Closer Examination

If you have read our review of the XGIMI MoGo Pro+ already, the first thing you need to know is that this is basically a bigger, better version of the same. We saw before how it comes packaged nicely between two pieces of thick foam with cutouts to accommodate the projector, and then there is a plastic sheet with wording to let you know what the capacitive buttons on top do. Indeed, the top is otherwise quite clean with a subtle XGIMI logo on the black plastic and the aforementioned buttons associated with symbols to indicate that they help with media playback and volume control. An integrated LED in the middle above them lights up red when there is power and the internal battery is charging, amber during boot up and shut-down sequences, and green temporarily when the battery is fully charged. If everything is looking good and the LED is not lit up, don't worry as that is intentional.


Aesthetics alone help differentiate the XGIMI Halo from the other XGIMI projectors, including the MoGo Pro+. We get a two-tone finish with a black top and bottom, as well as on the back, where there are vertical bars with ventilation holes underneath a plethora of available I/O. Going from left to right, we get DC in, a 3.5 mm headphone out jack, HDMI (1.4/2.0) in, USB 2.0 Type-A in, and a large power button. The surrounding sides and front get a plastic mesh grill in a sandblasted silver finish, with the mesh allowing for the small fan inside to cool the processors. The front projecting outwards contains an auto-focus camera and the actual projector optics powered by a 30,000 hour LED XGIMI says will run for 10 years with 8 hours of daily use. This is paired with an Amlogic T950X2 quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A55 microcontroller, which is an update to the popular 32-bit T950X that was used in quite a few Android TV boxes, under others. The CPU has a Mali-G31 integrated GPU, and the hardware is capable of more than the 1080p standard output from the XGIMI Halo.

The throw ratio is 1.2:1, meaning the projector needs to be 1.2 feet away from the projection for every 1 foot of projected width. This is the same as on the MoGo Pro+ and actually quite good for this product class. It can be classified as a short-throw projector thus, but only just. As expected from a portable projector, this is also a DLP projector. I am not sure whether the XGIMI Halo can be classified as a pico class projector, however, since it is significantly larger than the average pico projector at nearly 3 l of volume (2.82 l), which is more than twice that of the MoGo Pro+ that came in at 1.45 l. It also weighs more than the MoGo Pro+ at 1.6 kg compared to the 0.9 kg, but is still portable enough for most people.


The base has all the certification information and badges for things supported by the XGIMI Halo, including Dolby Audio. More relevant is that the projector has a 5400 mAh/59.5 Wh battery inside, which is a nice jump from the 44.6 Wh battery in the MoGo Pro+. As such, the added size does take advantage of the larger battery in addition to the brighter lamp we will test soon enough. We also get a standard 1/4" thread metal insert for tripods, a ceiling mount, or even the X-Desktop Stand Pro from before. A small kickstand has also been integrated into the base for when you have nothing else. The battery helps with portability for sure, and there are two integrated side-firing 5 W Harman Kardon speakers as well.


Setting up the XGIMI Halo is quite simple: Just connect the power cable to the brick and into the DC power plug on the back. With that done, connect the source through an HDMI cable, again not provided, and mount the projector. In battery mode, you will only have one wire from the source, of course. The onboard Android TV OS also allows local files from a USB drive to be read and displayed, and this is probably the most portable solution outside of local storage and the Android TV interface. For a more desk-based approach, you can use the X-Desktop Stand Pro as seen above, which also helps somewhat with cable management. There is no fine adjustment, however, and it ends up being quite loosely done to where I expected more from this stand and did not get it after the claims of a precise 12° up and down in addition to the obvious 360° around the mounting thread. It is not easy to get precise control over the orientation of the projector thus, and I found myself disappointed by the stand XGIMI terms "Pro," especially for the asking price. It does look the part though, I will give XGIMI that, with the base also providing enough surface area for the remote control.