product fault is accepted and remedied at no cost to the consumer, any reasonable costs incurred in diagnosing that fault — including an initial service fee — should also be reimbursed.
We are simply requesting repayment of the $193.40. We would prefer to resolve this directly, but if this continues to drag on, we are prepared to escalate the matter further.
Samsung has missed the mark here on communication, accountability, and timeliness. We hope this can now be resolved promptly.
Follow-up · We are still waiting to be refunded by Samsung. The communication is woeful and I only get a reply, I suspect its an AI bot, when I prompt them to follow up and find out what is going on. They have said I would be refunded, I keep reaching out and asking when and I nothing. Rubbish service can not recommend them, we all need to know that after sale service is good it is part of the reason we went with a known brand.
Purchased in at JB Hi-Fi Retail Stores.
Hey Rachel, thank you for reaching out and taking the time to leave a review. I am so sorry to hear about the poor experience you have had. I would love to take a look into what is going on here and hopefully provide some clarity on the situation. I have reached out to you via private message, please respond when you can.
After opening this review 3 weeks ago, it took 2 weeks for them to review and make a decision (this issue started in February), we were advised we would be refunded yet a week after that news we have not had any contact nor refunded our service fee of almost $200- . Absolutely appalling. Why do we continue to need to follow up to get the refund??? Even when you admit it needs to be paid we remain out of pocket.
Still open thought they said I would be paid, no payment. It is an actual joke.
Samsung has fallen a long way with the quality of their products, but much much further with their service. Our expensive Frame TV failed after 7 months. We contacted Samsung "Voice of the Customer Team" who did everything their power to avoid replacing the unit under warranty. Firstly they didn't accept the invoice from Harvey Norman. Then they requested a different invoice format that HN struggled to provide. HN ended up sending a screen shot from their backend system. You would have thought was enough for Samsung, but no. They then said they would not replace as a new model had come out. Instead of doing the right thing they refused to replace and tried to force us into accepting a refund for a TV that was significantly discounted when we bought on Boxing Day sales. Samsung were consitently rude and our escalation to the CEO mailbox mad absolutely no difference. They skirted around consumer rights but pretending their only option was a refund. We continued over the course over 6 weeks to be completely disregarded by Samsung until Harvey Norman got involved again and a repair has been organised instead. There are much better brands out their that care about their customer, rather than spend their energy on finding ways to avoid customer concerns, even obvious manufacturers warranty issues.
Follow-up · After more weeks of chasing the "voice of the customer" team we managed to get a repair. The whole process took 2 months while Samsung tried every angle to deny a resolution to a manufacture fault. If we could leav a negative star we would.
Purchased in at Harvey Norman for $2,000.
- +4
At a time when 55 inch 4K TVs can be bought for $600, is Samsung’s Frame worth $2000 installed? It all depends on what you want from a TV. Samsung is one of several manufacturers who make a TV for discretely displaying art on your wall, as well as the usual things you want a TV for. The 55 inch Frame is extremely thin, sitting only 37mm proud of the wall when hung from the supplied mount. You can buy decorative frames which attach magnetically, but we decided to stay with the thin matt black bezel which is built in.
Connections are by wifi and the included connection box which gives you 4 X HDMI inputs, Ethernet, antenna, and digital audio. Output and power to the TV is by one thin wire which can be fed up inside the wall so that the Frame mimics a hung picture. A strange omission is that there is no USB port, so if you are used to watching content from USB you will need to plug in a BD Player or similar.
If you do connect a BD Player, then every time you turn the TV on, it will start the BD Player and connect to HDMI1. This became annoying very quickly and we couldn’t find a way to disable it, so we just disconnected the Player. The connection box itself lives out of sight in a drawer cracked open an inch to provide ventilation. So far it has not shown any signs of getting hot.
We definitely recommend paying for an installer. Ours took about 90 minutes, which included setting up the TV from our spare Galaxy S10 phone with a Samsung account and Smart Things app. He also set up the tuner for live TV. There is a solar powered remote control (look, no batteries!) and the phone app also allows us to control the TV. There is voice control but we are giving that a wide berth.
Samsung’s Home screen is a bit annoying, with at least a dozen apps which we don’t want and will never use. You cannot delete them. On the Art tab you can choose which images you’d like displayed. Samsung will definitely try to sell you subscriptions but you don’t need to do that. We have uploaded images freely available on the internet, resized where possible to native 4K resolution. Images can be set to display with an imitation bevel cut mat or a drop shadow. There are about a dozen colours available for the mats. After uploading 56 images things have slowed right down, so we may be approaching some kind of limit. More use will test this.
Be aware that you need a Samsung account and an internet connection for the art display to work. It looks as though the images you upload are saved to the Samsung server, not the TV. We turned our internet off and the TV would only display the last image for a short while and then complain of no network connection. So you are at the mercy of Samsung and the internet gods. You can however still watch live TV without a network connection.
The screen looks excellent, with a matt finish that makes for practically no reflections. It is also great for watching live TV or movies.
In the end, this product does what it is designed to do, for a premium price. Samsung only give a one year warranty which is not great compared to other manufacturers but the seller, JB HiFi gives an additional 12 months free of charge. Thanks to JB for that and arranging for a very competent installer.
Hi Chris, thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We're delighted to hear that you're enjoying your new Samsung TV, and it meets your expectations. Your feedback means a great deal to us and motivates our team to continue providing excellent products and services. Should you have any questions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out to us on private message. We're here to help and ensure you have the best experience possible with your purchase.
-Amy Samsung AU
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I actually would like my money back, thats how disappointed I am with the way Samsung have locked us out of our own hardware.