BenQ had launched the traditional rectangle projector with a miniature design in the portable BenQ GS1 few years back. After 4 years, the company has released the successor BenQ GS2 with a design refresh and bit more focus on the portability as well.
In these days during the pandemic, the social distancing and the movement restrictions have once again made the portable projectors are climbing the popularity as during these unprecedented times, most of the cinema halls are either closed or operating with limited capacities, Portable Projectors like the BenQ GS2 is an excellent option for a movie night in your backyard with your near ones.
Source: BenQ
Design
The design of the GS2 is a complete departure from the successor GS1 flat in shape. BenQ has released the successor with a kind of cubical design approach with making a bit tough making it a drop proof from a limited height of half meter. We don’t expect the device to survive any drop tests. however, this gives some survival assurance from the small accidental drops.
In terms of the exterior design, BenQ has given the wireless projector a unibody structure with a soft touch material. The device has also achieved a IPX2 certification which makes it a suitable feature if you want to make the use outdoors. Keeping its rugged nature, the company has managed to make the projector in 1.6kg.
The BenQ GS2 has a base stand with an adjustable hinge that can be tilted which makes it easy for the users for adjusting the frame and neat little tripod mount has included as well.
The navigation buttons are placed on top of the projector with soft touch buttons. On the left side of the device, the connectivity ports are made hidden with a flap to maintain the water splash proof capability of the device.
Hardware
The device features a Mstar 648 SoC paired with 2GB of DDR3 RAM and a 8GB internal storage. The device is built with the Digital Projection System (DLP) technology which can produce 500 nits brightness with a resolution of 720p.
The GS2 wireless projector uses Osram Q8A LED as its light source for projection which offers a decent life up to 20K hours in normal and 30K hours in Economy mode. BenQ claims that the device display can support up to 1.07 billion colours. It has also equipped a sensor for eye protection when kids pass in front of the projector around a distance of 30-50 cm, the sensor will automatically shut down the LED light temporarily.
The BenQ GS2 comes with a couple of 2W inbuilt speakers produces decent sound output that can be used for indoor. For connecting external wireless speakers, BenQ has gone with Bluetooth 4.0 instead of the latest version of Bluetooth 5.0.
The device features a handful of I/O ports which is sealed under the tight flap including a HDMI 1.4 port, USB Type-C port, USB Type-A 2.0 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack for sound output. It has also packed a handy remote based on Infrared to manage the device.
Performance
The Android 6.0 running wireless smart projector performed exceptionally well in almost all the major departments. Its auto focus lens capability helps to keep the screen in focus without make us play too much. BenQ has also provided the option to manually adjust using the physical remote and the BenQ Smart Control App.
The GS2’s brightness of 500 nits do a decent job and makes the image visible in low-light or no-light conditions producing excellent colourful images on the screen. BenQ’s Lumi Expert technology automatically adjusts the brightness and optimizes the image quality based on the ambient light conditions.
BenQ has also made the projector compatible with game consoles like Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 etc. with the device which can make up to 100 inch screen. The projector can also be used for casting your Android or iOS devices.
During the testing period, we got around two and half hour of battery backup which is quite sufficient to finish a movie or binge watching a couple of web series episodes. The BenQ GS2 wireless projector has few applications like Netflix, Aptoide TV pre-installed to deliver the favorite content. However, we felt that its internal memory of 8GB seems too low for running apps, since nowadays app size are quite huge.
Conclusion
The BenQ GS2 Android based wireless portable projector is a nice, portable device for its price which ticks almost all the right features. Its vivid colours and the crystal clear images make worth to invest in this nice rugged machine for its price of AED 2349.
The wireless projector is an easy to setup device and It has made available all the major connectivity ports on the device to consume the favorite content using flash drive. The BenQ GS2 wireless portable projector is a nice portable unique device which can be considered for entertainment for both Indoor and Outdoor use.
