Fun for Kids and Adults: The Heyup Boxe Lite Smart Projector

What’s the big difference between a TV and a front projector, other than price? The projector can have the size of its picture vary because it can change its distance to the screen or wall, while the TV’s size is locked. Plus a projector, if it’s portable enough, can be moved around to where it can be put to best use. Of course you’d need a really portable and efficient front projector to make all that happen. One that would be great for kids but also good for parents/adults. So the Heyup Boxe Lite Smart Projector seems to have all of that in its name. Let’s grab it!

A lot of times when a device is deemed “kid friendly” it means that the electronics have been dumbed down. Not the case here. Sure the bright orange color is appealing to children, and for sure it’s lightweight enough (3 lbs.) for a kid to carry around. But that doesn’t mean that the quality of the picture, or the components that provide that quality are sub-par.

So let’s start with the picture itself: video is projected by an LCD panel at 1080p — which is to say it’s high-definition and certainly able to show fine detail. Yes that makes for better colors and shading in movies but cartoons too. The fact is that you’re starting off with quality.

Next is the size of said quality — projected on a wall or screen will influence how good the picture looks so keep in mind that the bigger the picture, the less quality results. Here you can go from 50” (diagonal) to over 100” which is quite a range. Obviously you need to take ambient light into account, so if in a bedroom that nightlight will do fine but having a bright lamp on is less ideal. Certainly you can view during the day but again the ambient light will have an effect.

Tech info here is that the light being projected is 150 ANSI Lumens, which is not dim by a means, and having a 75% NTSC color gamut is more than “just good.” Of course the lens needs to be quality also and here it is — not plastic and designed to a high precision optical standard. There’s also a fairly quiet fan to keep things working cool.

So you’re going to set up this little guy, which means finding a surface to put it on (like a table) that is stable and not wobbly, ‘cuz a kid reaching for the Boxe Lite just might happen prior to the movie starting. Because kids tend to be impatient (us too), setting it up beforehand makes sense, especially as that lets you use the built-in digital keystone correction. What this enables is to straighten and square the image so that it appears on the wall (whatever) like a rectangle and now with one end skewed around or the top not even with the bottom.

Having this ability makes for a much easier time of set-up, especially since the Boxe Lite isn’t going to always be in one place. Oh - don’t worry because getting to the menu setting for keystoning is pretty easy. But again that’s why, at least for the first time or two, it makes sense to set up before the audience arrives. There’s a remote so no arguments about having to find “tiny buttons” on the projector (the IR is located on the projector’s back for easy activating of functions).

Now you got the Boxe Lite ready to go, except now you need something to watch. There’s a few ways to go about this. One way is to use the built in Android interface that lets you access apps, sort of like that smart TV does. Which means that the Boxe Lite must have built in WiFi so you have to first set it up with your home network (again doing all of this earlier). There’s also Bluetooth built-in and a speaker.

Another way to get that content is to use the HDMI input or attach a flash drive to the USB port and go with that. But an even easier way is to use a smartphone’s content — streaming it to the NAME (iOS/Android). This works with AirPlay, ScreenMirror, DLNA and MirrorCast. The Boxe Lite is also compatible with the accepted standard formats for audio (MP3, AAC, etc.), video (MP4, etc.), text (TXT) and Images (JPG, PNG, BMP).

Oh — the focus wheel is knurled and on the top for easy access; it’s a bit small if you’ve big fingers so take it easy having it turn for focusing.

The backyard works well too — as long as you have a long extension cord because this projector is powered by AC. But if you put up a sheet, try and find a way to keep the wind from blowing it around ‘cuz that makes for lousy viewing (putting the sheet against a wall works, yeah).

The Heyup Boxe Lite Smart Projector comes in white as well as the much more fun orange. Also a stand accessory can be had for making it more stable wherever it might be placed. Further details can be had athttps://store.heyupnow.com/products/boxe-lite?variant=42861999259827#