Portable projectors nothing new, but as the tech has steadily improved in recent years, they've become great tools for comfy viewing in TV-unfriendly places. Lately, we've seen a push toward smarter, more self-contained designs, including Yaber's portable projector with built-in Google TV and Aurzen's own tri-fold Zip pico projector, both of which try to cut down on the fiddly setup that usually comes with projector ownership.
Aurzen's latest model, the EAZZE D1R air, takes that streaming-first idea further by becoming what the company describes as the world's first truly portable projector with Roku TV baked directly into the hardware. It builds on the brand's recent D1R Cube, which brought Roku to a home-leaning smart projector last year, and reshapes the concept around mobility, outdoor use, and quick setups.
The headline feature is the integrated Roku TV interface, which means you get the familiar tiled home screen and streaming channels without plugging in a stick or juggling separate remotes. It's the same approach Roku has been pushing on smart TVs for over a decade, applied here to a device small enough to carry in a bag.
On the optics side, the D1R air projects a native 1080p image at up to 300 ANSI lumens, with brightness independently verified by SGS – which is going to restrict comfortable viewing to shaded spots or after dark environments. Six picture modes tune the output for different content and ambient light, while ToF autofocus and automatic keystone correction handle alignment within a few seconds of pointing it at a surface. A 180° gimbal lets you aim at walls, ceilings, or whatever flat-ish surface you can find outdoors.
Power is where the D1R air leans hardest into portability. It runs over USB-C with support for 65-W fast-charging power banks, and the input sits on the bottom of the chassis so cables don't drag against the gimbal as you rotate it. Aurzen also sells a Universal Stand with a 25,000-mAh battery built in for longer outdoor sessions. Audio comes from dual 5-W speakers with Dolby Audio support, which is modest on paper but reasonable for a device this size.
The EAZZE D1R air is launching exclusively on Amazon US from May 27, with a list price of US$239.99 and an introductory offer of $149.99. That slots it well below most smart projectors with comparable brightness, and roughly in line with where the D1R Cube landed at launch, but with a more travel-friendly body and the addition of true battery-bank operation.
Aurzen has been on a bit of a tear in this space, having picked up an iF Design Award, Red Dot, G-Mark, and IDEA Award for previous products including the tri-fold Zip. The D1R air doesn't exactly reinvent the smart projector, but by bundling a recognizable streaming platform, a sensible power setup, and a flexible gimbal into a sub-$250 package, it does feel like a tidy answer to the question of why portable projectors still tend to be more complicated than they need to be.
If the projector's portability, ease of use and streaming chops are as good in practice as the company claims, the D1R air could nudge the portable projector category a little closer to behaving like the TV most people already know how to operate.
Source: Aurzen
