Posted on May 5, 2021 By Kam Valentine
This week I got my hands on the small but mighty XGIMI Halo. The XGIMI Halo is a smart 1080P portable DLP projector with a compact design that I really appreciated for its portability. I was so impressed by the Halo that I brought it over to Projector Reviews Technical Editor and Lead Reviewer Philp Jones’ residence to have him take a look. We decided to give the XGIMI Halo the Projector Reviews Best in Class Award for it being the best battery operated portable smart projector in its price range.
In fact, I’m not the only one impressed with some of the XGIMI projectors. XGIMI’s products have won many awards in several different international design competitions over the past several years, including Red Dot (Design Award), iF International Forum Design (Design Award), and CES (Innovations Award). A Red Dot Design Award was earned for the XGIMI Play X smart projector in 2019 and XGIMI A2 Pro ultra-short-throw projector in 2020. In addition, XGIMI’s MoGo Pro – Android TV 1080p Portable Projector was a CES Innovations Award 2020 Honoree. With XGIMI having earned so many awards, I had high hopes for the XIGIMI Halo.
XGIMI projectors are made with industry partners such as Texas Instruments, Harman Kardon, Google, and Baidu, Inc., a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in internet-related services, products, and artificial intelligence.
The XGIMI Halo has a small rectangular shape and took a minimal amount of space to set up. The Halo is capable of front, front ceiling, rear, and rear ceiling projector placement.
It utilizes a highly efficient LED light source, which should allow the Halo to project bright and clear images for its entire LED lifespan of 30,000 hours. XGIMI has calculated that to be eight hours of projector usage every day, for ten years, without ever changing the lamp. Now that’s a lot of years’ worth of maintenance-free operation.
With Android TV built in, the Halo provides seamless access to trendy streaming services, including Hulu, HBO Max, and YouTube, right out of the box. The Halo with the Android TV OS makes it easy to access the streaming entertainment you enjoy.
For maximum portability, the Halo is equipped with a built-in battery which, according to XGIMI, allows up to eight hours of music playback or up to four hours of video playback time
At an MSRP of $799.00, Halo’s target customer is the individual who doesn’t want to break the bank but wants everything in video entertainment packed into a small portable package. Gaming (Android games, Xbox, PlayStation), direct casting via Chromecast from an Android or iOS device, and non-stop entertainment from Halo’s Google Play Store for Android TV ensure entertainment any way you want it. The gray color and modern design allow the Halo to blend nicely into any room or environment.
The XGIMI Halo is a 1080P DLP LED projector with a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $799.00. The Halo has a rated brightness of 600-800 ANSI lumens. The 600 ANSI Lumens is with the Halo running off its internal battery. You get the full 800 ANSI Lumens with the Halo plugged into an AC outlet.
With 800 ANSI lumens, the XGIMI Halo fits nicely between the XGIMI MoGo Pro+, with 300 ANSI lumens, and the XGIMI H2 with 1350 ANSI lumens.The LED light source is rated to last up to 30,000 hours.
Halo projects a 30” to 300” screen size and adopts the latest in DLP technology to provide sharp images with its native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Native as in the native resolution is indeed the actual, true physical resolution of this projector. The XGIMI Halo also supports video formats of up to 4K Ultra HD.
Frequently, when comparing projectors against flat-panel TVs, the projector can fall short in specific areas, such as a lamp in a traditional projector that can dim over a short period of time and then need to be replaced after a few thousand hours. This short lamp replacement interval would add to the operation cost and be inconvenient to the owner. Because the Halo uses an LED light source, this is no longer an issue when considering projection over a traditional TV. The long life of LED illumination can provide years of maintenance-free operation.
XGIMI also offers a less expensive model with a similar performance called the XGIMI MoGo Pro+ ($699.00 MSRP) with projection up to 100 inches.
Stepping up to the Halo ($799.00 MSRP) adds the ability to project up to a 300-inch display, 600-800 ANSI lumens, and Harman Kardon’s 5W speakers instead of MoGoPro+ 3W speakers.
The Halo is powered by Android TV; this feature makes the projector very smart. With Android TV, you have apps and capabilities that are also found in a Smart TV. Halo includes Google Assistant, which allows you to control the projector with your voice.
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