Review: ASUS S1 Pocket Projector

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Projector technology has advanced to the point where we now have relatively inexpensive portable projectors that are compact and convenient for travel, personal and small-office use and decent enough for playing back movies. The ASUS S1 Projector is one of the better examples of this new breed of pico projectors.

When considering any projector, the first things to consider (aside from price and resolution, of course) are the brightness and range. For Pocket Projectors, they're not expected to have such a great range because they just aren't as bright as larger projectors. This means they really need to be used in as dark as possible conditions to fully take advantage of what they have to offer.

The ASUS S1 features 200 lumens of brightness, it can display 16.1 million colours, features a tiny 2w speaker, has a bulb rated for 30,000 hours and, being a portable and mobile projector, featues a built-in 6,000mAh Battery that they say provides up to 3 hours of projection and doubles as a power bank for your mobile devices. ASUS claims you can run this projector 8 hours a day for 10 years, imagine that. 

The small size of the ASUS S1, which is similar to an Apple TV or other set-top boxes, does make it a bit difficult to position properly. This thing is very light, and when you add a source HDMI cable, which tend to be thick, and it's challenging to weigh the projector down when connecting it to a Blu-Ray player. You also need to position it really close to a wall or screen to get the contrast and resolution at the point where it doesn't look washed out. As an ultra short-throw projector, the S1's sweet spot is one meter away from the screen, it then creates a 41-inch image. 

The ASUS S1 is actually much better suited to use with mobile devices. Smartphones, tablets, Ultrabooks are all great companions for this projector and specially for more static content such as slideshows and webpages,  (although it did play the execrable Transformers: Age of Extinction quite nicely).

ASUS has put together a nice package with the S1 Pocket Projector, while encased in a brushed aluminum with the new Zen-like styling, it looks and feels professional enough plus it comes with a nice leather case. This is quite an attractive package for the suggested CAD $359.99 price. 

While not a good candidate for a home theatre projector (there are many, similarly affordable and larger models), the ASUS S1 is a great companion or back-up projector for travelling presenters, people who want to consume content off their mobile devices in a larger display and anyone who needs a convenient 41-inch display to take around. 

The ASUS S1 brings a combination of portability (it weighs less than a pound), long life (30,000 hours) and pricing that will make it an attractive option for anyone seeking a pocket projector or a great holiday present.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5