Performance

To evaluate the projector we are using the Grandview Dynamique DY3 100" ALR screen, which provides a 140° viewing angle and gain of 0.4. It is set in a living room with natural sunlight from the left and ceiling lighting from the right.

We test real world luminance the same way ANSI lumens are measured. This includes a nine-segment white screen across the 100" or 2.75 m² canvas in a dark room where the ambient luminance (it boosts the values of the digital light meter) around the area of the projected image is just under 1 Lux. While the projector's brightness and contrast may be adjusted to see the eight shades of gray in a control image, we test the unit at its default settings. The used measuring device has a variance of 4%, which should be taken into account when considering the final result in lumens. Lastly, as measuring the nine zones is a manual process, some variance is expected, especially with short throw and ultra short throw projectors, as one has to point the measuring device at the light source instead of laying it flat against the wall as with classic projectors.

The Emotn N1 clocked in at around 115 Lux before considering any device-specific variances across the surface area of 2.75 square meter, which results in approx 315 ANSI lumens. This is quite a bit off from the 500 ANSI Lumens that the device advertises. While most devices don't tend to truly achieve the maximum advertised values due to ISO standardized allowances for manufacturing deviation, the unit should ideally clock in at 400 or more ANSI. Also, while the unit allows for various tweaks of the picture quality, on our firmware version while you can choose from different image settings, those would not take effect immediately, but only during media playback.

Use and Daytime Performance

Apps

As already teased towards the beginning of the review, the Emotn N1 comes with a range of pre-installed apps that are a bit out there. On one hand, there is a kids focused live show and movies app with various channels. then there is the Tikilive app, which provides that same element of channels to stream, but geared towards adults. The fact that OAN is on here on one hand does not surprise, but is also somewhat shockingly unexpected. This app very much tries to mimic the Android TV 9 and earlier user interface with the menu bar along the left of the screen and tiles horizontally for the various channels. Lastly there is the Netrange app store which sports a mix of more or less known apps. While you get things like Plex, most of the included applications are not very well known.


You may also cast from your Android phone to the projector thanks to the built-in casting feature. Lastly, on the Bluetooth front, the Emotn N1 also offers the ability to send music/audio wirelessly to the unit for playback from your devices.

Browser

One of the things that you will be hard pressed to find on Android TV is a functional browser. While there are some options out there, none of them are very well designed, or have several tech stack limitations. The Emotn N1 however offers a surprisingly solid and functional browser which is able to handle embedded content like YouTube videos on sites. That said, inputting URLs is still a manual task, as the Emotn N1 does not support voice commands or input. It even offers the ability for multiple taps and easy search right in the address bar.


Moving on to the watching experience during the late afternoon, the Emotn N1 manages to deliver enough brightness that should be alright for casual experiences. That said, it does feel like hitting its limits with mostly dark scenes not doing super well. For example, in the Jet elevator scene, the human in the foreground cannot be seen at all. Emotn tries to counteract this with what feels like a bit less contrast than some other options out there.


The experience when playing games or watching cartoons in a similar environment feels similar. While not unusable, the fauna on the cave wall is not visible at all and the usually popping cartoon colors of Rick & Morty seem to be somewhat muted.