Dangbei Freedo

Introduction

A good projector is like a fine wine, something objectively pleasant, but often only found, or best enjoyed, in a specific setting. For a wine, that might be a nice bar, or a cellar, for a projector, that will be as part of a media set-up in a dedicated room.

This maxim is one which has held true for a long time, if you wanted a decent projector, you would need to shell out for something big, and static, meant to be put in one place and left there, never to be moved.

Now, things have begun to change with the advent of ‘smart’ projectors. People want to take their projectors out and about with them, and a host of companies have arrived to meet the challenge, not least Dangbei.

The Freedo is its latest model, echoing the design of the Samsung Freestyle, but with a little more flair. Coming in a dedicated pouch and a fetching grey colourway, it’s intended as something which can bring a little life to an impromptu party, as well as live normally as part of a media setup, a difficult middle ground to strike.

As ever, the market has not sat still however, with Samsung and more looking to claim the position of best portable budget projector, does the Freedo do enough to beat the competition and stand out?

Design

• Portable design
• Comes in one colourway
• 200 degrees of movement possible

When the Samsung Freestyle was first released several years ago, it turned heads. Here was a projector with a built-in stand, offering the utmost in portability and convenience, but at a price which was a little too much for most to stomach.

With the Freedo, Dangbei has learned these lessons, producing something distinctive and compelling but without anything near the same cost.

While the base doesn’t swivel, the hinge allows the projection surface to be, well, anything really. Sporting around 200 degrees of movement, you can easily project onto the ceiling or nearly anything else available should you wish. With automatic keystoning, the projector easily adapts to whatever use you deem best.

As might be expected, the unit comes in a sober gunmetal grey. Construction on the base is from metal, while the projector itself is made from a solid feeling plastic. On the side can be found the main ports, a slot allowing for an HDMI connection, and a USB port for adding a flash drive, both under a rubber flap.

The power connection is by USB-C and can be found under the right hinge, a little odd placement-wise, while the power button sits on the right side of the frame.

On the rear is the main speaker, which at 6W is a little better than many other Bluetooth options available on the market, and can be used for that purpose should you wish.

At 1.4kg, the unit isn’t the lightest by any means, however it is nonetheless very portable, especially given that it is around the size of a large thermos. With the included pouch, it is very easy to sling into a bag and take wherever it might be needed.

Lastly, there’s an included battery, which promises up to 2.5 hours of projection on a full charge.

Features

• Comes with Google TV as standard
• Charges over USB-C
• Up to 2.5 hours of battery life

As might be expected for a release in 2025, the Dangbei Freedo is not exactly short of features to distinguish itself from the competition.

To begin, it has Google TV, which expands its utility dramatically compared to a more traditional setup. Whereas normally you might need the likes of a Roku or Fire TV stick to stream video content, with the Freedo it’s all built in.

Due to some licensing issues, there’s no BBC or Channel 4 (however those services can be cast from a smartphone), however nearly anything else you can think of will be present, including Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus. There’s an app store too, so it is easy enough to add new services as and when you wish.

The interface itself is a little cluttered and complicated to navigate, finding the content you want can take a while. That’s a consequence of so many different services trying to sell themselves at the same time, and it is a sin that other platforms are guilty of, where user convenience takes a back space to corporate need.

Nonetheless, on the whole it’s a value add.

Beyond Google TV, the main draw to the Freedo is its portability. You can take it anywhere, point it at nearly anything and have a decent movie experience, or at least that’s the sell.

The integrated battery promises up to 2.5 hours of runtime, enough to make it through most standard movies if not an epic like any of the Lord of the Rings series. However there’s a caveat there.

As with most projectors there’s various brightness settings. If you should use the battery mode, you’ll be defaulted to the ‘Eco’ brightness level. And if you are in a pitch black room, that won’t be an issue, however in anything approaching normal lighting you may have a hard time seeing.

Switching the picture mode to ‘Default’ or ‘High Performance’ has a measured impact on how long that battery will last, but may potentially be something of a must depending on your environment as they boost brightness significantly. So yes, it is portable and it is useful to be able to run off of battery power, however sacrifices have been made to achieve that.

Thankfully, topping up via USB-C is fast and easy, so you’ll be able to keep watching if you have a portable battery pack with a decent output wattage.

Lastly, handily, it comes with a USB-A port and an HDMI connector, so it can just as easily be used as an output device for the likes of a Roku TV device, or so you can play locally stored media from a USB drive.

Performance

• 1080p resolution
• Up to 500 lumens of brightness
• Good contrast levels in the right lighting

Some trade-offs are inevitable, impossible to avoid, and within the context of projectors that is size. Simply put, if a projector is to be powerful and bright, generally it cannot also be small, and it definitely cannot also be portable.

The Freedo is both light and portable, and so therefore presents something of an issue when considered from the context of power, which is to say, it isn’t bright or powerful.

If you are planning to project in a sunny or well-lit environment, then you won’t have the best experience, with a washed out picture which is hard to see. But that’s a given when the maximum brightness possible is just shy of 500 lumens.

That would be an issue with a fixed installation, meant for one use case. If you need a projector to be the focal point of your home set up, this isn’t it, however that’s besides the point. Having an issue with brightness? You can change rooms, take it outside, really anywhere you can think of. You could even project on the ceiling should the mood take you.

The picture itself, in the right environment, is bright and colourful and shines at around 80 inches max, after which the 1080p resolution begins to look a little stretched.

What is an issue is the power profiles that the Freedo defaults to. The quoted maximum of three hours of battery life is with the ‘Eco’ profile, which dims brightness considerably, which in turn affects colour performance and more. You’ll be able to watch your movies for longer, but it won’t be as enjoyable an experience.

That can be solved, as before, with an external power pack which has a high wattage output, however that might not be feasible in every situation and somewhat defeats the point of being ‘portable’.

Regardless, in the right conditions the Freedo really shines, whether that’s outdoors at a party, at an AirBnB, in a hotel or otherwise – any time you want to take the picture with you.

It fulfils the brief of being a projector you can pick up and take anywhere, but there’s a heavy caveat, though it can survive away from the plug it can’t do so for long, and in anything other than quite dark conditions it doesn’t look its best.

As such it suffers the curse of every portable projector, but there’s a further catch, the price. At £449 it is cheaper than much of the higher end competition, and offers superior brightness to some, especially other Chinese brands.

Should you buy it?

FAQs