Samsung’s representatives confided their problem to us at the CeBIT: in their eyes the T220 is too good.  Seriously.  The good news, it was explained to us, is that they see the competition having problems rivaling the T220.  The bad news is that this screen should nip other families of Samsung monitors in the bud.  Too stylish and with excessively high performances for an overly competitive price: my goodness, what are we going to do?

We immediately reassured them that there will be room for everyone on the market.  We did have to admit that the screen is very good (on the condition that you make some manual adjustments to take advantage of the T220’s full potential).  However, it doesn’t come free, although the price of 329 Euros is even more moderate than what was previously planned.  The fact is that since its first presentation in March 2008 and today, 22 inch prices have dropped significantly.  For this reason, the T220 passes for a rather high end screen when it actually doesn’t have a single interesting ergonomic option.  There is a fixed base and the only consolation is an HDCP compatible DVI input (and therefore compatible with HD signals).

With presettings it’s disappointing! After adjustment, it’s great!

In the first hour of testing this screen, we feared for the worst.  Samsung failed miserably in its presettings: by default, colors are inaccurate and reactivity is disappointing.  The first operation will therefore consist of simply modifying the Gamma option in the screen’s OSD.  Set it to Mode 2 and miraculously the T220 gains 2 stars in color fidelity! The other good news is that depth of black is better than average at 0.23 cd/m² under our sensor when we set white at 200 cd/m².  This translates into a contrast ratio of roughly 900:1.


For reactivity it’s the same and a small adjustment is called for. Return to the OSD and select the RTA option (Samsung’s term for overdrive) and set it from 1 to 2.  It’s much better and in our case there were no negative side effects of black or reverse ghosting.


After these two adjustments, you will have a nice screen with accurate colors that is very reactive.  So what else can users ask for? If we are were to be the demanding users that we are, we could answer: a chip that improves the rendering of video signals and better ergonomics in the form of more inputs.  For the latter characteristic you will have to opt for the much more expensive T220HD.


Another subject (?): and what about the panel this time? Is the game of musical chairs over? We already addressed the subject in the test of the T200, its 20 inch version.   This former practice had a big impact on Samsung’s image and in terms of the management of client returns.  They now promise not to repeat this and claim there was a veritable realization after the incidents involving the 226BW and then the 2232BW.  What we’ve already noticed is that Samsung takes the subject very seriously.  And this breaks entirely with the discourse, ''…but your readers don’t care about colors, can you please stop this?''  Also, since the test of the T200 and release of the T220, no one has written us concerning any bizarre behavior of this monitor.  In fact, it has been the contrary.  The first T220 owners seem to be very happy and this is only understandable.  So yes, we tend to believe Samsung in this case.