Philips Evnia 27M2C5500W review: curved gaming monitor enters the creative chat

Curved monitors, like the Philips Evnia 27M2C5500W, often have a complicated relationship with creative people. While they can be great for gaming and entertainment (there's that extra immersion), the very fact that the screen is curved means graphic design or photo-editing efforts can be tricky due to the slight visual distortion for the viewer. 

Thankfully this latest model from the fledgling Evnia brand recently launched by Philips does the first job fantastically and is not too bad at the second, actually. 

That's what I found during my few weeks with it, anyway, in an effort to see whether it belonged among the best gaming monitors and/or the best Philips monitors around today. And for me, at least, it makes a good case for both lists.

Philips Evnia 27M2C5500W review: Key specs

Design and build

The order of the day at Evnia, Philips' new gaming brand, is clearly to be the diametric opposite of sister brand AOC/AGON. Instead of red streaks and branding that screams 'GAMING. WE'VE GOT GAMING HERE', the Evnia logo is discreetly etched into the bottom corner of the front bezels, only slightly lighter grey than the textured dark slate surroundings, and the logo similarly unobtrusively added to the back stand. The two-pronged base is a stone-textured metal, and the cable tidy is a simple hard plastic fitting on the back of the stand. 

On the back the ports are tucked in a recessed notch, so I recommend inserting cables ahead of placing it screen-front in your desk space. The tilt and swivel functions are a great help here too.

On the front, the curved screen dominates your attention. Upon plugging it in and switching it on, I felt an immediate enveloping sensation, thanks to the 1000R curvature rating. The screen panel is a VA LCD rather than an IPS, but that shaves a good £200 off the asking price without hampering the core function of this screen too much: gaming.

Extra marks too for the 100% recyclable packaging it arrived in. This is happening more and more with products I receive for testing, and it's heartening to see.

Features and performance

The screen has a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1440 and using the DP connection you can get a refresh rate of 240Hz for very smooth motion indeed. The HDMI maxes out at 144Hz, which is still very decent.

The brightness maxes out at a fairly pedestrain 400 nits, though, so it trails some competitors there. These nits are all put to very good use, though, and brightness distribution across the screen is excellent. 

As is the case with curved screens in general, any application of them for photo-editing or design can be tricky, as the curve can create a sense of distortion, but for gaming and entertainment, I found it helped massively with my sense of immersion. Simple photo and video-editing work was also more than fine for me, and the QHD resolution was a great workflow boon, as I could fit a lot onto the screen at once. Yes, 4K screens will fit more, but they also cost more, many of them a lot more.

It sports 16.7 million colours, and while it doesn't match the billion-plus of creative-focused monitors, this did the job for any day-to-day photo and video work I needed to do for my job. It has over 92% sRGB colour coverage too, which makes it useable for any casual work like that (while pros will undoubtedly want more).

The refresh rate and moving picture response time of 0.5 milliseconds meant I could play fast-paced games (including arcade games like Hot Wheels Unlimited with my son) at max settings with really smooth motion throughout. 

Strategy, RPG and sports games all got an extended runout on the monitor, and both I and my group of discerning expert testers (my son and my gamer wife) enjoyed it more than most other monitors that have come across my desk in the last year or two.

I also set the Low-Blue mode on for sunset each day, and it worked really well without feeling like the monitor was transporting me into a 1970s TV flashback scene.

Price

The Philips Evnia 27M2C5500W retails for £339 and up in the UK, but US price is unavailable at the time of writing. Do keep an eye on our deals widget below for any updates, though, as offers often pop up for this and similar screens from Philips/Evnia.

The price is similar to the BenQ MOBIUZ EX2710Q, which is another QHD monitor that has an IPS panel and similarly to this one it sports an HDR 400 nits brightness and 165Hz refresh rate, but that one isn't curved, if that's what does it for you.

Should I buy the Philips Evnia 27M2C5500W?

The Philips Evnia 27M2C5500W is my favourite curved monitor that I've tried in recent years, and I was particularly impressed by the resolution and seamless responsivity when gaming, while it was also useful during everyday creative tasks for work. Due to colour limitations and the 1000R curvature probably won't contend as a pro creator screen, but it will more than do for any hobby tasks while being an excellent gaming monitor that won't cost you the earth.