It is a Full HD panel, part of the business-oriented S-Line

May 10, 2012 07:56 GMT  ·  By

Monitors come in many shapes, sizes and connectivity capabilities, some more common than others, and Philips has just extended the availability of one of the rarer ones.

The product that has now made its way to European stores is a certain liquid crystal display monitor called 221S3UCB.

The words “liquid crystal display monitor” don't really invoke any unique images or ideas on their own.

Neither does the screen size of 21.5 inches (the first two figures in the product name probably stand for the size).

What sets it apart from the majority of PC monitors is the interface used for establishing the link to the PC.

Rather than a DVI, VGA, D-Sub or HDMI input, the S-Line 221S3UCB utilizes an USB cable, which also provides it with all the energy it could ever need.

Sure, some concessions had to be made in order for it to work on so little energy, most notably the brightness: 150 cd/m2 instead of a more decent 200-300.

The rest of the specs are pretty good though, and we mean besides the native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (not that Full HD isn't an asset in its own right of course).

The response time is of 5 ms, the contrast ratio is 1,000:1 and the stand allows for rotation, height adjustment and screen tilt. Not only that, but the TN panel has LED (light-emitting diode) backlighting. It needs to, otherwise the power draw would be too high for the Universal Serial Bus.

People who live on the old continent may or may not find the Philips 221S3UCB at their local retailer, or whatever online store they favor. The price is of 145 Euro. That's $187, according to exchange rates, but we think it should be possible to find it for around $150 in US stores. Don't hold us to that though.