Mobile projectors are essential for my travels; I usually carry one. This time I tested the Xming Episode One which I loved.
Exterior and build quality
The build quality of the Xming Episode One is superb for such a price point device. It feels robust and very high-quality, no matter that it is made entirely of plastic, at least the exterior. The color scheme is interesting – gray and orange, and I kinda like it. The form factor is also on the good side, as it’s compact and easy to carry in a backpack, but one of the few downsides comes here, as it relies on a proprietary 65W charger, not use a Type-C one, and not have a battery.
At the front of the Xming you’re going to find the lens and the auto-focus sensor; at the back are located the ports, and at the sides, you can see the cooling vents and the speakers’ grilles.
The port variation is good, as it features a full-size HDMI 2.1 for connecting to your PC/ Laptop, also, there’s a USB Type-A port, a charger port, and a 3.5 mm jack for audio output. I cannot complain about the variation, except that we don’t see a Type-C one, but that’s not a big deal for this price point.
Functionality and screen
The Xming Episode One is a very capable small device, that can project a screen up to 120-inch diagonal, but it’s best to use it for 60-100”, so you can have the best possible quality of the image, from this device. The max brightness is 150 lumens and this means that you’ll have to watch it in a completely dark place, preferably on a white screen, otherwise, you can have some washing-out of the image. The contrast ratio is 1500, which gives you a nice and vivid picture, no matter the platform you are watching.
Keep in mind that the Xming relies on an LED light, not a laser one, but this is expected in this price range.
As I mentioned it features an auto-focus sensor, the Xming also uses an auto-adjustment for the screen size and keystone placement. This is very useful and handy when you don’t want to spend time adjusting keystones and the “obstacle avoidance” feature can ease your experience even more. I can highly rate these features because I think they are very important for the user experience.
This is maybe the first compact projector that I try that has good speakers. It features a pair of 3W speakers, combined with Dolby Support. They are loud enough, the sound is rich and full (for the size) and they can easily “mute” the fan noise that the cooling fan makes.
Additional settings and options
The Xming Episode One runs on the Google TV operating system which gives you plenty of options to play with. You can stream to it, and download apps like Netflix, Spotify, MAX, AmazonPrime, and many many more. Also, you can connect it via Bluetooth, but I am not a fan of this option as it may introduce some delay.
The operating system is extremely user-friendly and 99.99% of the people won’t find any difficulties navigating it. The settings are straightforward and easy to get to. You can set the wi-fi network, the screen options, and adjust the keystones manually.
I adore the Google TV operating system as it’s very easy to work with it and especially with the Google Assistant, the quick access to Netflix and YouTube, and overall the experience is almost flawless. In addition to the OS, the projector features 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage. The processor is not familiar to me, but it runs quite well, without stutter and without lag.
Remote
Nonetheless, the Xming comes with a very nice remote control that has the “Google TV” look to it. It’s made ok, the buttons are positioned adequately and the responsiveness is great. One thing that I didn’t enjoy is the fact that there weren’t batteries included in the package and I had to find spares.
Maybe one of my favorite features of the remote is the fact that there’s a Google Assistant button on it and you can easily press and hold for asking a question or asking for the weather or whatever you are using the Assistant for. I give a “thumbs up” for this feature!
Conclusion
As a conclusion I can say that the Xming Episode One is an amazing small form-factor projector that beast almost everything in this price range. It offers great build quality, a wide variety of ports, a nice 150-lumen LED, and a pleasing color scheme. The fact that it uses the Google TV operating system is one of the key factors for my high rating of the projector and the smoothness of the work is also on point. There are some small things that I don’t enjoy that much, like the fact that it uses an inconvenient power supply (at least the cable is long), that it doesn’t have a Type-C port and last but not least – there weren’t batteries included in the package I received.
Overall, my rating of the Xming Episode One is very high and completely based on my personal experience with it and other products in the same price range.
If you are looking for a compact, easy-to-carry projector that can go up to 100-120”, check it out and thank me later 😊
