Recommendations for external / portable monitor

[Polar Bear]

I am looking for something that I can use with an android phone or tablet which has a large screen and internal battery.  It doesn't need to be either touchscreen or 4k but needs to be decent quality and have a stand.

Does anybody use such devices and can anybody make any recommendations please?

[PaulF]

How large is large?

If it’s big enough I’d use an iPad and an app like Reflector.

[Polar Bear]

I already own a Galaxy Tab S7+ but we need a second screen as I need to be very close obliterating any opportunity for anybody else to see what's going on.  15 inch would suffice.

[PaulF]

What exactly are you trying to achieve? Share a presentation? Watch the same YouTube video/tv show?

Would a second tablet and a Teams/Zoom meeting work?

[Polar Bear]

I can't share too much detail but it's sharing with another person specific legal information which we will be updating as we go.  We will need to do this on a regular basis, perhaps weekly.  I can use my tablet with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse or a Windows computer but the other person needs to see exactly what I am seeing at the same time. 

My sight issues mean that a second screen is required as my focal range is about 6cms.

The solution also needs to be portable because of circumstances.

[lissotriton]

Could use something like Miracast to mirror the screen to a tablet or laptop. Assuming they are both connected to a network.

Or plug an HDMI capture card into a laptop.

[Kim]

Or plug an HDMI capture card monitor into a laptop.

Why complicate things?

[lissotriton]

Or plug an HDMI capture card monitor into a laptop.

Why complicate things?

An old laptop is easier and cheaper to buy or borrow than a battery powered monitor.

[barakta]

The laptop connecting to external screen is the most obvious but limited portabiilty.

I don't know how you get content off a tablet ONTO another device by some sort of X-casting e.g. Chrome cast...

Or could you view the document as something like a Google doc (or maybe even Office 365 does it?) and then both view on separate devices on whatever devices suit each of you.

If you need to be in the same section, maybe verbally "I'm in paragraph 4.5" or whatever as I know legal docs tend to be well paragraphed...

Is the document a bog standard Word or some kind of shitty third party legal webpage or software? That influences ideas I think.

[Kim]

Or plug an HDMI capture card monitor into a laptop.

Why complicate things?

An old laptop is easier and cheaper to buy or borrow than a battery powered monitor.

Tragic, but probably true.

Of course, if there's a television available, it could probably do the job...

[Polar Bear]

We have looked at our options including the practicalities and this is our solution given the circumstances.  I'm simply looking for portable screen recommendations please.

[drossall]

I've got an Android tablet that is capable of running Zwift, but is lower-end. I've got another, larger tablet that is less powerful. I've experimented with some success with TeamViewer to run Zwift on the smaller one and cast it to the larger (because Zwift is better on a larger screen).

Given that lower-end Android tablets are not expensive, that might work for you? Indeed, if you both happened to have those tablets already, you wouldn't actually need to buy anything (except, depending on the use e.g. whether this is work-related, a TeamViewer licence).

[PaulF]

Why over complicate it? For what you need Teams/Zoom/TeamViewer are all designed to do exactly what you need to do in a secure reliable way.

[Polar Bear]

Ah, the second tablet.  Hmmm.

I'll have to dig out the old Samsung Tab S2, fire it up and see if it can be cast to from the Tab S7+.   Looking online I can find nothing which indicates that this might work but worth investigating nonetheless.

I have a Zoom account but this would require the other person also having technology capable of Zooming etc. which they do not.  I do not possess a laptop.  Also, their television set is pre smart TV tech though I think it might have an HDMI input.  That too is worth checking.

[CarlF]

PB's tablet will drive any old monitor or TV with an HDMI input if he gets a USBC to HDMI adapter cable. Demonstration here https://youtu.be/4vLBHHlMidc.

Alternatively, this looks like a decent option for what he actually asked for (assuming "large" is relative to a phone/tablet rather than "can be read from across the room"): 15" portable monitor https://www.ebuyer.com/1265097-lenovo-thinkvision-m15-15-6-full-hd-usb-c-ips-mobile-monitor-62cauat1wl.

There are a couple of other models on Lenovo's website which might also be looking at and checking for the best price elsewhere.

[drossall]

My old S2 runs both Zoom and TeamViewer. You should be able to cast from anything to anything that will run either of those apps.

[Polar Bear]

I have fired up the Tab S2 and it works to a fashion.  I shall attempt to Zoom it later.

[geraldc]

I use an Asus portable monitor as a second screen for my laptop, and my Samsung phone has Dex, so it can drive it as well just by connecting the phone to the monitor using a USB C cable.

However the Tab s7+ also has DEX, so can drive a monitor or screen share over wifi https://blog.airsquirrels.com/screen-mirroring/how-to-wirelessly-screen-mirror-cast-samsung-galaxy-tab-s7-tablet

[DuncanM]

I have an old ASUS portable monitor I have used for ages when I need to go somewhere and I won't have a second screen. It's USB (old school) driven and powered, so it might only be useful for PCs, but it's really good. If you were local (and I could find it), you could borrow it, but I don't think you are anywhere near Oxford?

[Jaded]

A portable projector? They can be tiny, and battery powered.

[Polar Bear]

Hmmm, a portable projector.  Now I am interested...

[Jaded]

Just revisiting old threads. Did you get anywhere with this?

[Polar Bear]

Unfortunately not at this time.

There are plenty of external monitors but trying to nail down specs is really not that straight forward.  I had hoped that there would be piles of reviews on YouTube of such gadgetry but it seems not.

I would have thought a standalone monitor which could simply be connected as a second screen to a Galaxy tablet would be easy given how many external monitors are available for laptops but I was mistaken it seems.

[Kim]

You can't *simply* connect a monitor to a tablet, because unlike a real computer, a tablet doesn't have a (HDMI|VGA|Displayport|whatever) video output.  So your monitor needs to provide the video chipset, and connect by USB.  And be supported by the tablet's OS.  Much more complicated, and much more niche.

[ian]

Let's not do the Apple argument as I'm sure it should be the same with other formats, but my iPad plugs directly into the USB/thunderbolt port on my LG tv and magic happens. I assume the same with any other similarly equipped display. Requires modern kit, of course, but I'm sure there are more legacy adaptors to provide HDMI. Or cast it, which is how my wife does her comedy Les Mill's fitness routines from her phone.