Dangbei recently contacted me to let me know that they have a new projector on the market, the Atom, which on paper looks interesting, but the 1080p output initially put me off in a 4K world. Heck, even a smartphone has a higher resolution, but I couldn’t be more wrong with that line of thinking.

The Atom, once I got my hands on one, with 1200 lumens supporting Dolby HDR10 and HLG, in addition to being a laser projector offers very good results, which only get better as the lights dim. This is not a sponsored review, Dengbei kindly sent this to me to review and write about my honest experience with the projector as I used it in my daily media consumption.

The best thing about it for me is that it runs Google TV with a bunch of smart connectivity and apps already installed like YouTube, Prime Video and Netflix, with the ability to install other apps you know through the Google Play Store Android integration and the ability to sideload apps. The convenient feature of Google TV is that your watch list is linked to Google search results. For example, if I search for a movie or TV show on Google on my PC, click the “Want to Watch” button:

It will then appear in the watch list area of ​​the Google TV home screen in Atom, nice!

The other advantage of Google TV over Android TV is that apps like Netflix are officially licensed and neatly integrated with no performance issues that I could detect.

The Atom is available from Amazon UK/EU for £799 and $899 from Amazon US, though it doesn’t come with a carrying case which I’d expect in a box at this price given the projector’s Nintendo Wii-like portability. The carrying case must be bought separately, which you don’t seem to be able to buy from Amazon UK, only on Amazon US for $50. There is a $150 discount for a limited time for those who buy directly from Dangbei’s website, details available Here.

Anyway, for the review.

specifications

display
display technology	DLP
Display chip	0.33 inch DMD
Lifespan of a light source	30,000 hours
Brightness (ISO Lumens)	1200
solving the problem	1920×1080
Display formats	SDR, HDR10*, HLG
Properties	3D viewing, eye protection
projection
throw ratio	1.2:1
Image size	40″~180″ (recommended 60″~100″)
Auto focus	Yes, dToF+ camera autofocus
Automatic adjustment of keystone	Yes, ±30°
intelligent features	Adaptation to the screen + avoiding obstacles
projection method	Automatic, front, rear, front ceiling, rear ceiling, wall fixture
projection offset	100%
close up	100% – 50%
Audio
speakers	2 x 5W
Properties	Dolby Digital, Dolby DIgital Plus
editorial board
RAM	2GB DDR3
storage	32GB eMMC5.1
Operating System	Google TV
Connectivity
input	USB2.0, HDMI IN (ARC), DC-IN,
Productivity	3.5mm audio,
Wi-Fi	Dual band 2.4/5GHz, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
Glands	Bluetooth 5.1/BLE
Other
electricity use	80W
dimensions	7.68 x 7.68 x 1.87 inches
Weight	3.6 kg
price	£799 (Amazon UK) / $899 (Amazon USA)

construction

The atom is made entirely of a metal alloy. It feels solid and has some heft to it, and it’s not too far off the size of a Nintendo Wii for comparison that most will be able to gauge.

There are bars on each side but the speakers themselves are only on the left side. There is a virtual surround option that can be turned on in settings as it is off by default.

There seems to be a single fan that runs all the time, by default the laser lamp is not at its brightest, and only manually setting the brightness can reach this state. It’s not much brighter than Auto, but it might make a small difference in a room that’s too bright to effectively control ambient lighting.

The back of the unit contains very few connections, the HDMI ARC output is the only real thing of significance, the 3.5mm output can be used as an output to a home theater or other audio setup, though bear in mind that this is stereo only.

The bottom of the unit has a large anti-slip circle and tripod mount along with some extra ventilation.

The array

I didn’t find any problem setting up the Atom, there’s really nothing physical to adjust on this projector, no dials or buttons to change like on a traditional unit, just a standard tripod mount if you want to fix it to the ceiling or something with three legs (I used a desktop tripod for some of my testing) and that About everything.

The remote is very high quality, feels much nicer with its alloy back cover and solid build quality with premium rubber buttons instead of the cheap sticky rubber often found on other remotes. It takes 2x AAA batteries and connects to the Atom via Bluetooth LE, so no need to aim it at the Atom, or do what I did using muscle memory, aim it at the wall every time I went to do something 😅.

The microphone button works exactly as expected, with voice input being recorded on the remote and sent via Bluetooth to the Atom. The delay from appearing on the screen of saying something to him was pretty much instantaneous, if you’ve used voice search on a modern phone the experience is the same here.

On first boot it’s a simple case of logging into your Google account and then logging into the other apps like Netflix/Prime and so on. If more apps are wanted, a quick search from the home screen will bring up the results via the Play Store. I installed Solid Explorer because that’s what I use on my phones and tablets to view shared content on my home network.

General navigation and configuration is also a breeze, the interface and speed feel essentially the same as a modern smart TV. If the projector is ever moved, the auto image calibration and keystone/auto adjustment features re-move the image and focus.

There’s also automatic obstacle avoidance that stops the calibration process from interrupting if something gets in the way. Focus pre-calibration is also done every time you run Atom, meaning you always got the sharpest image and/or correct alignment.

The Atom can also function as a Bluetooth speaker mode that allows anyone with a phone to stream music as if it were a Bluetooth speaker. I have no idea when this might come in handy for my needs, but it’s there if someone somewhere needs it.

Performence

Whether you’re streaming content from a phone or playing directly from the native app on the Atom, everything behaved as you’d expect from a modern display device. If you’re familiar with using a smart TV, using the Atom is no different.

The interface is smooth and responsive, although if you press back to go to the home screen while playing something on say Netflix, then there is a short loading time of a few seconds before you return to the home screen. I guess it’s just because of the processing speed. The delay doesn’t exist when streaming from a phone because the unit doesn’t have to do all the processing in the background.

I watched a variety of content from TV show trailers to some of my YouTube videos along with various HDR demo reels. All played with excellent color and clarity, and while the video above may not highlight as well, there’s no banding or grain in the projected image like you can get with other projectors. Also, there is no fringing along the edges of sharp lines in the content which is common in traditional projector lenses with standard lamps.

Thanks to the time-of-flight sensor on the front of the atom, the automatic alignment and adjustment features work well and respond quickly to any changes. Also, if movement of the projector is detected, the built-in gyro will restart calibration and adjustment (if you have enabled the automatic modes).

Dangbei has a clip that demonstrates how each one works much better than I could in my limited space:

This means that unlike traditional projectors, you don’t have to worry if it’s not perfectly level or facing dead center to the projection area, just let the auto-align do the fine-tuning.

Summary

Opening the review section, a pleasant impression is the best way I can describe the atom. It’s the kind of thing I never considered wanting, but now that I’ve used it, I can think of several situations where something of this quality would be useful, both for the home and for my photography.

Too bad a carrying case isn’t included, £800 is a lot of money just to get a basic unboxing experience, and the official case isn’t available on the Dangbei Amazon UK store either.

But these are silly things, what matters most is image quality, and this is where the Atom seems to excel as a 1080p projector. With support for all the major streaming platforms, along with the ability to download other apps via the Play Store, play on a USB and stream over your home network or simply use the Atom as a Chromecast, all the boxes seem to be ticked.

This is not a projector that you will use in bright daylight rooms, it would be reasonable but remember that it only has one emitter, to compensate for side glare on the projection wall additional emitters are needed. However, for ambient lit rooms the Atom does a great job, just remember to close the curtains for maximum enjoyment during the day.

I only encountered one bug while using this unit that Dangbei sent me, which is in retail form. It was when I set it up in another room to test something and noticed that the home screen was blank just showing the gray thumbnail background. After about a minute the Atom restarted itself and everything was fine after that. FYI, at the time of writing there were no new system updates.

update – 2024.04.15

Dangbei reached out and confirmed that US availability is confirmed via the Amazon US page. The links have been updated in the specifications box and the original wording has been updated to reflect this information.