$ 2,500 Xgimi Aura projector with Android TV Excessive but great

I really like the Android TV projector. I actually love them enough for a stay in my kitchen. These are basically huge TVs in a small, portable box: unless you have a white wall somewhere, you just place the projector in front of it, turn it on, and your screen, speakers, and operating system will be on. This is a simple and elegant solution when you are renting or when you want your TV to move easily between room and home.

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So when Xgimi asked me if I was interested in testing its latest Aura projector (2,500), I briefly skimmed the spec sheet and agreed. In retrospect, I should have looked closer. But you know, it’s hard to say “no” to shiny cooling technology. Also, it had a 4K HDR image with 2,400 ANSI lumen brightness – much higher than any previous projector I reviewed. In retrospect, again, it sounded an alarm bell and I had to look at the dimensions. But no.

A few weeks go by quickly and the mailman arrives. I knew he was bringing a projector, but I wasn’t ready for what I saw. He had a transport trolley, on which sat a huge box. And I’m not using the word lightly. This was at least ten times more than any of the previous projectors I reviewed. After double-checking that the box was actually for me, I took it to my 47-square-foot (505-square-foot) Parisian apartment, opened it, and stared in amazement.

Aura 606 x 401 x 139.5mm (23.8 x 15.7 x 5.4in) and weighs 11kg (24.2lb). This is the weight of three very healthy newborns. The box was open Basically the size of my couch. Enter a few weeks of torment with exactly where I was going to set up the projector in my comfortable apartment. (I briefly thought of renting the living room of the French presidential palace or setting it up next to our building.) Look, I don’t have many empty walls and I rented this place decorated, which means I can ‘redecorate for a projector … on a wick. . Even if it’s a really great $ 2,500 projector.

Finally, my husband and I discovered that the dresser mirror in the bedroom is easily removable. So contrary to my previous policy of not having a TV in the bedroom, we have installed Ara in the bedroom. The only downside? The two extended nails used to hang the mirror are still visible on the wall – we call them the nipples of the figure.

The Xgimi Aura fits the dresser perfectly and since it is an ultra short throw laser projector, it can fit right next to the wall. To get a huge 80-inch image you need to place it 11 cm (a little more than four inches) away from the wall. Pushing it further back at 44.1cm (17.3 inches) gives you a wild 150-inch projection. I fixed at about 17 cm, creating an image between 90 and 100 inches and going up to the edge of the ceiling. It feels like magic when you realize that an image so big is being projected from such a small distance.

You have to believe it. It is very difficult to photograph a projector in action, because if I dim the room enough, all you will see is projection and you will not have a sense of space; And if I don’t fade it, you’ll see the surrounding objects but the image will fade. Not that the projector doesn’t handle ambient light well, because it does. 2,400 ANSI Lumens means you can still enjoy content in a moderately illuminated room. Of course, the blacks will have to be washed off a bit because they can only be as dark as the surface of the projection.

But if you want to enjoy your movies and TV properly, you want to dim the house. Xgimi Aura then really shines. High resolution, excellent brightness, loud and clear sound (four 15W Herman Cardon speakers including Dolby Audio), and again, Android TV on board. The latter is one of the best selling points for me. I have YouTube, Plex, Amazon Prime Video, Spotify and my local French streaming services running without the need for any additional plug-ins. I can cast anything from my phone or iPad to it, mirror my phone’s display, or use Google Assistant to control it. (Note: Netflix is ​​not officially supported, but there are solutions.)

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Aura also has plenty of ports if you prefer to use other input sources and use them for future-proofing (if / when OS updates are not available). It has three HDMI 2.0 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, and a LAN And for the output, you have an optical port and a 3.5mm headphone port. Bluetooth 5.0 is also available if you want to pair headphones for silent viewing.

So how does it feel to live with such a projector? In a word: falling. I feel ruined. I’m definitely wasting energy in a small bedroom where I can’t have friends for a movie or play night. But also, it’s great to have a TV so big that it “disappears” when not in use Well, the projector is still in the dresser and it’s not the most elegant or invisible scene. However, inch by inch, pound by pound, the Xgimi Aura is significantly smaller and lighter than any regular 80- to 150-inch TV. And it stays portable, unlike those TVs. It’s basically a whole movie theater in a box.

Watching YouTube, movies or our favorite series with great enveloping sound on such a huge screen feels close to our action. Spotify playback creates the largest karaoke screen you can imagine. For tennis and football, it seems we are on the court / field right next to the players. But we are lying in our bedroom. It is a symbol of enjoyment. After this experience it is not easy to get back to the 43-inch MiTV in our living room, as you can imagine.

Xgimi Aura (2,500) is too much for an apartment like ours. But if you have room for a proper projection screen in a dedicated movie room, oh, that would be nice.