Nighttime Performance

Come nightfall, the ASUS ZenBeam Latte L1 does extremely well for its size. While the following shots are at 100% brightness, you could also just leave it at 80% and it would be just fine with a dark room. However, this way, you get to see what the unit is capable of.


When selecting either of the two non-descriptive "Android" or "iOS" functions, you are shown simple instructions on how to mirror your respective device's screen onto the ASUS ZenBeam Latte L1. This is basically an app-based casting element that launches the target screen on your phone or browser. For example, in Android, you are able to cast a YouTube video or mirror your screen, while iOS users should see similar Apple AirPlay options.


Another way to get content to the unit from your device is by sending links to it via Bluetooth. To do so, connect to the ZenBeam Latte L1 through that connectivity and then share links with it directly through your mobile device, for example—those links are then shown and used to navigate to the content. This could be useful if you want to curate a list of things to watch at a later time. However, when attempting to playback our favorite trailer of Top Gun: Maverick via a YouTube link sent to the device, all we got was an error. However, playing the exact same video on YouTube in Aptoide TV later on worked just fine. Upon further inspection, it seems that the link sending function only works with URLs as sending the same video link from the YouTube mobile site worked just fine.


Mirroring your device unto the ASUS ZenBeam Latte works just fine, as you can see here with my Android phone being replicated unto the big screen. It functions just like any classic Chromecast would, with the ability to rotate the screen for landscape mode as well.


Aptoide TV is an interesting choice which allows for an Android TV-like interface with most of its core functionality. It runs on top of the classic Android OS of the ZenBeam Latte L1, and users benefit from the ability to log into all the usual service providers, including Netflix.


The Netflix version you will find on Aptoide TV is not the one seen on a modern smart TV or smart projectors, but actually gets you to the ultimate goal of having access to your shows. You do need to switch the remote to mouse mode to use the app, which shows the cursor on screen for you to move around and click instead of simply using directional buttons to jump between UI elements, for example. You are essentially mimicing a phone screen UI and using the mouse cursor to select which point on the screen to register a finger press on with the push of a button on the remote.


Youtube also has to be installed on the ASUS ZenBeam Latte L1 via alternative means, but with the same result of being able to watch YouTube videos on the device once done. Looking at cartoons, thanks again to the simple color palette, it looks great with the slightly lower contrast not really noticeable. That said, this is also where the 720p resolution of the ASUS ZenBeam Latte L1 really becomes noticeable compared to higher resolution alternatives. Our favorite game to use, Death Stranding in its opening scene of the cave, also manages to show details around the cave's edges, which is the benefit of the higher delta of brightness vs. contrast.


Moving on to our favorite trailer of all time, Top Gun: Maverick, I was actually a bit surprised to see so much of the darker areas. The famous wooden chair is present in the background, and you can even gently see the human in the bottom half of the scene with two fighter jets on the elevator platform. That is exactly where the bigger difference in brightness and contrast comes into play. To the human eye, the perception of brightness also relies on contrast, so that a source with lower real-world brightness is at times perceived as brighter due to the lack of contrast, whereas a technically brighter but more color accurate source would be considered darker. That is why ANSI was created. Standing for American National Standards Institute, it represents a uniform way to measure and communicate brightness on paper. In reality, however, it is a bit of a while west with LED lumens, light source lumens, and ANSI lumens making the rounds. The general rule of thumb is that the "ANSI" designation beats "LED", while "LED" beats "light source" when it comes to the same numeric values across each of these categories.

The sounds provided by the two Harman/Kardon speakers is crisp but not nearly as loud as other 2x 5 W setups we have heard recently. It also lacks the lower ranges we were expecting, which is unfortunate as it falls a bit sort when being used purely as a Bluetooth speaker.

Battery Use And Noise

The ASUS ZenBeam Latte L1 includes a 6000 mAh battery, promising 3 hours of run-time in Eco mode. We ran the unit at 80% brightness at first and achieved 2 hours and 4 minutes, which means you should be able to get through your standard movie without issue. In Eco mode, the device managed to hit the advertised mark exactly with 3 hours and 2 minutes before it shut off. Charging the ZenBeam Latte L1 in turn took a bit longer than expected, at 2 hours and 58 minutes until the external LED went from red to green for the full charge.

While doing the run-down test, the ZenBeam warned us at 25% via a disappearing Android toast message and 15% through ASUS's own implementation I could only remove by hitting OK. While that would be a small annoyance, these messages will pop up a frustrating number of times. In our test, we had the 25% message three times and the brand-triggered message, which—again—requires user interaction to remove, a total of nine times before the battery was drained. That is extremely frustrating when watching a movie and not very useful.

In terms of noise, it does make a difference if you are running the ASUS ZenBeam Latte L1 in Eco or Standard mode. In battery saving mode with the reduced brightness setting, it is essentially inaudible, which certainly is a nice advantage when in a dark room where that is enough. When at 80% brightness, it clocks in at a comfortably low 37.8 dBA at 30 cm behind the unit.