XGIMI doesn’t carry the same brand recognition as the biggest players within the home entertainment technology category. But since launching in 2013, the Chinese company has steadily built a reputation for designing multifunctional smart home theater projectors for nearly all budgets and applications. We don’t hesitate to say their models are often deserving of serious consideration if budget and installation/placement are strong concerns. XGIMI’s Android-powered projectors often top lists for consumer-grade, everyday projector models primarily because they’re extremely easy to set up; their catalog of projectors automatically focus and calibrate images on start up, and include built-in streaming app services, feature pleasing contemporary industrial design, and built-in wireless audio support. The brand is the epitome of the term, “great bang for the buck.”
But the newest XGIMI projector, the Magic Lamp, is something altogether different, a “lifestyle triple-threat” designed to transform any space into a media room. The circular home theater component is an HD projector and multi-sound speaker disguised in the form of a contemporary ceiling lamp.
It’s an ingenious solution, considering the best place to install a projector is on the ceiling. Doing so not only eliminates concerns about wires or cables, but also people blocking the picture while getting up for a snack or to use the bathroom. That said, ceiling mounting a projector can be a challenge within a normal living room space, requiring careful securing onto the ceiling and also determining how to connect to an output source so your home theater isn’t limited to silent films. Also, a typical ceiling mounted projector can be an eyesore while not in use, thus they’re often hidden away in a dedicated home theater screening room.
By incorporating a DLP projector and Bluetooth enabled-speaker into the form factor of ceiling light, XGIMI has eliminated all of these practical residential user concerns. While not a budget model, the $1,170 price tag does land within the reasonable range for a projector capable of putting out a 100-inch picture.
XGIMI notes the Magic Lamp not only stands out from other short-throw and ultra-short-throw projectors on the market for its decor-friendly design, but also because it features 32° non-destructive axis shifting. In short that means a user can adjust the picture up or down up to a meter. So if you want to watch White Lotus while relaxed and strewn across floor pillows, you can easily move the picture closer down to eye level without distorting the picture in the process.
Harman Kardon is responsible for the sound system with support for Dolby and DTS audio. Now for the bad news: the Magic Lamp is limited to a maximum 1080p resolution and modest 900 ANSI lumens brightness. We would have hoped XGIMI engineered a solution offering 4K resolution and 1200+ ANSI lumens spec. But considering the Magic Lamp is the home theater equivalent of the printer, fax, and copier, you’re basically paying for all-in-one convenience and design capable of blending away.
The XGIMI Magic Lamp is currently scheduled to be available in China in 2023, but disappointingly international availability is TBD.