At first, the Halo+ just looks like a minor refresh to the original Halo which was launched pretty recently in 2020. The spec sheet reads quite similarly for size, weight, lens setup, resolution, and even speaker watts, so it stands to to reason to wonder how much more 100 ANSI lumens bring to the table, along with Android TV 10.

The mere $60 price increase over the non-plus Halo is immediately recouped by the fact that the Halo+ managed to run Netflix natively. That said, this could just be a short lived benefit, as XGIMI does not officially communicate support for the streaming provider and Netflix could disable this without notice in a future update. We just know that, while there is the occasional warning message, it worked flawlessly during our testing. On top of that, the Halo+ received the latest update, which brought with it the completely revamped user interface and functionality we have come to love from the Chromecast with Google TV itself.

In terms of brightness, while the XGIMI Halo+ is still not something you should consider as a TV replacement as it hits its limits during bright, sunny days. the bump from 800 of the original to 900 ANSI lumens is great, but doesn't make the dent to allow for truly comfortable viewing in such a setting even if you have a special ALR screen to project onto. As soon as the sun sets, even with some ambient lighting, the XGIMI Halo+ works extremely well, even showing us more than what we could see in the same trailer on a local IMAX screen. Battery life, while just short of what the Halo manages, clocked in at well over 2 hours, which allows for a full movie on the go without worrying about a plug, while the onboard storage is big enough to hold several evening entertainment options for friends and family at a campsite, for example.

In the end, the XGIMI Halo+ takes the successful and functional user experience of the original and tweaks it well with up-to-date Android and an easier setup experience thanks to the auto keystone function while retaining the portability and core functionality—all for a mere 7.5% MSRP increase.