Philips Evnia 49M2C8900 240 Hz QD-OLED gaming monitor review: Tremendous color and performance

49-inch curved 32:9 QD-OLED with DQHD resolution, 240 Hz, Adaptive-Sync, HDR400, and wide gamut color.

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Philips Evnia 49M2C8900
Editor's Choice
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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The 49M2C8900’s comparison group is all OLED. I’ve brought in Samsung’s Odyssey OLED G9, Corsair’s Xeneon Flex, AOC’s AG456UCZD, Aorus’ CO49DQ and Asus PG49WCD. All are either 49 or 45-inch screens.

Pixel Response and Input Lag

Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

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Philips Evnia 49M2C8900
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

240 Hz OLED is where it’s at and the two 144 Hz screens here are at a significant disadvantage. They will still outperform a 144 Hz LCD panel with less motion blur, but at 240 Hz, there is no blur whatsoever. The 49M2C8900 sits atop both charts with a 4ms draw time and just 22ms of total control lag. You can get a bit less lag from a 360 or 500 Hz screen, but a 240 Hz OLED has perfect motion resolution. And there is no overdrive or strobing happening. This is native performance with no tweaking required.

Test Takeaway: Perfect motion resolution means no blur. And the 49M2C8900 with its 240 Hz refresh rate delivers that. A 360 Hz OLED won’t be any smoother, it will just have a tad less input lag. At 22ms, the 49M2C8900 is more than capable of supporting the most skilled gamers. It can’t really get much better.

Viewing Angles

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Viewing angles are essential for any 32:9 screen, so OLED is the most logical technology for monitors of that size and shape. The 49M2C8900 has no issues worthy of concern. The side view is slightly warmer in tone, but there is no light loss or change in gamma. The top view also retains gamma, color and brightness. You can view it from any angle, or share it, with no reduction in image quality or fidelity.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

As premium monitors, I’ve seen no uniformity issues with any of the OLEDs I’ve reviewed. That said, the 49M2C8900 is one of the very best, with zero visible hotspots in a 10% gray field pattern. There is no visible bleed or glow, and all colors are perfectly uniform from edge to edge.

MORE: Best Gaming Monitors

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MORE: How to Choose the Best HDR Monitor

Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Neilbob
    When your monitor is wider than your desk, you've gone too wide...

    Okay, I'm just being facetious here. I am so very much not the target audience for a product like this: I get pains in my neck if I turn my head too much these days.
    Reply
  • Hdwr_Junkie
    What's up with all the insane Monitor aspect ratios??
    32:9 is INSANE!
    You can't put up a single page of a document without having to scroll vertically for half of it!
    That makes monitors like this USELESS for anything but panoramic gaming.
    Start making monitors with a vertical size that compliments the wideness and you'll have a resurgence in sales from people other than hardcore gamers!
    16:10 was a decent aspect ratio. Productive.
    Reply
  • bruiners79
    Hdwr_Junkie said:
    What's up with all the insane Monitor aspect ratios??
    32:9 is INSANE!
    You can't put up a single page of a document without having to scroll vertically for half of it!
    That makes monitors like this USELESS for anything but panoramic gaming.
    Start making monitors with a vertical size that compliments the wideness and you'll have a resurgence in sales from people other than hardcore gamers!
    16:10 was a decent aspect ratio. Productive.
    You've clearly never worked on a ultra wide monitor with a decent resolution.

    I thought they were a gimmick for gaming, and then I brought my first one (49in G9), and wow... greatest productivity gainer I've ever had. In my field of view I would have 4-5 windows open (one for coding, two web browsers testing my code; one for desktop, the other mobile), one for general web browsing (news) and the last space a film or word document / spreadsheet.

    Its so good that when the 57in came out i jumped at it, as the dual 4k does improve vertical scrolling over the 49in.

    Try one, you'll never look back.
    Reply
  • helper800
    Does anyone know the exact subpixel layout for this monitor? On the Philips website it just says: RGB Q-Stripe. Does this use the gen3 QD-OLED pixels or the gen2?
    Reply
  • halfcharlie
    Every. Single. Time. There's at least one if not more comments from completely utterly embarrassingly clueless people who have never used and have no need of a monitor like this and lack any critical thinking ability to compensate. The vertical resolution is the same as any other 2K screen, it's not the same as zooming in on a word document until it's as wide as the monitor, that would be obvious even to a toddler, at 100% it's a full page in Word top to bottom, like wth are you thinking.

    Multiple times more usable than two separate screens, even than three (which I used to have) although less real estate because there's no bezel breaks or software weirdness. I couldn't live or be productive with a regular monitor, feels like I'm trapped in a tiny cage unable to move or be efficient, constantly alt-tabbing like it's my job to hit those two keys. Disgusting. Haven't upgraded to OLED yet but can't wait, there just hasn't been a monitor that is everything I want
    Reply
  • Erziram
    Fair warning: This monitor has an HDR bug in combination with AMD cards (HDR does not trigger when using Freesync). Something that you don't come across when using nVidia cards in reviews and will probably be fixed through firmware soon, but nevertheless thought I should mention this. Brilliant screen in every other aspect.
    Reply
  • Eximo
    Hdwr_Junkie said:
    What's up with all the insane Monitor aspect ratios??
    32:9 is INSANE!
    You can't put up a single page of a document without having to scroll vertically for half of it!
    That makes monitors like this USELESS for anything but panoramic gaming.
    Start making monitors with a vertical size that compliments the wideness and you'll have a resurgence in sales from people other than hardcore gamers!
    16:10 was a decent aspect ratio. Productive.
    Identical to two 16:9 screens, without a bezel in the middle. I use cheap dual 16:9 screens for work and it is fine. Having that be one screen that is also physically larger than two 1080p 24" screens is a whole other thing.

    They do make monitors with taller resolutions. There are a few 3840 by 2560 displays out in the wild and some weirder ones like 2560x2880.
    Reply