Xiaomi Mi Smart Compact Projector

Is it a projector or portable speaker?

In February 2020, Chinese jacks of all trades from Xiaomi showed a new portable projector Mi Smart Compact Projector, which in design resembled a stylish Bluetooth speaker rather than a classic projector. Like many of the company's products, the novelty tried to captivate buyers with a lot of tricks: here you have an Android-based system with MIUI TV firmware, HDR support, and Wi-Fi for signal transmission via Fastcast (Chinese alternative to Chromecast). Well, do not forget about 3D support, if anyone is still interested.

Difficulties in translation

The reality was not as colorful as in the advertising booklets. In Western forums, many kick Xiaomi for misleading. We are talking about promo shots in which this baby is standing on a bedside table almost in the corner of the room. In fact, it turned out that this projector does not have horizontal keystone correction, only 45 degrees vertically. That is, to display a picture without distortion, he needs to stand exactly in the centre of the screen horizon. In general, it is quite demanding to install. At the same time, we should not forget that we are talking about, in principle, a low-cost model for $500. These are pennies by the standards of Epson and Optoma.

Really juicy picture in Full HD and HDR support

It seems to us that the quality of the image levels out possible problems with the installation. It uses four-channel RGB LEDs with an average brightness of 500 lumens and 85% NTSC colour gamut coverage. Throw in full HD resolution with the already mentioned HDR and you get a great option for a simple home theater. The main thing is to connect it to a normal audio system, the built-in 10-watt speakers play a little better than the small things that are installed in inexpensive laptops.