Honor Choice Projector Air Pro Review

Introduction

The Honor Choice Projector Air Pro is a smart looking projector offering up full HD screening for a price that won’t break the bank.

It’s got a clever built-in handle that doubles as a stand, has Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube pre-installed, and is lightweight enough to be easily moved around the house, or around the country.

Yet its 292 Lumens rating and limited access to some big-name streaming services means the Air Pro isn’t an instant recommendation for everyone. I’ve spent a couple of weeks with the projector to find out what it does well and where it’s not so strong, to figure out if it can be considered one of the best portable projectors you can buy.

So, has the firm that’s better known for its smartphones produced a projector that’s worth talking about?

Price

The Honor Choice Projector Air Pro price is £249.99, placing it firmly at the budget end of the portable projector market. At the time of writing, Honor was running a £70 off promo taking the price to sub-£200, so it’s worth checking for discounts if you are considering a purchase.

It means the Air Pro is up against the likes of the Xgimi Elfin Flip and the Nebula P1i, although both are still more expensive than the Honor, as well as the shockingly-cheap, yet solid XGODY N6 Pro. 

It is not available in the US or Australia.

Design

• Clever combined handle/stand design
• One HDMI, one USB port, plus a headphone jack
• Remote control included in the box

The Honor Choice Projector Air Pro is cleverly designed, with a 360 degree rotating handle that also doubles as a stand, allowing you to easily angle at a wall, screen, or ceiling when placed on a surface thanks to 180 degree rotation. It looks smart too, and appears more expensive than it actually is.

Its slim, 55mm profile when the handle is moved to the same orientation as the body of the device means it can slide vertically onto a bookcase, or horizontally into a drawer when not in use without taking up much space with a 195 x 210mm footprint.

Weighing just 0.55kg, it’s comfortable to carry or sling in a bag if you want to take the big-screen experience with you when you’re away from home – or perhaps you want a movie night in the yard. Either way, it’s not difficult to move this unit.

What it doesn’t have is a built-in battery, which means you’ll need to provide a wired power source at all times – something worth considering if you’re planning on taking it camping.

Round the back there is a limited selection of ports – not surprising considering the price point here – with single HDMI and USB-A ports, along with a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones and the power cord connection.

You get a remote in the box too, with shortcut buttons for Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video and Honor’s Open browser. It does feel cheaply made, again I’d expect that for the price, but it works well. You’ll need to supply two AAA batteries to power it though, as these aren’t included in the box.

Features

• Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube apps pre-installed
• Access to other major streamers is trickier
• Auto focus, keystone correction and obstacle avoidance work well

The Choice Projector Air Pro runs a version of the Linux operating system that Honor has customized to offer a grid layout of app icons of simple navigation. 

There’s no Google TV here, nor is there a TV manufacturer platform like VIDAA you find on the Hisence C2 Ultra. 

It means things are a little limited from a software perspective, but you do get the Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube apps pre-installed giving you instant access to some of the big streaming hitters, and navigation is generally smooth.

However, things get complicated if you want to access the likes of Disney+, Apple TV, Hulu and co. The Netranger app store on this projector is missing these big names, but Honor offers a workaround for some of them.

You can access Disney+, Hulu, BBC News, ESPN and a few others, but not via the native app experience, using the ‘App Assistant’ feature in the interface. Instead you get a web browser-style offering, where you have to tediously move a cursor around the screen using the arrow keys on the remote.

It does work, but it’s a real pain to control and I quickly became frustrated moving the cursor sluggishly around the interfaces. However, with wireless casting support I was hopeful of a simpler workaround.

Sadly though, if you’re wanting to cast from the major streaming apps, or localised catch-up services such as BBC iPlayer, ITV and Channel 4 in the UK, on your phone to this projector, you won’t be able to. 

You get a warning in the interface saying “Copyrighted content from Hulu, Disney+, or other similar streaming services can not be wirelessly mirrored or screen cast due to the copyright restrictions.”

If you have your own movie library on your phone, or are able to connect a device via USB to the projector, you will be able to enjoy videos you own – but the lack of core streaming support is frustrating if you’re a regular user of services outside of the three pre-installed apps.

The workaround I managed was to plug a Roku Streaming Stick into the HDMI port, which gave me access to the full suite of streaming apps. This would work with other streaming devices too, such as Amazon’s Fire Sticks and Google’s TV Streamer. 

The annoyance here is I then had to use two remotes. The projector’s one to control power, volume and input source, and the Roku remote to select the content I wanted to watch. I was unable to pair the Roku remote with the projector’s IR function to control core functions with a single remote.

It’s a touch fiddly, but once I’d got a movie playing I could sit back, relax, and enjoy. 

Setup out the box, however, was more straightforward. The step-by-step guides walks you through the process, connects you to Wi-Fi (with Wi-Fi 6 support) and you get auto focus and auto keystone correction, which sees the projector do a nice job of orienting itself on your wall, even if you’re pointing it at a slight angle. 

I did have to adjust the zoom to decrease the projection size to avoid the picture spilling onto the ceiling, but that’s the only manual adjustment required.

There’s also another clever feature included here, auto obstacle avoidance, where the projector can identify furniture or objects on the wall and adjust the display size to avoid these, which saves you time during setup.

Honor recommends a projection distance of between 0.97m and 5m, and this projector supports forward shot, back shot, overhead forward shot and overhead back shot – giving you plenty of viewing setup options.

Picture Quality

• Solid full HD projection in dark rooms
• 292 Lumens sees it struggle in bright rooms
• HDR10+ support

The Honor Choice Projector Air Pro offers up a 1080p Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080), which is more than acceptable at this budget price, plus there’s HDR10+ support and a 2500:1 contrast ratio.

That all sounds pretty good, and it is, but as this is an affordable projector there is always going to be compromise, and the brightness is one.

With a 292 ANSI Lumens rating, it means you need to be using the Choice Projector Air Pro in dark settings. The Xgimi Elfin Flip (400 Lumens) and Nebula P1i (380 Lumens) are brighter if you’re looking for better performance in slightly brighter conditions. Meanwhile the cheaper XGODY N6 Pro is rated at a whopping (in comparison) 700 Lumens.

If you’re after a projector you can use during the day without the need for blackout blinds, you’ll have to spend considerably more and look for devices with 1000+ Lumens of brightness.

Dusk is going to be too bright if you’re attempting an outdoor viewing, while shutting the blinds during a sunny day won’t guarantee you a clear picture indoors either.

Yet, when the sun sets – or you draw your blackout curtains – the Air Pro holds its own. It’s bright enough in these dark settings and the contrast ratio offers a nice pop of colour.

Picture quality is sharp enough for comfortable viewing, and sitting a few meters away from the projection you’re not going to notice too much pixelation. Up close and you can see individual pixels, but the whole point of a projector is not to be right in front of the display.

It does lack detail in darker sequences though, so if you’re watching a moodier show or film, the Air Pro will struggle to display these at a level that’s truly enjoyable.

That said, brighter content such as animated TV shows and live sport do pop, making them easily watchable. It’s perfect if there’s a late night game you’re having folks over to watch on a super-sized screen.

Sound Quality

• Single 5W built-in speaker
• 3.5mm audio out port
• 32dB running noise

The Honor Choice Projector Air Pro comes with a single 5W speaker located on the right side of the body.

It does a perfectly acceptable job with TV shows, YouTube videos and social content, but if you’re looking for movie-grade sound this isn’t going to give it to you.

The positioning means sound is unevenly distributed in the room if you have the projector placed in the middle, which can leave some viewers with a poor audio experience.

There is Bluetooth connectivity though, allowing you to connect wirelessly to external speakers for a better sonic performance, while the 3.5mm audio jack provides a wired alternative to external speakers and headphones.

On the plus side fan noise is kept to a minimum, at around 32dB, so if you turn the volume up you’re unlikely to be disturbed.

Should you buy it?