14 DAY TRIAL // Curved monitors may not have taken off and started selling like hot cakes, and they probably never will, but they aren't any more likely to disappear now that they are finally part of the display industry.
Being one of the main proponents of this type of display technology, Samsung is always working on a new one, even if it doesn't launch them every other week.
The latest curved display to leave its development labs is called S34E790CN and has a diagonal of 34 inches, though you shouldn't be misled by the number.
This is not a standard monitor but one with an ultra-wide screen aspect ratio, meaning that the width is far greater than the height. Thus, the resolution is of 3440 x 1440 pixels, instead of 2560 x 1440 or 3840 x 2160 pixels.
The Samsung S34E790CN
For some reason, Samsung doesn't specify exactly what the display technology is, but given the viewing angles of 178 degrees (both horizontally and vertically), we are quite certain this is IPS (in-plane-switching).
Then again, the response time of the screen is 4 ms (GTG), quite a bit better than the 5 ms or more that this type of panel has to scrape for.
Moreover, DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4 technologies are quite advanced themselves (one and two ports, respectively), so we have to give some of the credit to them as well.
Furthermore, brightness is of 300 cd/m2. Not the best ever seen, but quite good when 250 cd/m2 is considered the average level.
Thus, we have gotten all the technical data out of the way. Now for the features that stand out (other than the screen shape of course): PIP and PBP.
That's Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture technologies. If you have something besides your PC connected to the monitor, or maybe a second PC itself, you can display both feeds at the same time.
So you could, for example, work on a spreadsheet while also checking a TV news broadcast, or holding a conference call with a co-worker or family member.
Availability
The Samsung S34E790CN 34-inch curved UWD monitor, with two built-in 7W stereo speakers, will be up for sale from February 15, 2015 onwards. The price, sadly, is unknown. Considering the 3,000:1 contrast ratio, BLU LED backlighting and embedded modes (Game Mode, Flicker Free, Eco Saving, Off Timer, Image Size, Samsung MagicBright, Sound Mode), it won't be the cheapest thing you've ever seen, that's for certain.
