Anker Nebula Solar Portable
The Nebula Solar Portable is part of Anker Innovation’s ‘Go Anywhere’ range, which means no wires required. Fitted with a rechargeable battery, it can produce a Full HD HDR picture at up to 120in for three hours before you need to plug it into the mains. That’s enough for most films, except Gone With The Wind.
The Nebula Solar Portable is not to be confused with the mains-only Nebula Solar, which is almost £200 cheaper. Specification-wise, the two projectors are identical, which raises the question of whether you need that functionality.
At 6cm tall and 19cm wide, the Nebula Solar Portable offers Full HD resolution with HDR, although its LED light output is just 400 Ansi-lumens and its small case leaves room for only a 2x 3W set-up.
At the core of the Solar Portable DLP projector is a single 0.23in DMD (digital micromirror device) with native 1920 x 1080 resolution. The LED has a claimed lifespan of more than 30,000 hours, the fixed lens has a throw ratio of 1.2:1; all standard stuff for this size and price.
On the top, there are physical controls for power, volume and Bluetoothspeaker mode, but we mostly use the standard Nebula voice remote. On the rear edge are the three inputs: an HDMI 2.0 (with ARC), that can accept anything up to 4K content; a USB-A for flash drives; and a USB-C for power. There is no 3.5mm audio out, so no wired headphones use, though you can attach a wireless speaker through Bluetooth, or a soundbar via the HDMI socket.
The Anker Nebula range tries to make up for the fact that it doesn’t have access to a Netflix app, nor many of the UK catch-up services, on its Android TV OS. Here, you’ll find the Netflix mobile service within Anker’s Nebula Connect app, along with some handy software for screen mirroring from IOS devices.
The app isn’t great though and we find we’re better off using Android TV’S built-in Chromecast functionality with the main Netflix app instead.
Not as blindingly bright
Once set-up, which is easy thanks to the autofocus and auto-keystone system that kicks in when the projector is switched on, the Nebula Solar Portable is a step down in brightness from the Epson EF-12 and Xgimi Halo. It’s still a watchable picture with the lights dimmed, but while it might not be as blinding as the Halo, the Solar’s tonal balance is better than the more expensive Xgimi machine.
Spider-man: Homecoming on 4K Blu-ray is a steady and enjoyable watch. The colours of Peter’s yellow school blazer on top of his blue and red suit look great – vibrant but rooted in reality.
As with most portable projectors, there’s no adjustable motion processing to try out. Fortunately, there’s little blur and not much judder even as we watch the fast action scenes of Peter riding the tops of trucks and buses as he web-slings his way to the Washington Monument. Heading down to Full HD, we watch the scenes in the first JJ Abrahams Star Trek film where a young James Kirk goes joyriding in his stepfather’s car. There’s a struggle to keep the cloud details from blowing out while maintaining enough brightness to the picture, but it's an easy compromise to live with. It’s not as grounded for black depth as some other Led-based portable projectors, but the scenes in space never feel washed out.
The Nebula Solar Portable’s sound system is something of a flyweight, even in the portable projector world. It’s too quiet and you need to push the volume right up so it's loud enough to entertain a small crowd. Doing that also brings the compromise of a touch of distortion. That said, the sound is generally well handled and entertaining enough at this price. While predominantly rear-firing, the spread is decent all around and anyone sitting nearby won’t struggle to hear dialogue, music and effects.
The Solar Portable doesn’t quite have the dynamics to pull off genuine vocal texture, but there’s some dimension and clarity to the presentation. Larger action sequences work pretty well too. There’s a sense of fun as the young Kirk speeds down the highway to the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage. The speakers’ precision and agility keep a compelling rhythm and are enough to stop the chaotic track from descending into a blur.
Unfortunately, there isn’t enough muscle to deliver real scale. The small speakers within this thin box don’t deliver much bass. Combined with the fairly average dynamic abilities, it means there’s never quite the impact we want.
The Solar Portable has a fine picture for the money and is simple to operate and set up. If your budget can stretch further, we’d recommend something like the Epson EF-12, but at this price point, it’s a good option.