XGIMI Halo Review: Is It Worth It?
Are you looking to buy a portable projector? Wondering if the XGIMI Halo is the best option for its price?
In this in-depth XGIMI Halo review, we will be looking into all of Halo's specs, features, cons, and pros, how it performs, and finally, find out whether or not the XGIMI Halo is worth your money.
Background and History
XGimi is a Chinese developer and manufacturer of high-definition, multi-functional projectors, embedded with an Android operating system and three-dimensional viewing functions.
The company was founded in 2012 by Aaron Liao, Apoll Zhong, Lori Yin, Shuai Liu, and Steven Xiao in Chengdu, China.
XGIMI has so far raised close to $111.3M from 9 investors, including Matrix Partners China and Sailing Capital. The company closed its last funding round on Mar 12, 2018.
Ever since its launch, XGIMI has come to be trusted by more than 1.5 million users worldwide. XGIMI has created a series of game-changing giant screen projection products with relevant partners like Harman Kardon, Google, and Texas Instruments. By constantly recreating its products, XGIMI optimizes its portfolio and provides some of the most technologically advanced and user-first experiences for consumers.
XGIMI’s projectors have also won many awards in various different international design competitions over the past several years,
Considering all its competitors, XGIMI arguably produces the best budget-friendly high-performance projectors in the market today.
Intro
The XGIMI Halo is a portable projector with impressive brightness, good battery life, decent sound, native 1080p, automatic keystone correction, and running the official Android TV OS.
Main Features
Some of XGIMI Halo's main features include:
- Native 1080p FHD
- 3D Projection
- Automatic Keystone Correction
- Autofocus
- HDR Decoding
- Official Android TV OS
- Google Assistant
- Built-In Battery
- EasyShare
- Harman Kardon Speakers
Specs
Video Specs
- Native 1080p FHD
- 3D Projection
- 800 ANSI lumens
- 1.2:1 throw ratio
- HDR technology
- DLP cinema-grade technology
- Four-Point Keystone Correction
- Autofocus
Audio Specs
- Set of two 5W Harman Kardon speakers
Hardware Specs
- LED lifespan of approximately 30,000 hours
- Amlogic T950X2 TV chip
- MaliG31 GPU
- 2GB RAM and 16GB ROM
- 17100 mAh Battery
- 1 X HDMI Port
- 1 X USB 2.0 Port
- 1 X DC-In Port
- 1 X 3.5mm Stereo Jack
Software Specs
- EasyShare
- Android TV OS
- Google Assistant
Contents
When you unbox your XGIMI Halo, you will find the following contents in the box:
- XGIMI Halo Projector
- Charger
- Remote Control
- User Guide
- XGIMI Warranty Registration
Design
XGIMI is known to design and build some of the better-looking projectors in the industry, attesting to this, is the fact that XGIMI has won 28 international design awards in 6 years.
The XGIMI is no exception, its slick build will look cool in any kind of living room, it can fit in tight spaces, and will work perfectly even when placed in unusual angles thanks to the automatic keystone correction features.
The XGIMI Halo only measures 113.5 x 145 x 171.5mm, and weighs 1.6 KG, making it small and light enough to fit into your backpack, allowing you to easily take it anywhere, be it to your friend's place, or to an outdoor movie night.
The outside material is hard plastic, nonetheless, that fact isn't really noticeable, and the projector still looks like a premium product, with its grille design looking particularly cool.
Setting Up
As with every XGIMI projector, the setup process is extremely easy and straightforward.
All XGIMI projectors feature a fast boot function, allowing the device to power on and display the home page interface in five seconds.
First off, you will want to ensure that the XGIMI Halo is plugged into a power supply, next, press and hold the power button on the projector for two seconds to begin the initial setup.
Complete the initial setup and pair your XGIMI remote to the projector via Bluetooth by placing the remote within 10cm of the device and pressing the two buttons indicated on the User Guide, this will cause an indicator light to begin flashing as the remote enters the pairing mode, as soon as the flashing begins, you can release both buttons. The connections will be successful as soon as Ding sound is heard.
After completing the initial setup and successfully pairing your remote, you can use the fast-boot feature during future use.
To complete the initial setup, you must log in to your Google Account. Adding or deleting your account is simple.
Simply enter the Google Android TV UI homepage, go to "System Setup", then sign in. Once signed in, you should see an option to "add/delete" a Google Account.
At this point, you're ready and set to start watching content on your XGIMI Halo. There are, of course, multiple other settings that you should go through and adjust to your preference.
Usability
The XGIMI Halo is very intuitive and easy to use.
The interface of the XGIMI Halo itself is straightforward, from the Automatic Keystone Correction feature to all of the adjustable settings such as adjusting image mode, frame ratio, voice output, HDMI version, and all others.
Upgrading the system is also straightforward, but keep in mind that you must have at least 50% battery life before proceeding with the upgrade.
The projector comes built-in with Android TV OS which is very easy to use, but, unfortunately, does not support Netflix, nonetheless, you can always connect your favorite external streaming device such as an Apple TV, and use that for streaming instead, that way, you'll be able to use Netflix if you want, alternatively, you can try the following unofficial workaround.
How to Get Netflix on the XGIMI Halo?
To download and install Netflix directly on the XGIMI Halo, follow these steps:
- 1. Install "Desktopmanager" from the Google Play Store. (Note that there is no space between the two words Desktopmanager, just type as is.)
- 2. Open the Desktopmanager app, where you will see the NETFLIX app on the home page. (Important note: If you downloaded NETFLIX directly from the Google Play Store, you'll need to uninstall it. Also, do NOT update the newly downloaded NETFLIX app at any time.)
How to use Netflix from Desktopmanager?
- 1. Open desktopmanager and download and install Netflix Step
- 2. Open the apk
- 3. Login the apk
- 4. Enter your Netflix account and password (Note: for symbols such as @, #, you'll need to hit the shift key)
- 5. You should now be all set to use Netflix with your XGIMI Halo
Performance
Testing the XGIMI Halo is when we can really attest to its true capabilities and worthiness.
We've tested the Halo in various conditions, from indoors, to outdoors, from low-light conditions to daytime, from shorter distances to longer distances, and always streaming various kinds of content.
Battery Life
The 17100 mAh battery lasts for approximately 2 to 4-hour video projection or 8 hours of music streaming on a one-time charge.
Sound
The built-in set of two 5W Harman Kardon speakers definitely provided decent sound quality, with speech being clear and understandable at all times, during more impactful scenes, the speakers do lack some bass, and obviously don't have the same power as a home cinema system. That being said, the Halo's speakers are perfectly decent, and unless you are looking for a superior or outstanding sound experience, they'll do the job just fine.
Image
The XGIMI Halo's image quality is truly one of the best in the portable projector category.
With 800 ANSI lumens, while connected to a power source, and 600 lumens when using the battery power, the brightness on the Halo is much brighter than that of most portable projectors.
While indoors and connected to a power source, the Halo performed reasonably well with some daylight entering the room, the picture quality wasn't outstanding, of course, but it was still good enough to watch.
In a dark setting, it performs great, with good contrast and detail, you get a sharp picture and the level of detail and clarity are considerably better than most projectors in the same price range.
That being said, there are some issues in scenes with too much contrast, especially if you are projecting at a greater distance and in 1080p, in these instances, dark parts of the screen can lack some detail, and bright areas become a bit blown out at times.
Keep in mind that the XGIMI Halo has multiple switchable preset modes that adjust and combine contrast, brightness, and color in different ways based on the type of content that you are watching, this helps with some of the contrast and detail issues, and you can also manually adjust all these settings however you'd like.
While projecting outdoors, the Halo performed better than most portable projectors, as we've said, when using the battery as a power source, the brightness drops from 800 ANSI lumens to 600 lumens, the drop isn't huge, but it is naturally noticeable, nonetheless, the picture looks great considering the circumstances, the more outdoor light sources you can avoid, the better, try projecting somewhere where there are no street lights around, or turned on lights, and the experience will be one of the best you'll get in this price range of portable projectors.
Pricing
As we've said multiple times throughout this review, the XGIMI Halo is one of the most budget-friendly options for what it offers, below, you can check out how much the XGIMI costs depending on your location, also remember to check if there is an XGIMI discount code available at the time of purchase in order to save an extra buck.
XGIMI Halo Pros & Cons
XGIMI Halo: Pros
- True 3D and Full HD projection
- 800 ANSI Lumens
- LED lifespan of approximately 30,000 hours
- Automatic Keystone and Autofocus correction
- 17100 mAh battery life (2-4 hours for video, 8 hours for music)
- Harman Kardon speakers
- Small and light for portability
- Easy to setup
- Intuitive usability
XGIMI Halo: Cons
- The Netflix app isn't supported by the native system
- Some issues during scenes with higher contrast
XGIMI Halo Review: Verdict
After our review of the XGIMI Halo, we found it to be one of the best portable projectors on the market today.
The XGIMI Halo is very light and small enough that you can throw it in your backpack. While streaming video, the battery life will usually last more than 2 hours, up to a maximum of 4 hours, and if you just use it as a speaker, it can last up to around 8 hours while streaming music.
The brightness of 800 ANSI lumens when connected to a power source, and 600 lumens when using the battery power, is more than enough to get a decent experience indoors during daylight, and an above-the-average experience in low light conditions.
Depending on factors such as distance and the level of contrast of what you are watching, you may notice some issues regarding sharpness and detail on darker parts of the screen, you can work around these issues by using some of the preset modes, and manual adjustments, or by acquiring a superior model such as the XGIMI Halo+.
The Harman Kardon built-in speakers provide a decent sound experience, and you can definitely get by just using them.
Some of our favorite features about XGIMI products in general, and of the Halo in particular, are definitely the automatic keystone and autofocus features - which work great - and also, how easy to set up, and simple to use, these projectors are.
Unfortunately, the Android OS that comes installed on the XGIMI Halo does not support the Netflix app, that being said, if you want to use the Netflix app with your Halo, you can always connect a different streaming device, such as an Apple TV, or try the unofficial workaround.
The pricing of the XGIMI Halo is definitely another one of its advantages, and after reading our review, if you made up your mind and decide to acquire it, make sure to follow the link below and grab any available XGIMI discounts in order to save an extra buck on your purchase!
Nuno
I'm a filmmaker with extensive training in multiple sectors of content creation whose films have been shown all over the world. I have also served as a speaker and jury member in multiple events. Nonetheless, in recent years, I became extremely disappointed with the course of the art world in general, and as consequence, I've developed an interest in topics I believed would become crucial for the future, namely, cybersecurity, self-education, web design, and investing in various assets, such as cryptocurrencies. All those events have driven me to launch RushRadar.