Get the trendy "portrait monitor", what will you use it for?

A vertically long 8.8-inch liquid crystal display "EK-MD088" (right) is combined with Dospara's stick PC "Diginnos Stick DG-STK1" (bottom) and Elecom's Bluetooth handy trackball "Relacon". where

Hello everyone. I'm Shoji, also known as Mynavi News Editing RS, who covers a wide range of things, mainly audio and visual products. This time, I will take up the "vertical liquid crystal display", which is attracting a lot of attention in some areas, but I will be frank. "What should I use this for?" (Then why did you buy it?). [Photo] EK-MD088 (left) side by side with my iPhone 12 mini (right). Can you get an idea of ​​the approximate size? The writer purchased the EK-MD088, an 8.8-inch/480 x 1,920-dot TFT LCD panel. Nojima's private brand, ELSONIC, announced in the fall of 2021, it is a product that experts like (?). The price is 14,800 yen, but you can pre-order it immediately at the limited-time price (12,800 yen) to commemorate the release. I was looking forward to shipping. Initially, it was scheduled to be released in early February 2022, but it arrived on February 18th. When I opened the package and faced the main unit, I said, "Oh, it's small." I imagined the size of the Fire HD 8 with a slightly longer length, so I guess that's what I expected, but I didn't buy it by looking at the real thing (it was an online monopoly), so I realized its compactness again. It's up to you. The main body size is about 78 x 248 x 21mm (when the stand is stored), and the weight is about 230g. I took a picture side by side with my iPhone 12 mini. Can you convey the approximate size of EK-MD088? After taking pictures, I tested it by connecting a Windows 10-equipped stick PC "Diginnos Stick DG-STK1" and Elecom's Bluetooth handy trackball "Relacon". Simply connecting it will display a vertically long screen of 480 x 1,920 dots, and you can use it as a normal external display without any special settings. This product was advertised as "for viewing SNS" and was advertised as being suitable for displaying Twitter and LINE, but when I actually looked at it, I had the impression that the resolution was slightly insufficient to read the text. It feels painful. However, I do not intend to use this for browsing Twitter. I was thinking of installing it at the entrance to display various information (weather, garbage disposal schedule, etc.) like a signage, or to use it as an interior to enjoy a slideshow of nice landscape images. However, the EK-MD088 was too small for such use. I should have just waited quietly for the domestic introduction of Amazon's 15.6-inch smart display "Echo Show 15" (already released in the US). The EK-MD088 interface has one mini HDMI input and one USB Type-C for power supply. Connect to the PC with the included mini HDMI - HDMI cable, and use the separately prepared USB charger to power the LCD display via the USB-C to A cable. The back is equipped with a stand to make the display stand, and the angle can be adjusted. It seems that there are similar products with the same resolution that you have to make your own stand, but in this respect, I felt that the EK-MD088 was made to accurately capture the needs. However, the mini HDMI and USB-C terminals are attached downward on the back of the display, and the included cable is stiff, so if you try to use it upright, the storage stand on the back will hit the cable. The problem is that it is difficult to stand on its own and is not stable, so it seems necessary to prepare a softer cable or an L-shaped connector. By the way, this time, I tried connecting not only to a stick-type PC, but also to my main machine, the M1-equipped MacBook Air (2020 model), via a USB dock equipped with an HDMI output. However, even if I open the display settings, I can't set the correct resolution (for some reason full HD/1,920 x 1,080 dots was selected), and I can't even rotate the screen display vertically. As a Mac user, I would like to know how to display at 480 x 1,920 dots. The only thing that comes to mind is to use Apple's genuine "USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter" (Apple Store price: 7,480 yen), but the additional expense is painful, so other than that. So, it seems that it is difficult to use for the purpose that was originally envisioned, but since it is a vertical display, I would like to use it in something interesting. At the moment, the leading idea is to combine this display with a stick-type PC, run it on battery power, and make it a "resurrection Windows 10 smartphone!" I honestly don't know if it's connected to the theme of the series (hey). I feel like the author's creativity is being questioned, but I'm enjoying the time to think about this kind of thing, so let's say it's okay.

Ryoichi Shoji