Anmade Mini DLP Pico Projector Review

Anmade Mini DLP Pico Projector Review

Buy it at Amazon: Anmade Mini DLP Pico Projector [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: Clear picture, compact and portable, use w/BT speaker for better audio, avg battery life.

The mini DLP projector comes with a USB power cable, a wall adapter power cable, a mini tripod, remote control, and an instruction manual. I also received a 1GB microSD card shipped separately which contained a software update.

The projector has a glossy black finish on top and measures 6"W x 3"L x 3/4"H. The outer frame is aluminum and the bottom has a really cool pixel pattern as well as the fan exhaust and 1/4"-20 thread hole for mounting to a tripod. You can use any standard tripod and not just the mini one that's included. On the front, the projector lens is on the long side, then to its left is the focus wheel for adjusting the image focus. On the back is the external speaker, power button, HDMI in, headphone audio out, DC power port, USB input, pinhole reset, and microSD card slot. There are no physical playback controls on the body of the unit, so be sure not to lose the remote control. When you plug the unit it, it will start charging the internal battery and the LED indicator on the top just below the logo will flash red. On a full charge the player can last about 2 hours of playback, so make sure to plug it in or use a portable battery pack if you're watching a long movie where you won't have access to an outlet. The length of the wall adapter cable is 6.5' but the USB cable is about 40". It's just a shame it uses a barrel style plug rather than a more standard microUSB connector for the power.

The projector is quick to boot up and comes pre-loaded Android OS 4.4.4, and the interface is similar to a tablet or smartphone. It has built-in WiFi that you can use to connect to your home WiFi network and Bluetooth capability as well so you can stream the audio to a speaker or headphones. Using the remote to navigate the interface is fairly easy, though sometimes when you can't find your position, you have to bring up the cursor on the screen by pressing the 'mouse' button on the remote. Using a wireless keyboard/mouse make things much easier and the single USB port is expandable with a USB hub (not included) for adding multiple devices. The remote also lets you change the volume and adjust the screen keystone if to square up the image, but you can do this from the settings menu as well. It also has a pretty good auto-keystone calibration that detects the tilt of the projector and adjusts keystone automatically.

Out of the box, I wasn't able to get the Google Play Store to work which prevented me from downloading apps through it. Thankfully, the vendor sent me the software update on an SD card and it was easy to perform. After the update, the Google Play Store seems to work fine. When installing apps, be mindful of ones that require swiping (for scrolling etc.) because you may not be able to execute all the commands with just the included remote.

The 100ANSI lumen brightness of this projector makes the image hard to see in a brightly lit room, but once the lights are dimmed or if used in complete darkness the image is of decent quality. The image brightness will decrease as you increase the projected image size by moving the projector farther away from your screen. Adjusting the focus is easy with the focus wheel although text also becomes somewhat blurry at larger display dimensions (greater than 50" diagonal) as the native output resolution for this projector is only 480p. Therefore, individual pixels may be visible at larger display sizes. It can, however, accept input resolutions of up to 1080p but steps down the quality in the projection. The color depth and contrast are better than I expected and images were clear and crisp. The onboard audio, however, is small and boxy. If you're sitting close to the projector the volume gets loud enough to drown out the fan noise but it won't be adequate for a larger crowd. You're better off wiring to a speaker/home theater system or streaming to a Bluetooth device. I was pretty impressed that there was very little noticeable lag between audio and picture when using Bluetooth headphones/speakers, even while streaming video from the internet from the YouTube and Netflix apps. There was virtually no delay/lag in the audio when playing videos via WiFi, USB, SD card, or HDMI.

If you have an Android phone you can cast your screen wirelessly to the projector too (I didn't have an iOS device to test with), but note that there may be a slight delay between what happens on your phone and the image and sound that appears on the projector screen. With two wireless transfers to consider (one to your phone and then to the projector and perhaps a third to a BT speaker) this can create a significant delay that makes video and audio choppy, out-of-sync, and garbled. Wireless screen sharing is best reserved for displaying photos or slideshows for work presentations.

Overall, I think you get the best resolution, brightness, and saturation at 50" and under, but the projector still displays a really nice image even at large dimensions of up to 120" diagonal (~13' from the screen). It works extremely well as a WiFi streaming video player and when paired with a Bluetooth home theater system makes for a pretty awesome movie night or gaming experience.

Buy it at Amazon: Anmade Mini DLP Pico Projector [Affiliate Link]