Philips 349X7 QHD Curved FreeSync Monitor Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

This is a huge monitor, and as you would expect, all that panel real estate doesn’t come cheap. However, I found the Philips 349X7FJEW 23-Inch Ultrawide FreeSync Monitor at Amazon for just £602.00. That’s down from the current MSRP of £750 which is still commonplace at many retailers. Not cheap, but again, that’s a great price for this monitor, and you do get a lot of screen for your money.

Overview

I haven’t been a big fan of Ultrawide, as I’ve been a long time user of 4K panels and the drop in vertical resolution isn’t something I want to do. Furthermore, most if not all the ultrawide displays I’ve used to date have been a pain the butt. Their stands were too big, requiring gargantuan desk depth, or they were heavy and unwieldy, they look too “gamer”, and the list goes on. However, within a few minutes of putting the latest Philips monitor on my desk, I think “Hey, this is something special!” It just looks gorgeous, and the quality of the panel with its matte finish and beautiful colours was something to behold, at least once I’d done a calibration.

Colourful

When it comes to colours, I’m that guy who spends the best part of a day off work tweaking settings, getting out sensors, calibrating my white balances, and then once my TV is done, I’ll be out with decibel meters and lasers to get my surround sound right. The same is true for my desktop monitors, and when you’re working in Photoshop, or just enjoying a good game or movie, having things right can make the experience amazing. Out of the box, the monitor was fantastic and scored well in our testing. Colour accuracy was a bit out, but not so much that a typical end user would not like the results. However, calibration took the average Delta-E of the clours from 3.06 down to a much more respectable 1.35. The result was a little less vivid colours, but a much more accurate picture overall.

Panel Performance

Without a doubt, this is one of the best panels I’ve used in a long time. Sure, it’s not HDR, it’s not 4K, but so what. It’s got a fantastic backlight to it, and even with 100% brightness, no noticeable bleed or torching is going on, and everything pops with incredible contrast. Calibration did improve the contrast a little too, giving us deeper blacks and enhancing colour uniformity overall.

Added Value

It’s not a cheap monitor, but I’d be happy to play the retail price just for the lovely panel. However, the slim bezel design, the durable metal stand, FreeSync, multiple display inputs, USB 3.0 fast charging/data transfer, all add up to a neat bundle. One thing that did surprise me though is the speakers. They’re usually trash on monitors, but these are pretty rocking and have a big sound to them. Sure, desktop speakers will beat them, but in a pinch, these will more than do the job of day-to-day desktop use.

Should I Buy One?

If you’re shopping for a new monitor and eager to dive into the world of Ultrawide, then this is a fantastic starting point. Some of the more high-end solutions can still cost up to a £900. However, budget solutions are around £300 right now too. That puts this monitor vaguely in the middle. However, compared to some more expensive models, the Philips performs well above what I expected. So far, it’s my favourite ultrawide monitor to date, it just feels the easiest to live with and it focuses on solid all-around performance rather than just being gaming focused makes it practical too. Highly recommended!