Aaxa M7 Pico Projector review

Our Verdict

It power lack streaming and app installation, but the core functionality of the M7 is good. For a portable projector, it is amazingly bright and offers a useable battery life.

For

Affordable
Works along battery for up to 3 hours
Glary for being assault and battery hopped-up

Against

No WiFi or streaming content
Heavy for a Pico design
Limited video file formats supported

TechRadar Verdict

IT might lack moving and app induction, simply the inwardness functionality of the M7 is genuine. For a takeout projector, IT is amazingly buttony and offers a serviceable battery life.

Pros

+ Affordable
+ Works on barrage for astir to 3 hours
+ Bright for organism battery high-powered

Cons

- No WiFi or streaming content
- Heavy for a Pico purpose
- Express video charge formats supported

When we hear the idiom 'Pico projector' it tends to understand into another word, via media.

Expecting all the functionality of a mains power projector in another that uses battery world power and is easy portable isn't that realistic. To figure in daylight requires countertenor brightness levels, increasing the force consumption and adding cooling system issues. These demands all conspire to make projectors heavier, something all portable devices want to ward of.

Typically, makes of Pico projectors tend to lower the brightness substantially, operating room the battery running metre, and usually both, to cause their products routine at all.

That begs the question, is the Aaxa M7 Pico another one of those incomprehensive devices, or does it manage to deliver a portable projector that isn't massively compromised?

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Price and availability

The intended MSRP of the M7 was $600, just they're offer it currently to US-based customers for $488 directly from the Aaxa Technologies stash awa.

We were fit to find the M7 for that price on Amazon.com, just it wasn't yet available done Amazon's European outlets. But we'd expect that to change since Aaxa's projector range potty glucinium easily found from European online retailers.

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Aaxa M7 Pico Projector — Image Credit: Future (Image recognition: Mark Pickavance)

Invention

Aaxa M7 Pico Specs

Here are the full spectacles of the Aaxa M7 Pico Projector:

Max Source resolution: 3840x2160 (4K)
Native resolution: 1080p
Brightness (Lumens): 1200 (mains power), 650 (battery)
Throw Ratio: 1.2:1
Contrast Ratio: 2000:1
LED Life-time: 30,000 hours
Ports: 1 x USB-A 2.0, 1 x USB-C 2.0, 1 x HDMI, 1x Composite A/V (3.5mm Jack), 1 x Sound Seaman
Network Connectivity: N/A
Barrage fire: 15000mah (14.8v * 3650 mAh)
Battery running time: 2.1 Hours (standard), 3 hours (ECO)
Size: 185.4 x 162.5 x 47mm, 7.3in x 6.4in x 1.85in (H x W x D)
Weight: 1.36kg (3 lbs)

The number 1 matter we noted about the M7 was that A 'Pico' projectors go, it isn't that bittie.

Measuring near 19cm comprehensive, 16cm deep, and advisement in at 1.36kg, it's at the bigger end of the takeout projector spectrum.

Instead of going for anything radical, Aaxa went with a simple rectangular enclosure with a single fan vent at the back, inputs on the sides, and the LED projector optics mounted off-centre on the front right (looking at information technology).

The top sports the ubiquitous touch controls, with electronic focus controls on the right sidelong and a power on/off/charge switch on the back.

In the box, along with the M7, you get a user manual, a 19V 4.8A laptop-style ability render and associated US bayonet force cable, a small unlikely control, and phono Complex A/V to 3.5mm knave converter to enable classic hardware like the Tiptop-Nintendo to use the M7 projection.

You don't get an HDMI cable or any needed to connect a mobile phone straightaway. But, Aaxa has sound cables (iOS and Android) as extra accessories, along with a ceiling mounting kit and replacements for the PSU and unaccessible.

These items are completely relatively twopenny-halfpenny, like the M7.

The design of the M7 was clearly driven away a need to make it as straightforward as possible, presumably to reduce costs and lessen the potential for returns. There ISN't even a foot underneath to angle the projector for table-top use.

That said, many of the things missing may be for the most part superfluous, since we used IT happening a table with no issues, and the anchor functionality worked flawlessly.

Overall, the thinking behind the Aaxa M7 is refreshing, as it doesn't aim to please every possible requirement in portable projection.

Hardware

Oft in this section of a projector review, we'd babble out about the ARM mainframe that was used you bet it might compare with that in a modern cellphone.

Except, we've no melodic theme what CPU is inside the M7, and information technology doesn't run a version of Android with installable apps or anything like that.

We can surmise that the basic functionality is Linux based, and the CPU is undoubtedly ARM-based, but how much Force and storage it has isn't apparent surgery important.

Where the M7 diverges from all the Holocene epoch Pico designs that we've seen is that there is no attempt to embrace the streaming age present.

Therefore, you can relate a mobile phone or tablet for screen mirroring or access files on a MicroSD card or USB memory stick, but there is no receiving set networking and access to browsers and streaming apps.

The Aaxa M7 Pico projector — Epitome Credit: Forthcoming (Image credit: Aaxa Technologies Inc.)

Its technology is where conventional projectors existed around five years ago. The emphasis Hera is on adding foreign devices to address those limitations, departure the M7 to concentrate on the jutting receive.

Where IT is ahead of its challenger is that this is a proper 1080p native DLP, and information technology can take 4K files and scale them for output. With mains powerfulness easy and 'boost' enabled, the M7 can generate 1200 lumens of brightness, a level that many cheaper 1080p mains-only solutions can't match. On battery power that drops to 650 lumens, if you are prepared to accept a running time of only 2.1 hours.

Eco mode is much little bright, only suitable for light-controlled spaces though using it increases the running time to three hours.

One curiosity is that piece the LED bulb can't constitute replaced when its 30,000 hours lifespan ends, the internal battery of the M7 can embody accessed and presumptively swapped.

Busy

Once we got over our initial disappointment that you can't hook the M7 up to a meshing and use streaming services, we soon began to wonderment if this was a choice that Aaxa successful the right choice with this twist.

Because by not embracing Android in the mode we saw it in the XDO Pico Projector and Asus ZenBeam Latte L1, the M7 is improve focused (pun 100% intended) on delivering the critical projecting job.

The acerose interface gets the owner to the features they're most likely to want, and at that place aren't any distracting apps that demand updating or passwords to keep entering.

If you want wireless streaming, then simply buy a $30 moving stick, Chromecast or Virago Fire TV, and connect it via HDMI. Alternatively, connect your headphone/tablet, and mirror that output through the M7.

Using a phone Oregon tablet reduces the power demands on the projector, allowing information technology to reveal a full-length moving-picture show at a high level of brightness strictly happening battery.

The projection is sharp, the contrast is excellent, and the colour impregnation is strong. Being simply 1080p, IT doesn't support HDR, but from fit encoded 1080p files or services, the results are detailed and extremely watchable.

One sport that needs some work is Dynamic expulsion mode that boosts the contrast higher but, in our testing, created much slightly odd discolour casts with some complacent. We found standard or even mild modes were superior for most uses, and even with the reduced brightness of mild, the colours appeared more natural.

If this unit has a weakness, IT is the narrow supported file formats, especially those provided for video decoding.

While IT bequeath play just about H264 satisfied, what it doesn't support is AC3 audio, and often the video will play nicely, but the audio is silent. What the decoding engine also didn't care for, astonishingly, was LPCM sound on some files, maybe due to the faithfulness of the encoding.

Just our biggest decoding disappointment was that a standard MP4 prepacked H264 in 4K we captured using the DJI Miniskirt 2 drone wouldn't play and came up as an 'unassisted file character'.

Oddly, the manual doesn't list either MP4 or MKV as corroborated files, though with got the last mentioned to cultivate to a point, and both types of files appear in the interface. What it won't show is H265 encoded video, disregarding of how IT is prepackaged.

At this time, Aaxa hasn't released any firmware updates for the M7, but hopefully, some of these limitations can be self-addressed, though we'd be amazed if AC3 was added.

And, if you are running VLC connected your phone or tablet and acting through that, no of these limitations bequeath stop you from viewing and hearing the content.

Final finding of fact

The Aaxa M7 Pico projector was full of surprises. The designers of this hardware aren't heading in the same direction as many portable projector creators, and because of that, the completely intention feels distinctly less 'Pine Tree State too'.

However, the direction taken hither means that without a supporting phone Beaver State tablet, its potential uses are some more limited. The number of file types and codecs it supports needs to be expanded, even if they Don't support licenced audio codecs care AC3 and Dolby.

Where it is most flexible is mirroring a mobile device or using a streaming dongle. We'd recommend anyone buying this to purchase a Google Chromecast, Roku Oregon Amazon Fire TV stick exercise alongside it.

Once you've connected unmatchable of those or use your phone directly, you can enjoy the excellent projected image that this small device can render. Aaxa claims information technology can produce a 200-inch projection, and while that might cost technically practicable, 100-inches from this design is significantly brighter and sharper.

It easy outperforms some of Pico scale projectors that we've seen and so far and elegantly avoids the Android-without-the-play-store pitfalls that feature mired some competitor devices.

We only hope that Aaxa improves the microcode to make this highly affordable movable projector equal better than it already is.

Note: Since our review was written, Asus has released a firmware update for the Latte L1 that they assure us has self-addressed the interface issues that we detailed. Anyone buying this mathematical product nowadays should receive one that has this improved firmware.

Mark is an expert on displays, reviewing monitors and TVs. He too covers storage including SSDs, NAS drives and portable hard drives. He started writing in 1986 and had contributed to MicroMart, PC Arrange, 3D Existence among others.