XGIMI Halo Portable 1080P Android TV Projector Review-Special Features

XGIMI Halo Portable 1080P Android TV Projector Review – Special Features: LED Light Source, Built-in Battery, HDR Decoding, Smart TV Features, Wireless Connectivity and Media Playback

XGIMI rated its Halo LED light source from 600 to 800 ANSI lumens for 30,000 hours. At 30,000 hours, the light source would last 10 years of use if used for 8 hours every day; that is a lot of years worth of worry-free operation.

XGIMI states that the built-in battery allows up to eight hours of music playback or up to four hours of video playback time. My review Halo unit got 3 hours, 49 minutes, and 39 seconds of video playback with the image set at Energy Saving mode and volume set low. I got 2 hours, 54 minutes, and 57 seconds worth of video playback while watching Zack Snyder’s Justice League four-hour beast of a motion picture on high volume. I watched my videos and movies through a 4K Apple TV connected with an 18Gbps Bullet Train HDMI cable.

The P6X utilizes an LED light source rather than a filament or gas bulb, which delivers a bright image while sticking with AAXA’s power efficiency requirements for the design of the projector. The OSRAM LED light source is capable of up to 30,000 hours of essentially maintenance free use; the equivalent of almost 3.5 years of 24/7 use. In theory, LED light sources make images look brighter than ANSI lumen brightness. AAXA claims the projector is capable of 1,100 LED lumens (about 460 ANSI lumens), because the image should look as bright as the image produced by an 1,100-lumen lamp-based projector.

The Halo is powered by Android TV with over 5000 native apps and allows the user to quickly set up the built-in Android TV with an Android phone option. You can quickly transfer your Android phone Wi-Fi network and Google Account to the Halo Android TV. I did not have an Android phone on-hand, so I had to skip this feature and simply manually input my network.

Once on my network, I was asked for a Google sign-in to get new apps, personalized recommendations, access my entertainment, control my media, and Google Assistant. The sign-in also allowed buying or renting the latest movies and shows on Goggle Play Movies & TV.

Goggle Play had an “Install all of the following apps” screen to download and a personal app recommendation from XGIMI for downloading Hulu, Spotify, MX Player, Kodi, and Facebook. All of the apps were from the Google Play Store.

Voice Control

The Halo is a smart projector equipped with voice control via Google Assistant. The remote, with its built-in microphone, is used to control a wide variety of functions using only your voice. Simply press and hold the only colored button on the remote, the Google Assistant mic button, and you are ready to operate the Halo. Some of the things you are able to use voice control for would be to ask the projector to “Go to my projector settings” or “Play music.”

Built-in Apps

Halo has Google Play Store with a massive amount of entertainment apps that can all be accessed directly from the projector. You could also access many of the popular streaming services, including Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max, to name a few.

The Halo allows for wireless networking. This is great for the user who wants to access the unit’s internal apps and services easily. Suppose you’re going to take your entertainment with you for backyard movie night, for example. All you will need is a power outlet and a wall or screen to project onto, since the Halo has both streaming services and built-in speakers.

The Halo also has a built-in media player and that can access files via its USB inputs. One USB 2.0 input can be used to play back many different types of media (videos, MP3, photos, etc.). The USB input on the Halo can also be used to connect other tools, such as a keyboard, game controller, or mouse. I connected a Razer Basilisk V2 gaming mouse to the Halo and it worked perfectly.