XGIMI projectors have been on my mind recently. No sooner had I finished the review of the XGIMI H2, than the XGIMI Play portable pico projector arrived for me to take a look at.

The box I received was the XGIMI Play, not the MoGo or MoGo Pro, which I was expecting due to the current Indiegogo campaign. This could be a branding issue that will be fixed in the final packaging -- but I am not so sure. The lens positioning on the device I received looks different to the Play models, and strongly aligned with the promised MoGo products.

The user guide instructions for the Play are all in Chinese: The user guide on the XGIMI H2 was in English, but very basic, and of little use, so I worked out what to do using the Bing Translate app on my phone. 

Apparently, the final shipped units will have English language packaging. Also, due to the packaging, a local UK power-supply would not fit in the box, so I needed a power cable adapter.

The remote control has no batteries included due to shipping restrictions, apparently. There is no instruction manual in the box either.

The XGIMi Play is a small, compact portable projector about the size of a large takeaway coffee cup. Its dimensions are 14.6 x 10.5 x 9.5cm and it weighs 876g (1.93 pounds).

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Ports at the rear of the speaker include a USB 2.0, HDMI, and 3.5mm headphone jack. Charge the device for a while on full power and use the device on Wi-Fi and without trailing cables.

The Play is a 720p projector -- and after reviewing the XGIMI H2 last week, the difference is huge. At 250 ANSI lumens, the screen is nowhere near as bright, nor as sharp as the H2's 1350-lumen display.

You need a dark room -- and no lights -- to get good screen definition from the projector, if you want a large output image. Apparently, the MoGo will be 540p and the MoGo Pro will be 1080p, according to the current Indiegogo campaign, and will use pixel shift to achieve 1080p resolution.

The Play also does lacks some of the auto-adjust technology such as auto keystone. I could not adjust the keystone at all -- there is no way to do this in settings -- and the zoom functionality does not work.

This meant that I had to move the portable screen closer to the projector screen to prevent image spill-over. However, auto-focus does work relatively well and readjusts the focus each time the projector is moved.

The menu is different too on this model. This is not an XGIMI-specific menu, but rather the standard Google menu. Voice control uses Google Assistant and works well. 

All in all, the Play is a nice little hand-held pico projector that gives a crisp sharp image, if you do not want a huge display. With this specification, I am expecting great results from the MoGo Pro, and I am sure it will be well worth the wait.

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