The CC Aurora is actually pretty fun, as far as projectors go

I don’t review projectors. Projectors are boring. Even the good ones. They remind me of vacation slideshows and the film strips we had to watch in health class — neither of which I’m in a particular hurry to revisit in my adult life.

That said, I’ve always harbored some germ of a notion that some day I might buy one, to compensate for being one of those weirdos without a TV set. There’s something undeniably appealing about a big screen TV you can break out during movie night and then stash back into the closest of your one-bedroom New York City apartment.

XGIMI’s CC Aurora is the closest I’ve seen to fitting the bill — or, for that matter, being a projector that I could actually muster any reasonable amount of excitement about. From the looks of it, it’s kind of the perfect package for the apartment dweller: it’s compact, self-contained with a built-in speaker system and plays nicely with mobile devices.

Clearly I’m not alone here, either. The product scored $170,000 on Indiegogo — around three times its goal. The product’s clearly struck some kind of a chord with people.

I’ll say right off the bat that the CC Aurora is pretty nice looking, as far as projectors go. It ships in a lovely, fabric-covered carrying case that blends in nicely with Google’s line of home products. The projector itself is roughly the same dimensions as a tissue box, with a large leather strap on top for easy transport.

Up front is a speaker grill and a small panel the user slides down to expose the projector. Doing so also fires up the system, with the light switching on and fans whirring, in about six seconds. Up top are rubberized buttons for play/pause and volume, and four lights let you know what level of charge is left.

Holding down play/pause will also let you pair the system to an external Bluetooth speaker. I’d recommend that for any situation larger than a small room — in which case the on-board speakers are perfectly acceptable.

Around back is the charging port and headphone jack (if you want to get really intimate with a giant projector), HDMI out and a pair of USB inputs, if you’d like to hook it up directly to an external hard drive or thumb drive.

There are a bunch of different ways to play through the system. The simplest is probably downloading the iOS/Android app, which also doubles as controller. There’s actually a pretty nice controller included in the package, but really, why use it when you’ve got your phone.

Once the fairly painless setup process is done, you’ll see a menu on the screen, containing a handful of apps, including YouTube and an Office reader, which I suppose is handy if you need a projector for work-related purposes. There’s also a basic browser on there — that, like most of the apps, is a real pain to access with the remote. Entering addresses requires choosing one letter at a time from the menu.

You also can add services like Netflix, Facebook and the BBC through the mobile app. I’ll be honest, though, I spent most of my time with the projector streaming stuff using AirPlay on my desktop. You’ll essentially input the projector as an extended display — again, a fairly painless process, though you may have to futz with the resolution a bit to get things right.

On the whole, the setup works pretty smoothly. I did run into a few connection issues with the mobile device and system, and streaming from the desktop proved a bit spotty in places. At points, there was a lag between audio and video and the picture often looked a bit choppy. I’d recommend either going full mobile, or, if you’ve got a long enough cable, hardwire the thing. Also, there’s a tripod mount on the bottom — that’s definitely your friend. I had issues getting the projector straight and finding the right angle until I mounted it on the included tripod.

There are still some bugs to work out — no surprise, really, for a first-generation product. The product’s MSRP will be around $600 — a bit of a tall order if you don’t feel like you absolutely need a projector in your life (a statement I assume applies to most humans). It’s a compelling product, but I’d suggest waiting for the inevitable price drop.

And hey, you might be able to get one just in time for the summer, when you can take it up on the roof top or into your backyard to really put it through its paces.

Comments

What is your preferred smartphone screen size

Screen envy. We all have it. Or do we? See, that’s the thing, I’m just not so sure. One thing I am sure about is that our phone screens have gotten progressively bigger and bigger over the last few years. The funny thing is, we as a society have taken that ball and run with it, like we just don’t care. But I always thought we did care? Some time ago, when phones were in the sub-5” range, we used to have a term called “phablet” which described an almost absurdly big phone. The definition varied from person to person. I always considered a phone with a screen 5.5” or bigger to be a phablet. The Galaxy Note fell into that category. The Lumia 1520 certainly did. There are others as well. I was safely ensconced in the 4.5” area at the time with my Lumia 920. What did I know? Leon’s getting laaaaaaaarrrger But slowly, phones started topping the 5” mark. I’m not talking about phablets here, I’m talking about normal flagship phones – the Galaxy S4 (barely) and the HTC One (M7) are ...

Airbnb will open its Cuba listings to users outside the United States

Airbnb will now let travelers from outside the U.S. to book properties in Cuba after receiving authorization from the U.S. government, reports the Associated Press . Previously, only Americans were allowed to reserve the site’s Cuban listings . They will open to international users on April 2. Airbnb launched its Cuban operations in April 2014 , four months after the Obama administration revealed that it will begin to restore diplomatic relations with the Communist country . The historic policy change means that travel and trade sanctions will be lifted , which is expected to boost tourism to Cuba dramatically because Americans no longer need licenses to visit. In fact, President Obama is currently on an official visit to Cuba , the first president since Calvin Coolidge to do so. According to the AP, Cuba is currently Airbnb’s fastest-growing market, with about 4,000 homes added since it opened listings. Other travel businesses...

Peel Turns Your Apple Watch Into A Universal Remote Control

Does it make sense to use your Apple Watch as a remote control for your media devices? Smart remote maker Peel thinks so, having just launched a universal remote control application for the Apple Watch which lets you operate over 400,000 models of home electronics, including not only televisions, but also DVD players, and even audio and streaming devices, like the Roku. The Apple Watch app is actually an extension of the company’s existing smart remote app for iPhone . And while in a few cases the new Watch app will allow you to control your devices via Wi-Fi, for the most part, it will require the Pronto hardware just like the iPhone version does. The Pronto 360-degree IR blaster is what turns the iPhone, and now the Apple Watch, into a smart universal remote control. A $49.99 piece of hardware about the size of a salt shaker, Pronto sits in your entertainment center to provide the IR capabilities required to operate your TV and other electroni...

Facebook Now Supports PGP To Send You Encrypted Emails

You can now instruct Facebook to encrypt every email it sends to you so nobody — not even the NSA — is likely to be able to read your messages anytime soon. All you have to do is import your public PGP key into your Facebook settings and you’re good to go. The problem here, of course, is that most people have no idea how public/private key email encryption works and how to even get started with it. In the wake of Edward Snowden’s leaks, a number of organizations, including Google, promised to completely hide the complexities of end-to-end email encryption from regular users. Very few of these products have materialized so far, however — not for lack of trying, but because this is actually a very complex problem, both from a technical and user experience perspective. Facebook uses the well-established PGP scheme (the GNU Privacy Guard implementation of OpenPGP, to be precise) to encrypt messages and tools lik...

eGym raises $45M Series C for cloud-connected gym equipment and fitness software

eGym , the Munich-based startup that offers cloud-connected gym equipment and supporting cloud software and app for the fitness training floor, has closed $45 million in Series C funding. The round was led by new investor HPE Growth Capital, while existing investors, including Highland Europe, also participated. The problem that eGym is looking to solve is that, whilst gyms have moved from a bodybuilder market to a mass market in the last 20 years, the technology in gyms lags behind. That’s despite the fact that better use of technology can help to reduce customer churn, the biggest pain-point of both gym operator and gym users. Comprising of an app for both gym user and trainer, combined with the company’s connected strength machines, the eGym Cloud makes it possible for gym members to receive better fitness instruction and an evolving and personalised fitness plan based on data collected as they workout. And by providing a better workout feedback loop, gym goers can get an i...

Exciting Technology

Search This Blog