Home Hi-Tech Android World ,,,,, When we were asked to review this strange device we were a bit skeptical… Why give a projector a spherical shape? What crazy idea will have prompted the Chinese company Xiaoshuai first and then Haier who took charge of the product to market the iSee in this layout?
The answer is in the images of the article: iSee mini is not a simple wall-mounted projector but also a… ceiling-mounted projector! The spherical shape and the white ring supplied (but also a good table stand like iGrip Pro by IK multimedia) allow you to have the screen projected directly on the top of the room which is often the only one of a perfect white color: if you can spread a blanket on the floor or spread out on a comfortable sofa or if you prefer to watch movies without getting out of bed this is definitely an interesting option.
Let's start from the package
Inside the package we find the Projector, its white ring for positioning the projection on the ceiling or wall, a power cable that starts from USB and arrives at a more or less proprietary coaxial connector, a remote control that will allow us to navigate on the 'tile interface of the projector, to adjust the focus and volume of the two speakers and a multilingual instruction booklet with the Haier brand which includes, rare in this type of product, also detailed instructions in Italian.
The black version projector, which is somewhat reminiscent of the “black death” of Star Wars, looks very solid and compact and amazes for its small size. On the bottom we find the possibility of hooking it to a tripod with the classic 1/4 “attack.
It will be convenient to use with action camera support systems or tripods like IK Multimedia's compact tripod you see in the photos. The speakers are two but strangely they are positioned not to the right or left of the screen but below or above or in front and behind depending on the position of the “apple”. On one side are the exits that we describe below.
The license plate data of Haier iSee mini
But let's get to the specifications of the product: it is the union of a processing unit with a quad-core Amlogic M806 processor, Cortex-A9. MALI-450MP2 GPU, with Android operating system in version 4.4, 2.4 and 5 GHz dual band Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0; the RAM is 1 GB and on board we find an 8GB FLASH / EMMC memory.
The projector part with DLP (Digital Light Processing) technology offers 16.7 million colors and 256 levels of gray and has a resolution of 854 × 480 pixels, Osram LED lamp with a life of 30,000 hours. Brightness 80 Lumens with 1000: 1 contrast ratio, 3 Watt speaker, USB ports capable of powering a hard disk, micro-SD card memory port up to 32 GB, power port, audio output with 3.5mm Jack. The lens is glass + resin composite.
Consumption is 10 W and the built-in battery is 4600ma and can be connected to a 5V / 2.1 A power supply (not included). The weight is only 270 grams and the dimensions are 10x10x9.7 cm, the body is made of Teflon. The fixed projection ratio is 1:19 and the focus is motorized and remote controlled. Digital mirroring for iOS phones, tablets and computers is ensured by an application that successfully emulates Airplay and for Android phones by ScreenShare.
The more the distance increases, the more the need to have a darkened room: to enjoy the 150 ″ you must have total darkness 
The characteristics of the projection system: the 6 colors enrich the tonal range and the results are visible 
A projector also for your ceiling 
Compared to a traditional projector (here, however, the video inputs are missing) 
The interface scheme but let's not forget Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 
To make the most of smartphone streaming and mirroring it takes a good wireless section … Bluetooth also allows you to connect keyboards, mice and remote speakers
At work
A projector with these capabilities seems to have been made for “casual” use: at any time you can set up a projection in any room and maybe have the kids play and spread a blanket on the floor to watch a movie on the ceiling but it is also not to be excluded. a more professional use, with impromptu projections from your iPhone, iPad or even Mac as long as you can “bear” the resolution of 854 × 480 pixels.
We also started from Full HD movies with very vivid text and colors (see below the photos from WWDC2013 which are part of an animation) and the projection did not look disfigured at all. Obviously the success factor for projection is the darkening of the room: with 80 lumens available you cannot expect the image to prevail on the back in a brightly lit room even if it must be said that projecting on an A4 or A3 indirect light you could equip an effective mini presentation even using the resources of the projector, without a computer or smartphone connected since it has the possibility, with the basic software, to play Powerpoint files or photo or video galleries at good resolution. Too bad there is no keystone correction system: this implies a good perfect positioning perpendicular to the projection surface.
A 10cm diameter sphere and a remote control: iSee mini is all there is to it 
The spherical shape 
Hides the projection system 
But also an Android heart with USB connections, audio output, micro SD card reader with Wi-Fi and bluetooth 
Two 3 watt speakers overshadow the internal fan 
Here is the connection for the tripod: below the specifications of the battery that allows 80 minutes of autonomy (verified) 
Here we placed it on an easel 
And we project onto the ceiling (note the Logitech USB key for the K400 external keyboard that allows you to manage the projector like a tablet …) 
Here it is projected on a special screen: the ceiling of the house 
Here is the main interface: browser, youtube, Netf lix, dedicated App store and mirroring software from iOS and Android 
Access to internal memory, settings and a memory cleaning system (with the appearance of a washing machine door) 
The application that manages the video airplay has an introductory video in Chinese-English a bit cumbersome but it works well and allows you to choose whether to use a 2.4 or 5 Ghz network to favor speed over distance 
A projector like this is also interesting for generating effects for creative photos … 
But the basic equipment includes Netflix not surprisingly … 
Think of it as a streaming-projector to take wherever there is internet with sources on USB memory, Micro- SD (up to 32 GB) but also and above all video streaming 
Here we project on a normal screen with the projector on a tripod but you can also use a table and the ring holder 
Excellent contrast and resolution is acceptable for many contents to be projected 
On the remote control we find the motorized focus adjustment, the volume of the internal speakers and the navigation keys 
These images were projected onto a wall one meter away. The richness of the colors depends on the subject but also on the chip of the iSee mini 
The result on the texts is also good (this is a frame of an animation) 
Colors are consistent across the range
Conclusions
Despite the not so exceptional memory equipment we were able to view all types of Full HD archives that we had available and above all the viewing with Netflix or Youtube, if you take into account the resolution, it is engaging at the right point. The speaker arrangement is a bit odd but unlike other mini-systems of this type their power is able to cover the noise from the small fan. The device also has an excellent cooling system since, used for 18 hours continuously for one of our tests with an external battery, it showed no signs of overheating.
The regret is that of not being able to install Playstore and therefore of not being able to use video streaming applications such as Infinity: you must trust the Chinese store (you do not have to read ideograms, the interface is totally in English while for the rest of the access to settings , keyboard and more you can use Italian by choosing it from the Android settings) perhaps by simply downloading essential applications or finding software on reliable APK mirrors such as http://www.apkmirror.com.
We also downloaded and installed Kodi in the Android version: no problem to manage photos, videos and music and access all the “programs” of international TVs that you have access to with the various plugins to download.
The Infinity movies, an application that we have not been able to load (the secure APK version that is around needs Google Services and does not start), we have seen them through Airplay mirroring from the iPhone. Fantastic possibility to be powered for hours and hours with an external battery and to be able to connect to any USB power supply for tablets which, however, is not supplied in the package: this makes it a good system for projection during fairs and events as long as you have a sufficiently darkened environment.
Pro
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Retail price
Haier iSee mini can be purchased online on Amazon at the price of 359 Euros including VAT.
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