During the launch of the Redmi Note 9S, Xiaomi has also introduced the Mi Smart Compact Projector for the Malaysian market. At first glance, it looks like some smart Bluetooth speaker but it’s actually a projector that runs on Android TV.
The compact projector weighs about 1.3kg and has a footprint of 150mm x 115mm, which smaller than an A4 paper folded in half. As a comparison, Apple’s HomePod weighs 2.5kg and has a footprint of 142mm x 142mm.
The projection uses a four-channel LED and has a brightness of 500 ANSI Lumens. According to Xiaomi, the LED has a rated lifespan of 30,000 hours.
The product page says it’s compatible with 4K resolution playback but it’s actually projecting at Full HD resolution. For ease of setup, the compact projector has auto-focusing upon startup and it uses a highly sensitive camera that for better auto-focusing accuracy and clarity. It does offer the option for manual focus.
The projector has a throw ratio of 1.2:1 and you can project anywhere between 60″ to 120″ depending on the distance. While it is possible to project up to 200″, Xiaomi recommends a maximum of 120″ with a distance of 3 metres.
The compact projector also gets two built-in 5W speakers with a large sound chamber and super long sound transducers. It uses dual-track virtual surround sound stereo with support for Dolby Audio and DTS decoding.
The Mi Smart Compact Projector runs on Android TV 9.0 which lets you run apps such as YouTube and Netflix. You can install more apps via the Google Play Store for Android TV. The projector also comes with a remote that supports Google Assistant voice commands.
In terms of connectivity, it has an HDMI port, a USB 2.0 port, a headphone jack and a DC port for power. The project has an Amlogic T962-X processor that has 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. There’s no LAN port but it supports WiFi 2.4GHz and 5GHz. To keep things cool, the project has its own built-in fan that changes speed depending on the temperature.
For Malaysia, the Mi Smart Compact Projector is officially priced at RM1,899 and it will be available via Lazada from 20th April 2020.
