Optoma Photon Go

Design

• Understated looks
• Ultra-short throw design

The Photon Go is an ultra-short-throw projector, which means it can be placed close to a wall (but not too close). Set it back 25cm from a wall and the image will be 100-inches big. Closer proximity to a wall and the image shrinks, as does the level of sharpness.

Build quality is reassuringly good. The Photon Go feels robust at 1.72kg – it does not feel or look like a toy. It’s well attired with a nice fabric cover on top, while the rounded edges give it a softer appearance. It’s still a rectangular – a grey/black one at that – but a good looking one.

Twin front-firing speakers shoot sound at you, while around the rear is where you’ll find the physical connections, and underneath you’ll find mounting screw holes for adding a tripod. 25cm of room is enough space to route some cables into the projector – any closer and it gets tricky.

User Experience

• Google TV
• Missing iPlayer app

The Photon Go comes with Google TV, and the version here is more or less the same as on a TV, separated into various sections (For You, Movies, Apps, Library etc) and settings where you can adjust brightness, video/sound modes and the like.

It’s quick enough to scroll through the rows of the Google TV interface despite some slight lag opening and exiting some apps. I initially thought it might be my Internet connection but it felt consistent throughout the testing period with Netflix often a little slow to get up to speed.

While Google TV provides the proper version of Netflix, what’s missing is BBC iPlayer. That’s not an issue specific to this projector but at least you can cast the iPlayer app from your mobile device over Wi-Fi.

The remote is responsive but button presses are stiff – the Epson EF-72 has the same remote but feels nicer. You get a pick of quick access buttons (Netflix, Prime Video), navigation, settings – the usual stuff.

Features

• 1080p HDR
• RGB laser source
• Bluetooth speaker mode

The Optoma Photon Go comes with a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080p, which is not a great loss for a portable projector. There is HDR10 and HLG HDR, though there’s not much use for the latter without a native iPlayer app.

With 650 lumens of brightness that’s a decent level of brightness to watch with some ambient light but ideally you’ll want the curtains closed or viewing in a darkened room. If you were to use the Photon Go outside, it’ll be best when the sun goes down.

The Photon Go sets phasers to RGB with its triple laser light source that can last for 20,000 hours. That’s much longer than lamp alternatives, less expensive over time and also a positive when it comes to environmental waste. Tick, tick, tick.

Auto Zoom makes it less of a faff to set the image up. Auto Keystone correction will fix any image distortion and format the picture so that it is an actual square not a lopsided one. There’s manual Keystone Correction if you want to adapt the image yourself but this solution can often be a little crude.

Connectivity includes an HDMI input (useful for adding a sound system). Ethernet for a hardwired connection to the Internet, USB-C (for power), USB-A (for other media) and a S/PDIF for connecting to other sources or a non-HDMI sound system.

And those twin front-firing speakers I mentioned before? They’re loaded with 10W of power, and support for Dolby Audio (not Dolby Atmos) with a check through streaming apps showing 5.1 channel support. The Photon Go can also double up as wireless speaker with Bluetooth speaker mode enabled.

Battery Life

• 1.5 hours in Eco mode
• Runs of battery or mains power

The Photon Go can run off the mains but there’s a built-in battery Optoma claims can last for up to 1.5 hours when playing video or 4 hours in its Bluetooth speaker mode.

90 minutes, though, is not a very long time at all.

That’s barely enough to get you through most Hollywood films (it might get you through two episodes of Slow Horses). It’ll only get you through two-thirds of a football match (let’s not forget the 15 minutes of half-time).

What Optoma doesn’t clearly disclose is that 1.5 hours is with the Eco mode setting, which lowers brightness compared to Standard or Movie. I played a stream of Yesterday on Netflix and the Photon Go managed just shy over an hour in Movie mode with volume at 50%. Putting the projector in Eco mode (same film) and it stretched to an hour and 26 minutes.

Compare that to the XGIMI Mogo Pro 3 which claims 2.5 hours, as does the Dangbei Freedo, and that kicks into touch the Photon Go’s mission to be truly portable. I wouldn’t want to be fetching for the mains plug every hour.

Charging the battery back to full takes about 2.5 hours, which again isn’t particularly attractive if I’ve got to wait around two hours for it to be fully charged.

Performance

• Bright, colourful SDR performance
• Slightly muted HDR colours
• Good black levels for a projector

Let me start with some less-than-appealing aspects about the Photon Go.

The fan noise for the Photon Go is a bit louder than expected. Optoma reckons around 35dB but I found the noise (taken with the Sound Meter dB app, which isn’t perfect by any means), measured closer to 48 – 53dB. Even with volume at 50, the Photon Go gives off a consistent and audible hum. I thought my laptop was loud but the Go is louder.

The Auto Keystone has a tendency to play up. Sometimes on start-up it wouldn’t create an actual square, necessitating a slight move to gee it up. Other times it’d be perfect and then it’d shift so the image became crooked. On one occasion it started up and the screen/text was in reverse. There were times when I could not fathom why it did what it did.

Now on to the better stuff.

The Photon Go produces an image that’s impressively colourful and bright for a portable projector. The RGB laser source, unsurprisingly, brings out the richness in reds, greens and blues during an England International football match and an NFL match. White tones, such as the kit of the England team, also impress.

The pictures I’ve taken don’t do justice to the richness, brightness or depth of colours when watching in the ITVX app.

Watching Black Mirror and Toxic Town on Netflix, and the level of brightness fed into the daytime scenes looked good while with the latter colours stood out with their richness. It won’t replace the best TVs but it offers decent competition against a selection of the best cheap TVs.

In Movie and Standard modes blacks are closer to actual black than grey-ish that’s often the case with projectors. With the scene in Yesterday where the lights go out across the world, the Photon Go makes a fine attempt at dark than most, though with HDR, highlights are on the dim side, the Photon Go’s sense of contrast is mild at best.

Motion also proves good with and no artefacts I picked up on such as rainbow fringing. Skintones can verge towards ‘warm’, more orange in tone. Like most projectors, it lacks the subtlety and gradation of colours that TVs can output.

Where it falters a little is sharpness. Text can look a little less defined than it should, especially towards the edges. Moving the Photon Go closer to a wall can exacerbate this issue. Upon setting up the Go, it’s worth playing with the distance to find its sweet spot.

Sound

• 10W speakers
• Lacks bass
• Not the most expansive sound

I wasn’t expecting much from the 10W speakers but the Photon Go puts in a decent shift as long as you’re not expecting fireworks like November 5^th. You’ve got various modes to plump for in Standard, Movie, Music, and Sport.

It offers decent clarity to dialogue if not the sharpest or most defined performance. There’s enough detail to get a sense of what’s happening in a scene.

There’s a slight tinniness to the commentary during a football match, which makes the voices sound a little hard and dull, but overall it sounded natural enough without ever feeling expansive in size.

Bass is flat, hollow, and lacking much punch or weight. It’s the weakest part of the Photon Go’s audio.

The Bluetooth Speaker Mode turns the projector into a speaker – I initially thought it meant adding an actual Bluetooth speaker but instead the Photon Go connects directly to your phone and transforms into a wireless speaker.

It’s clear enough but also thin, not the most detailed and lacking bass. It’s neutral approach to sound and clarity with vocals means it’s listenable enough but also rather flavourless.

Should you buy it?