The latest addition to Samsung's Smart Station range offers users the option to connect and control mobile devices via the display. However, it's best used in conjunction with other Samsung products and the 380 price makes it expensive.
Connectivity
One of the key features touted is the ability to connect mobile devices to the monitor. The Mobile High-definition Link (MHL) control allows you to replicate content from your phone onto the 24in monitor. This feature is most likely useful when you have multimedia content on a larger screen, so its business usage will be limited.
MHL is simple to activate. You plug in the cable provided into a device, click the Hub function and then wait a couple of seconds for the device to be detected. Samsung provides a neat little stand which you can perch your device on too.
MHL works well and is useful when sharing multimedia content. Here we see content being replicated from the Galaxy Note
The monitor is compatible with a range of devices including the Samsung Galaxy S II, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus, iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S and the Motorola Atrix Web dock.
You can control all features of your smartphone and see them on screen too, although there is not really much benefit in being able to do this unless you need to navigate to content you're are about to display.
A unique feature is the "Mobile Control". This allows users to connect a tablet to the monitor and after hitting "Alt+S" control port their mouse cursor over to the portable device. Samsung confirmed the device is compatible with the the Galaxy Tab 10.1, iPad, Acer A500, Asus Eee Pad Transformer and ViewSonic ViewPad 10.
However, it is not possible to set up this feature out-of-the-box as you need a micro-USB to proprietary-pin adopter to connect it to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the iPad.
When using the monitor as part of a dual configuration with a laptop, we found two screens to be ample for the work. We found it best to keep tablets separated from the monitor as they are optimised for touch screen interaction.
Samsung offers the ability to wirelessly connect the device to laptops, but the firm has opted to limit this connectivity to work with only its Series 7 range. This means dongle provided in the box will not be useful to the majority of users, who will instead have to connect the monitor to devices using the USB or HDMI cables provided.
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