Japanese brand intros portable monitor with unique aspect ratio and affordable price tag

Although Japannext is not quite as popular as other monitor brands such as Gigabyte, Samsung, or Lenovo, we have covered quite a few products from the company in the past, and are about to do so once again.

This time, however, we seem to have a unique form factor on our hands - one that we have most likely never covered before.

The newly introduced Japannext IPS7843 monitor features a 7.8-inch IPS display with a resolution of 400 by 1280. As can be clearly inferred from the resolution, the portable monitor features a unique aspect ratio of 5:16. The product has already been launched in Japan and is priced at 14,480 yen, or roughly $93. 

The resolution may appear a bit low at first glance, but given the panel's small size, the pixel density actually works out to be 171.93 PPI, which is pretty decent. 

More details of the panel include a 60 Hz refresh rate, a claimed 550 nits of peak brightness, and a 900:1 contrast ratio, which is surprisingly lower than what one might expect from an IPS panel. The display also features a glossy coating, which may or may not be a good thing.

This unique aspect ratio allows the portable monitor to be suitable for workloads which require a lot of vertical real estate, or even horizontal, depending on the orientation. Japannext's marketing images portray the monitor being useful as a display for chats, stock price charts, and real-time monitoring.

Input options include a mini HDMI 1.4 port and a single USB-C port (with power). The portable monitor measures in at 74 × 211 × 15 mm, or roughly 2.91 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches. The included stand features dimensions of 60 mm by 111 mm by 78 mm or roughly 2.3 x 4.3 x 3 inches.

Japannext does like to bring its products to the international market, and it remains to be seen whether the IPS7843 monitor hits the global scene as well. Until then, interested customers can import the product via global shipping programs such as the one that Rakuten offers for most items.

Folks who would rather go for a 16:9 portable monitor can check out the AOC 16-inch 1080p portable monitor, currently available for $50 on Amazon