Portable projectors are great, allowing you to turn any flat surface into a functional TV. However, they’ve always been a secondary viewing option for those times when there isn’t a TV, monitor, or a better projector in the room. As such, they need to be easy to move and quick to set up, as you’ll likely be using them in a whim when you want to enjoy some big screen viewing without an actual big screen. The Samsung Freestyle Gen 2 is built exactly for that.
The second generation of Samsung’s portable projector, it reprises the same convenient design as its predecessor, which puts the projector on a cradle that can rotate 180 degrees vertically, allowing you to direct the projector up the ceiling if you want to watch a movie while lying flat in bed. For this iteration, though, the projector is preloaded with the outfit’s own Gaming Hub platform, an all-in-one interface for using various game streaming services, including Xbox Game Pass, NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Amazon Luna, and Utomik. That’s right, you can now use it to play full-fledged games without a PC, a console, or even a TV.
The Samsung Freestyle Gen 2 can beam 1080p images that range in size from 30 to 100 inches, allowing you to keep things modest with a smaller screen or go big with a massive picture. Do note, going up to 100 inches requires you to place the projector around 100 feet away from the wall, so you’ll want to be in a decent-sized room to enjoy those 100 inches in full glory.
The integrated stand lets you simply set it down on any surface, while an integrated cradle lets you tilt the projector 180 degrees for easily adjusting the beam angle. That means, you can set it down the floor and beam it up to the wall by simply tilting it at the correct position.
The Samsung Freestyle Gen 2 has a peak brightness of 230 ANSI lumens, so this will work best in a dark setting, with a LED light source that’s rated for a 30,000-hour lifespan. It has auto-leveling that keeps the screen horizontal even when the projector is set down on an uneven surface, automatic keystone correction that fixes the image to project at a universal 16:9 ratio, and autofocus to ensure a clear picture at all times. Other details include HDR10+ support, a 100,000:1 contrast ratio with a contrast enhancer feature, and an integrated 5W speaker that delivers 360-degree sound, so you should get decent audio along with your pictures.
It has Alexa built in, so you can use Amazon’s voice assistant to issue voice commands, complete with far-field mics, so it can pick up your voice clearly, even in noisier rooms. Aside from Samsung’s Gaming Hub software, which lets you stream games at 60Hz, it comes with the usual roster of streaming apps, a built-in browser, TV Plus, and a variety of smart features. Like the first-gen model, it has no built-in battery, so you’ll need to plug it to power outlets or portable batteries with a 60W/20V output.
The Samsung Freestyle Gen 2 is available now.
- POINT & PLAY: Pick a spot, place it, tilt it and watch content come to life with the smart theater...
