China's Wejoy has returned to Kickstarter with a Full HD projector called the V1 Pro. As well as sporting similar touch interaction to 2022's Y2 model, the new outdoor-friendly unit boasts sealed optics for long-term picture clarity.
Wejoy lists the benefits of a sealed optical design as "low power consumption, better heat dissipation, longer bulb life (dust is difficult to enter the machine and the bulb is less likely to turn yellow), and higher brightness uniformity (the light source is more concentrated)."
Though the projection module throws visuals at native 1080p resolution, the company has cooked in 4K UHD decoding for "a movie theater level experience at home." And the LED light source is reckoned good for up to 50,000 hours of use.
Auto keystone correction and picture resizing to avoid obstacles help to make setup much less stressful. There's autofocus too, to keep things sharp, and onboard sensors for detecting projection screens and automatically resizing the thrown image to fit. The V1 Pro can also track a stylus to move presentations along or draw on the wall without leaving a mark, with the promise of millisecond response.
The curvy box runs Android 11 but lacks cooked-in Wi-Fi, so if you want to stream entertainment you'll need to plug something like a Fire TV or Roku stick into the HDMI port and power it using the adjacent USB Type-A port. It also sports USB-C and DC power, plus Bluetooth 5.0, and rocks integrated Dolby speakers.
The projector measures 9.5 x 13.5 x 17 cm (3.7 x 5.3 x 6.7 in), tips the scales at just over a kilo (2.425 lb), and comes with a built-in battery for outdoor movie night potential, or carry-along entertainment at camp.
As mentioned earlier, the V1 Pro is currently raising production funds on Kickstarter, where pledges start at around US$169 (or HK$ 1,322 to be precise) as of writing. If all goes to plan with the already funded campaign, shipping is estimated to start from April. The usual crowdfunding cautions apply.
Source: Wejoy
