Hardware

Review: Samsung Flip 2 Digital Whiteboard Enhances Classroom Collaboration

This digital whiteboard’s high resolution helps images pop off the screen.

Carlos Soto is an award-winning reviewer and journalist with 20 years of experience covering technology and business within various sectors and industries.

The days of traditional flip charts may be numbered. The Samsung Flip 2 digital whiteboard is a disruptor to items we often take for granted in a classroom setting — tools like paper, chalk, blackboards and whiteboards.

Giving users the ability to write on a computer screen is no easy task for a technology company. One of the biggest challenges with this capability is keeping the feel of the friction that comes with writing on paper or a chalkboard while also providing real-time cues that let users know the machine is accurately capturing, interpreting and displaying what they are writing or drawing.

Designed to mimic a paper flip chart using a flat-screen LED monitor, the Samsung Flip 2 digital whiteboard provides users with a smooth and familiar pen-to-paper experience when writing.

The Flip 2 comes in a variety of colors, styles and sizes, and I was impressed by it from the start of this review. The first thing I noticed while unpacking is the sturdiness of the unit.

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Easy Assembly and Portability Enhance Collaboration Features

Assembling the Flip 2 is simple and quick, though two people are needed to safely mount the display. Once my tech and I placed the frame on a table, we affixed the legs to the unit, screwed on the trays at the top and bottom and attached the screen to the frame. That part took 10 minutes. Then, I simply connected the LAN, HDMI and power cables.

The stand is easy to move, and the unit is stable, making it a good collaboration unit for large classrooms. Students can be a little bit rough with the screen (within reason) without worrying about knocking it over or causing any permanent damage.

The Flip’s Versatile Display Changes Orientations on Demand

The best feature of the Flip 2 is, well, the ability to quickly flip it to change orientation. Teachers and students can quickly switch from portrait to landscape mode in seconds, making the Flip 2 a wonderful tool for STEM classes.

The screen can also serve as a display, which is helpful if you need a large screen in a classroom, even if the lesson that day does not require interactivity.

The Flip 2 is great as a second or primary monitor because of an impressive resolution and a 4K display format. No details will be lost when displayed on this screen.

Additionally, the 60-hertz refresh rate makes it ideal for video and multimedia presentations. These features also make the Flip 2 an ideal unit for professors striving to find a suitable canvas to display works of fine art, which can then be marked up on screen and highlighted using the stylus.

LEARN MORE: What technologies colleges and universities need to support modern students.

Dynamic Stylus and Responsive Touch Screen Make Writing a Breeze

The quality of response when writing on the Flip 2 is in part due to the screen and in part due to the dynamic stylus. The stylus is sensitive enough for any student to use effectively, but not so sensitive that unintended scribbles occur. The touch screen can even tell the difference between a light stroke and a hard one and display an appropriately thick line in response to that feedback.

Having a 65-inch, ultra-high definition screen in any classroom is quite an asset, especially one that is so easy to set up and maintain. Adding all the interactive features and the ability to quickly shift from horizontal to vertical orientation makes the Samsung Flip 2 an impressive tool for even the most demanding or technical classroom subjects.

Specifications

Type: LED-backlit LCD flat-panel display
LED Backlight Type: Edge-lit
Video interface: HDMI
Diagonal Class: 65 inches
Resolution: 3840x2160

Characteristics of Effective Digital Whiteboards

Having a large and accurate whiteboard can make a significant difference in student comprehension in any class, but it is especially helpful for classrooms where visual aids or collaborative efforts are key to student learning.

But not all whiteboards are the same. Many fall short with poor accuracy and low-resolution displays or are simply too cumbersome to operate. To get the most out of an investment like this, schools should make sure their choice of a whiteboard learning tool comes equipped with two key features.

Collaboration Features with Simultaneous User Touch Recognition

Whiteboard technology often provides multitouch functions for creating shapes and helping to drive interactions during class. The Samsung Flip 2 digital whiteboard does that and adds the capacity for up to four people to write simultaneously on the screen easily, further driving collaboration. This can be extremely helpful in STEM settings, allowing multiple students to help solve an equation, plan out a blueprint or share their work with others in the classroom or joining the session remotely.

The stylus is a great tool for this, but it’s not required. Students can quickly draw and erase their work using their fingers or palms almost as effortlessly.

Effective Digital Whiteboards Are Simple to Use

Good equipment like the Flip 2 can provide benefits with little or no training. This eases the burden on university IT teams getting these tools into classrooms, and ensures that teachers, professors and students will feel comfortable enough to use them. The tool should become a natural extension of the lesson and not require a separate class on how to effectively use the tool itself.

The Flip 2 does that. Right from the initial setup process, which is a breeze to perform, it’s ready to begin assisting in the learning process. Simply connect an HDMI cable or add files from a USB drive, and the Flip 2 is ready to go, displaying information and enabling collaboration with the stylus or simply someone’s pointing finger.

The USB ports on the unit also make it simple for professors or faculty to connect external peripherals like printers for even more functionality, like the ability to print slides once the class is complete so everyone can keep a copy of their work.