Samsung’s Freestyle projector doesn’t live up to its $900 price

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The freestyle could have been really special. It was the first portable projector that stood out from all of the other announcements. What was it that didn't like it? The Freestyle was said to be small in form but big on features and convenience.

The device is small enough to fit in a bag for travel or camping. The projector can run off portable battery packs for added flexibility, and it would be easy to set up The Freestyle in the backyard for movie night. Do you want to entertain your kids on vacation? Here you go. You can point the projector at the ceiling. Since it has the same software as the smart TVs, it comes with a lot of entertainment apps.

The image is sharp and unskewed with the help of the features in the Freestyle. There is a powerful built-in speaker, a range of accessories, and an option to receive power from a lightbulb. This device was supposed to be an excellent first-generation device.

That's not what they actually delivered.

The projector that was shipped by the company is often sluggish and dim, and fails to realize its potential. For a company that has been on a run of home theater hits with products like The Frame, this is an uncharacteristic mistake.

It costs $899.99 and is not a cheap one. The projector's challenges can be seen in that awkward price. It's more expensive than many portable Pico projectors from smaller brands, but not as expensive as top-shelf home projectors. If the asking price had been higher, the Freestyle might have gone more ambitious on its specifications. I might have been more tolerant of its lackluster performance if it were cheaper.

The projector's lid came loose in the box and left a gash on the projector's glossy, scratch-prone face. These things happen, not an ideal first impression. The box also contains a projector, lid, remote control, and a wall charging station.

The hardware feels well made and is exactly what you would expect from the company. I think The Freestyle blends into the rooms nicely. It is wrapped in a white Silicone sleeve. The projector is being marketed to Gen Z, and there's a $60 carrying case that doesn't have a place to store the remote or wall plug. If you toss The Freestyle into a bag with other items, it will have some protection from scruffs, and I never saw a reason to remove it.

On the side of the projector, you can find a physical mute switch for the built-in voice mics, or you can use one of the two Amazon voice assistants. The Freestyle has a lot of vent to keep it running and a sockets for compatibility with accessories like a battery base or a lightbulb. The projector does not have a full-size HDMI port, but it does have a range of external devices that can be plugged in. There is enough latency present to make The Freestyle a non-starter for competitive gaming.

There are buttons for power, volume, and other things on the front above the lens. The projection lens has a distance sensor on the left and a remote control sensor on the right. The projector has two large screws at the pivot point. The hardware issue is caused by the design decision, as The Freestyle gradually lowers the picture from where you originally set it.

I'm not sure if it's a case of the projector being too front heavy or the plastic screws being weak to keep it locked at all angles. You can tighten them with a flathead screwdriver or a coin, but it's important to keep in mind that cracked screws can be a problem. This sagging issue is not a frequent hassle, but it is very annoying when it happens and not what I would expect from a $900 projector.

The Freestyle doesn't have a battery, so you have to keep it plugged in at all times. You can power The Freestyle with any portable battery pack that is capable of 50- watt power delivery, as well as a battery accessory that will attach to the projector for easier viewing on the go. If you want to watch a movie while camping or in the backyard, you'll have to come up with an internet solution, but my phone worked well for that. It would be nice if a secondary port was used for local file playing. You can connect a hub to the projector, but it's not a good solution.

The setup can be done with either the SmartThings mobile app or the projector menu. The first time I set up The Freestyle, it took a long time. The remote would often register double presses after a single click, which made entering account credentials more difficult. The software experience was terrible even after I was up and running. I'm talking about seven or eight seconds to pull up the settings menu.

It's not a great match for the Tizen OS, since it doesn't have an underpowered processor. This is the same experience you will find on the company's recent TVs, but the responsiveness on this projector just isn't there. During my time testing The Freestyle, I was able to get a couple software updates from SAMSUNG. The review is being published as of version 1095. When you first power on the projector, the sluggishness is most noticeable. It isn't so bad to navigate around the home screen once it has time to get into the flow of things. Everything is fine when you are in third-party apps.

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it. It is impossible for us to read and analyze all of these agreements. We started counting how many times you have to agree to use devices when we review them.

You must agree to use the projector.

• Samsung’s terms and conditions
• Samsung’s Privacy Policy

You can opt into viewing information services and interest-based advertisements.

There are two mandatory agreements and two opt-in agreements.

Outside of the performance issues, I don't mind The Freestyle's software. If you don't enable the autorun last app option in settings, you'll end up being thrown into the free TV service by the time you're done. It can feel a little weird when it pops up, but I appreciate having free entertainment out of the box.

The projected image can vary from 30 inches diagonal to 100 inches from the wall or projection surface. The projector outputs a good resolution with good contrast and color reproduction, though the outer edges can sometimes appear soft.

brightness is not this thing's strength.

The freestyle is advertised as being able to hit 550 lumens. The norm when comparing projectors is the ANSI lumens measurement. Rob Tait measured The Freestyle's output at a maximum of 240 ANSI lumens, which makes it practically useless inside during the day. The whole point of buying a projector is to go bigger, even if it looks fine at the smallest size. The image becomes very faint as soon as you do.

The situation gets better as you get into the afternoon and early evening. The projector works best in a dark room or after sunset. It's a shame that the brightness output is not as good as a decent 4K TV.

I was satisfied with the picture quality when I was using The Freestyle. I watched several episodes of The Dropout, a lot of Sling TV, and a lot of random selections. It was an enjoyable viewing experience, even without 4K or intense HDR. It's a nice convenience to have the same app selection as the smart TVs you own, but it's not possible on many portable Android TV-based projectors. The projector's built-in speaker does an admirable job of being a single 5- watt driver and avoids sounding shrill, though I often had to crank the volume high into the 70s and 80s to get the most from it.

The features of the freestyle didn't impress me. The mark on walls and surfaces should be easy to handle, but auto keystone was often way off the mark. The best sharpness required manual adjustment to nail and it was always close but not quite right. Thankfully it's fairly easy to use the manual options, but they're buried in the menus, and I wish they had a shortcut to them.

Aside from its everyday projector duties, I want to highlight a few novel ways I used The Freestyle that appealed to me.

I used it as a secondary monitor. The built-in support for AirPlay 2 makes it easier to play content from an Apple device and act as a display for Macs. Having the flexibility to project a 30-inch image onto the wall next to my laptop was nice. If you're working from a hotel room with The Freestyle nearby, it's a handy trick to opt for a 4K. You can use the Micro HDMI port to plug in PCs or Macs.

I pointed it at the ceiling when I was sick. I lived in New York City for the entire time I was evading COVID-19, but finally it came for me last week. It was a neat trick to be able to point The Freestyle at my bedroom ceiling when I had trouble sleeping because of a sore throat. You can reorient many other projectors to achieve the same result if you watch videos on the ceiling.

I use better speakers when watching outdoors. If you don't like the sound of the built-in audio, you can pair a pair of headphones with The Freestyle. When I connected it to my backyard and watched a movie on the side of the building, I linked it to the Sonos Move for a better movie night sound. It is not unique to the projector, but it makes for impressive utility.

I am not sure why you would want to turn the lid into a smart bulb or accent lighting. You can project a scenic window view or crackling fire onto a wall, as well as other ambient screens and videos, for specific occasions like a birthday or New Year's Eve. You cannot add someone's name to the banner, for example. They all feel like random toss-ins that allow The Freestyle to have a place at depressing office parties or similar gatherings.

I wanted to use this projector. A lot of the ideas behind The Freestyle are exciting, and it is not often that a company dives into a new product category. This device was packed with a lot of entertainment. It made some questionable decisions along the way, like saddling The Freestyle with an underpowered processor that getsbogged down with juggling software, and settling for mediocre brightness. The lack of an internal battery and the cradle that droops from time to time are other things.

I could live with some of the flaws if the product cost $400 or less. Some people might be able to overlook them and still be satisfied with what's on offer. It's too much for me to recommend anyone to pay that much for a first-generation product, even if part of me is.

Chris Welch is a photographer.