That may solve your immediate problem for a couple of years. However, the lifespan of a TV is generally over a decade for the average consumer. However, depending on the kind of support a particular TV manufacturer offers, you’ll be solely reliant on that manufacturer to support OS upgrades and third party apps. My 2 year old Sony is already running into issues with the latest upgrade to Oreo. It’s been buggy and sluggish since the beginning, and third party app updates have been an inconsistent bag of hurt as to whether the OS updates break them or not. I really don’t see Sony giving me the level of support I want now, and definitely don’t expect to see even this level sustained more than another couple of years — at which point it’s either trash the $2500 TV, or simply keep using my Apple TV as I am currently.
In your case, that’s 4 years you can forego buying an external box, before you have to make a decision about replacing your TV or buying outboard gear to replace the failing internal integration. So maybe that works for you, especially if — unlike my experience — the built-in smart functions have worked flawlessly for you that entire time.
For me, I will be keeping this Sony set for years, the picture is stunning and looks great ... it does exactly what I expect from a high quality TV monitor — and that’s my only criteria for a TV set. But the Sony never has, and it’s highly unlikely it ever will, be a suitable smart interface. I looked at LG, Samsung, and Vizio, and none of them offered substantially more than the Sony in terms of smart features. So unless TV manufacturers significantly up their game — and frankly there’s no reason for them to — then customers will enevitably be buying outboard gear at some point, it’s just a matter of when, and how much they can put up with before that happens.
Bottom line — the built-in Smart TV features is a marketing tool to help sell TVs. It’s not a long term investment strategy to retain customers. It’s a way to get customers to buy their brand, and get them using their product as quickly as possible. When the customer inevitably moves to an external box, it’s not going to influence whether they buy another TV from that manufacturer or not, because all of their friends and family are going to have the same problems, and in the end, everybody needs a TV with one common set of criteria: which has the best picture, for the least money? They’re all going to have smart features, but none of them are going to last for the life of the TV itself, and none are going to have the commitment of a dedicated streaming tech company like Apple, Roku, or even Android, which build devices designed to ensure the best experience that company can provide in exchange for the customers investment and loyalty. No TV company can ever be expected to address those needs on the same level, nor are they likely even to try.
