Actually, I had planned for a long time to specifically get a monitor to experience the “PC-like system” on certain mobile phones: it started with Samsung DeX, then Huawei, and later, because Hammer Technology TNT has touch operation, I changed my plan to buy a touchscreen monitor. Of course, this thing is definitely not for myself, but I want to make it easier for the home leader who carries a Lenovo ThinkPad to and from work every day—if she has a monitor and a keyboard and mouse at home and in the office, wouldn’t she only need to bring her phone to handle work? Yes, her daily work is basically done in spreadsheets and emails, which happens to meet the demand for “light office work”.
However, due to the poor market response after the release of Hammer Technology TNT, along with my shifting interests, this matter has been delayed. Until before the New Year, I found that the firmware of the Hammer Nut Pro2S phone she was using had updated to a new version, which reminded me of this matter again. Unfortunately, at that time, the national express delivery was basically stagnant, and the monitor sellers on Taobao had also taken a break for the New Year, so ultimately this item was not received until after the New Year.
To briefly introduce: this monitor is a 13.3-inch 1080p version, with 10-point touch, two Type-C interfaces, and one HDMI port, built-in speakers, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. In addition, the package also includes several different connection cables and accessories: one 1.5V/2A power adapter, one 1.5-meter HDMI cable, one 1-meter USB-A to C cable, one simple tablet stand, and one 40cm USB-C to C cable (this is quite a tongue twister!). By the way, the brand of the monitor is “Yingtehe”. I don’t mean to advertise it; there are quite a few similar products on Taobao, and most of them are similar, with similar price ranges, so everyone can choose according to their needs.
From the perspective of size, this thing looks like a large tablet or more like a laptop screen without a C-side; it is indeed very lightweight and thin. Although it has an all-aluminum alloy CNC body, the craftsmanship (especially the positioning of various interfaces) is average, and it looks just acceptable. I did not purchase the optional carrying case, so the seller included a simple wire stand in the package, which is actually quite useful. It is worth noting that this machine has two Type-C interfaces. One of them is a full-function port on the right side, specifically used to connect Hammer phones. Theoretically, as long as you use that short cable with Type-C connectors on both ends, you can activate the Hammer phone’s TNT mode. At this point, the monitor is actually powered by the phone, so the power consumption speed is quite fast—but this is indeed the simplest connection method; just one cable can solve everything!
Of course, considering power consumption, this connection method can only be used in emergencies. If you want to work for a long time, you need to plug another cable into the Type-C port on the left side of the monitor; this cable can be connected to either a PD charging head or a power bank with PD output. In this mode, since the monitor has an additional power supply, it no longer needs to draw power from the phone and can even charge the phone in reverse. I have posted a few related connection diagrams, so everyone can get a feel for it.
After solving the power issue, we can achieve various play styles centered around this monitor:
For example, we can pair the Hammer Nut R1/Pro2S phone (or flagship phones from Huawei or Samsung) with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for more efficient office work. To clarify: although Hammer TNT office supports touch and voice input, I still think a Bluetooth keyboard is an essential office equipment. As for the mouse, it is optional because we can completely enable the touch screen mode on the phone and use the phone as a touchpad. Additionally, I have noticed the performance differences in running TNT mode on different configurations of phones: R1 runs smoothly without burden, but the Nut Pro2S shows obvious lag after opening too many apps. I will write a separate article to introduce the operations of the new version of TNT; I won’t elaborate here.
For example, using the HDMI port, we can connect this monitor to a game console for entertainment anytime. In fact, these portable monitors were originally designed for gamers to connect to PS4 and Switch game consoles; connecting a phone to enter PC mode is actually a later trend. I don’t have these two game consoles on hand, but I happen to have a PS Classic, so I used this small screen to relive some nostalgia, right? You can see that I’m using a 20,000mAh Xiaomi power bank (with PD output) to output power to two devices, one to power the monitor and the other to power the game console…
For example, let this monitor perform its most basic function by connecting it to a laptop as an extended display via HDMI. Whether it’s “duplicate screen” or “extend desktop,” this small monitor can work normally. However, it should be noted that when connecting the monitor via HDMI, the touch function is lost, and it can only be used as a regular monitor. I tried connecting this monitor to the full-function Type-C port on my ThinkPad 25th Anniversary Edition laptop, but it didn’t light up; I don’t know what caused that.
Some friends ask how the display effect of the monitor is. This monitor has an NTSC 72% color gamut IPS panel, claiming to support HDR technology. However, in my view, the display effect is just average; the picture looks quite bright and beautiful at first glance (probably due to the reflective surface), and it’s fine for office work or watching online videos, playing small games, etc., but with such a low resolution (relatively speaking) and color gamut, it’s not suitable for graphic design. This monitor also has an OSD menu to customize colors, brightness, contrast, etc., and the operation is no different from those standard monitors.
Overall, for less than a thousand yuan (I bought this model for 880 yuan), you can get such a lightweight 10-point touch monitor, which I think is quite cheap. Some friends say that if you DIY with a touch panel + circuit board, the cost of making such a thing is very low, but I, first of all, do not have such DIY ability, and second, for something that costs only a few hundred yuan, it’s not necessary to care too much about pricing since the manufacturer can provide a good shell and after-sales service. However, due to my home leader’s lack of interest in Hammer Technology TNT, citing “too lazy to learn another system” as the reason, and I usually don’t play games much, the application prospects for this monitor seem a bit bleak. I thought about it, since I often write things on my laptop at the dining table at home, why not use it as an extended screen there?