At one of the evening press events, we came across a company called Anker which was debuting a new short throw projector under the brand Nebula. The round design is quite stylish and comes with a cylindrical speaker. Anker is known more as a supplier of power charging-related products (I have a good USB hub from the firm – Man. Ed.) and this appears to be their first projector product.
This appears to be another me-too product in the emerging laser TV segment. It features a 0.65” 1080p DLP engine with a laser phosphor light source producing 3000 lumens. The minimum distance of the projector from the screen is 11 inches (28 cms) – a bit longer than some other products but still acceptable to create a 100” image. What is impressive is the image quality and price: $3,000.
According to Anker, the Nebula includes 802.11 ac Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth, though it isn’t a “smart TV” with built-in services like Netflix. It will support AirPlay or Chromecast, however. The base unit also includes a pair of 20-watt speakers, plus a standalone subwoofer that puts out 50 watts of power. The company is looking at Alexa integration for next year as well.
The ambient light rejecting screen will cost another $500, but this is, again, much lower than some other similar products.
Nebula also plans a value-based portable projector with 1280 x 800 resolution but with only 700 lumens and a pair of 5W speakers and a 21,000 mAh battery for $599. They think this will also work with their 100” screen, but it will be too dim for most applications.
The company is based in Seattle where the projector design and assembly is done, although most components are sourced in Asia. On the plan for next year is a 4K version.
Representatives claimed that Anker is the #1 third party independent selling brand on Amazon (not sure exactly what that means), so they plan to use this channel for distribution of the projector. That certainly sounds like they have the ability to sell a lot of units at a fairly attractive price point. – CC
