Tech

Philips E-Line 28″ 4k UHD (288E2) review: 4K for everyone at a good price

When it comes to clarity and detail, 3840 x 2160 (‘4K’ UHD) resolution on a 27 – 28″ screen can be very appealing to almost any user. And this is precisely what Philips offers us in its new 288E2E monitor: a multipurpose 4K IPS panel with a refresh rate of 60 Hz. And although it is not strictly a monitor for “gamers” (despite the fact that it is presented that way on the packaging ), it does meet both in this field and in practically all those that we put to the test, with outstanding features such as its compatibility with Adaptive-Sync, including AMD FreeSync.

The brand new screen has 10-bit color support and according to its specification sheet, a response time of 4msenough for both professionals and to give almost the maximum in some of the most demanding titles on the market.

Philips E-Line

Construction and connectivity

Simple in its construction, the brand offers us a monitor with light frames (just over a centimeter on its sides and on the upper side), a base in the form of a rectangular ring made of matt black plastic with a brushed texture; the general construction maintains that commitment to plastic. It is striking that the top and side bezels are dual phase, including in this sense a thin edge flush with the screen, which robs us of a few millimeters of visibility.

The wide base of the base facilitates the stability of the monitor and has two small hinges that will allow us to change the viewing angle (between 5º and 20º), being also adjustable in height. On the back we have a few connectivity options that will offer us practically everything we need for our work: in this case, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2a, 3.5 mm headphone jack and four USB 3.2 ports (one of which, “painted” in yellow with support for fast charging).

The set is complemented by its power connector and a small “joystick” with which we will navigate through the different menus. In addition, we also have speakers integrated in the front panel, sufficient in quality and power for, for example, a video call, but not for other tasks that require more quality, such as listening to music.

We have been pleasantly surprised by the use of an anti-reflective surface, which although it is true that it does not completely avoid reflections when we have a direct light source behind us, it does manage to offer a more than decent result since at first glance it is not appreciate the presence of layers in front of the image while the clarity and vivid colors are maintained. It is true that in brighter conditions, the light that falls on the surface of the screen can give a “glassy” appearance when viewing some content. However, the glare control is far superior to that of a glossy surface or even other matte surfaces.

Menus, presets and values

As expected, this 288E2E maintains the classic menu of Philips monitors and, as in the vast majority of monitors, the usability in navigating between the different menus continues to be improved. However, its use is facilitated by the good number of presets that are included in this model: «FPS», «RTS», «Gamer1», «Gamer2», «LowBlue Mode», «EasyRead» and «SmartUniformity».

Most of these controls are nothing more than adjustments that we can make manually in any case, playing with the different values ​​of brightness, contrast, etc. with the notable exception of “Easy Reading” which transforms the screen to grayscale, and “LowBlue” designed to reduce a part of the spectrum of this type of light. As more and more monitors are supported, in this Philips we can also activate the PiP (Picture in Picture) / PBP (Picture by Picture) mode in which we will combine two video inputs.

The viewing angles are quite correct. And the “LagomTest” which measures these values ​​using a mixed desktop background, sees only relatively minor color shifts at the most extreme angles, as well as some loss of contrast at the sharpest angles…not really something to worry about at all. a mid-range monitor like this.

In this type of 4K UHD monitors, many users are often faced with a pixel density (157.35 PPI) that makes them want to use some type of scaling to be able to use the screen comfortably. In this case, and although of course we are going to see the icons and other elements much smaller than usual, the sensation we get is not so strange and it is not difficult to get used to working in maximum resolution and without scaling; in any case, a small scaling of 125% can be an ideal compromise solution. Both the text and other elements scale in this sense correctly and most of the contents are displayed with much greater sharpness than we obtain in models with less pixel density.

Even more important is the good contrast that this unit offers, being in our tests above the 1000:1 specified in the official documentation and even a little further if we make some adjustments. On the less positive side, the fact that although in general the image (in movies and videos) is reproduced very consistently, the texture of the surface of the screen is not as light and uniform as that found in other models and can produce some graininess in the lighter tones. Nor on the other hand, do we find that depth and atmosphere typical of the darkest scenes, but in reality it is not something that should worry us except at very specific moments. Instead the colors they always maintain their vivacity and the attention to detail is excellent.

On the other hand, the most gamers will like to know that the responsiveness is very good within the limits imposed by a refresh rate of 60 Hz. The lag that we found is minimal and perhaps something is noticeable in some transitions, but once again, it’s not unlike what you’ll find on most 4K monitors in this category. Adaptive-Sync is also supported, and works properly to remove tearing and stuttering within the 40-60Hz VRR range. With both our AMD GPU (FreeSync) and Nvidia GPU (‘G-Compatible Mode’). SYNC’) in general, we believe that this model offers a solid performance at a competitive pricesince we can find it in the market for between 200 and 300 euros.

Final assessment

ABSTRACT

Philips puts in our hands a balanced monitor in almost all aspects. Without impressing in any particular field, the truth is that it performs in a more than decent way in the mid-range of the market.

build quality7.5

Installation and configuration8.5

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *