JMGO N1S

Verdict

Hitting the sweet spot between portability, brightness, and image quality, the JMGO N1S is an excellent projector that you can take anywhere. Its triple-laser backlight helps boost contrast and colour accuracy, delivering excellent images for all types of content. Running Google TV with a proper Android app, this projector contains everything you need for enterainment on the go.

Introduction

There are smart projectors that are designed to compete with home cinema projectors, and there are smart projectors that are built to be portable. The JMGO N1S neatly straddles both markets: small enough to carry around with relative ease but bright enough and sharp enough that you don’t have to sacrifice image quality.

Running Google TV, this projector has a native Netflix app; its triple laser backlight produces rich and vibrant colours; and it’s extremely well priced.

Design

• Gimbal stand with tripod mount
• HDMI (eARC) port
• Simple remote control

Although a new model, the JMGO N1S is similar to the older JMGO N1. The difference is internal, with the N1S having a new MediaTek SoC, which allows the projector to run Google TV, rather than the older Android TV.

Otherwise, both products seem to be very similar. Not that this is a complaint, as the JMGO N1S is a high quality projector that uses a similar gimbal stand to the JMGO N1 Ultra that I reviewed in 2023.

Thanks to its stand, the N1S can be easily rotated to point up and down. The only thing that the N1 Ultra has different is a rotating base; with the N1S, I had to physically rotate the entire projector. That’s not much of an issue though, particularly as the N1S is only 2.2kg.

It’s nice to see a standard tripod mount on the bottom of the projector, which adds flexibility, particularly if you plan to use the N1S outside where you may encounter uneven floors.

The projector is rather simple from the outside: there are no on-device controls (bar a power button), and everything has to be done using the remote control or app.

Connecting via Bluetooth, the simple remote control doesn’t need line-of-sight to the projector, and it can be used with its integrated microphone for voice commands via the Google Assistant.

I did find the cursor pad and select button a little too small, and it’s a little too easy to hit select rather than moving the on-screen selector.

While Google TV should offer most of what you want, there is an HDMI input (with eARC) if you want to connect an external device, such as a Blu-ray player or games console. There’s no Ethernet port, but it’s nice to see Wi-Fi 6 compatibility.

As with its big brother, the hard foam packing case doubles up as a carry-case, offering protection while you take It on the move.

Features

• Supports HDR
• Smart auto setup
• Runs Google TV with native Netflix

The big change with the JMGO N1S compared to the company’s previous projectors is that the operating system is Google TV rather than Android TV. As well as offering fast set-up via iOS or Android, Google TV is notable as it runs Netflix natively; the bulk of Android TV projectors require an inferior, mobile version of Netflix to be side loaded.

There’s a growing number of Google TV projectors, including the Anker Nebula Mars 3 Air. For the vast majority of streamers, Google TV has the apps they need. All of the major streaming services are available in addition to Netflix, including Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+ and NOW.

Once again, support for UK TV catch-up services is hit and miss: ITVX is available but BBC iPlayer is not.

As I’ve come to expect from smart projectors, the JMGO N1S has smart auto-setup built-in, including autofocus and auto keystone correction thanks to the sensor on the front. There’s even rotation control built in, so you can get a straight picture even if the projector is placed at an angle.

Automatic screen alignment is available, but on this projector it requires the smartphone app to be used, and it’s fiddly to use at that. With the N1 Ultra, the projector could automatically fill a screen without any involvement. Using the N1S’s app, I had to first adjust the projector so that its image overlapped the screen, and then I had to take a photo using my camera. It’s easier, I think, to use the on-screen keystone controls to resize the image manually.

There’s a choice between basic and more advanced screen controls. In standard mode, there’s a choice of five options: Vivid, Standard, Movie, Game and Office. Select these modes, and you can only toggle HDR and the 3D mode on and off.

Pick the user mode, and there are additional controls for Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Hue and Sharpness; plus, dedicated settings for noise reduction, gamma, contrast and colour, white balance and temperature tuning. If you do like to fully adjust your projector then this is one of the few portable models that gives such a wide range of controls.

Performance

• Excellent colour reproduction
• Good black level
• HDR lacks intensity

Rated at 900 ANSI lumens, the JMGO N1S is brighter than the Mars 3 Air and most other portable models, and has the same technical brightness as the XGIMI Halo+. At this kind of brightness, you still need a darkened room, but I found that I could get 80-inch and larger images during the day, without having to wait until it was dark.

Higher brightness means larger screen sizes are an option. I found that 100-inches was doable in the dark, although about 80-inches is the sweet spot.

As is the standard for this kind of projector, there’s a 1.2:1 throw ratio, which means you need to be 1.59m from a screen to get a 60-inch display.

Internally, there’s a 0.33-inch DMD chip, which has a native Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080). That means XPR technology is not needed to boost the resolution, which makes a difference for text and menus, both of which look sharper here than on a projector using XPR, such as the Mars 3 Air.

Although XPR is not used, the JMGO N1S is limited to 60Hz, which is fine for watching films and TV; those into gaming may prefer a projector with higher refresh rates.

The backlight uses a triple-colour laser, which is rated for a whopping 30,000 hours, which is over ten years of use assuming you use the projector for eight hours per day.

Laser light sources are technically better than LED ones, producing brighter, more vibrant colours with higher accuracy. The JMGO N1S is rated to show 110% of the BT.2020 colour gamut.

Laser backlights can cause annoying speckling, but the JMGO N1S has been tweaked not to display this issue, creating a sharp, noise-free image that’s evenly lit from corner-to-corner. Edge sharpness is excellent too, with little variation in focus even at the extremes of the image.

A lot of portable projectors fall down when it comes to black levels, struggling with dark scenes and black and white footage. Not the JMGO N1S. Its laser backlight means that there’s a native contrast ratio of 1600:1, and it has the black levels to cope with anything, as demonstrated by a shot from The Creator below.

Watching Ripley on Netflix, I’d struggle to see what was going on if I used a reglar smart projector, but the JMGO N1S handles it brilliantly. Even the scenes set at night are clear to see, with impressive depth, range and blacks.

That bodes well for brighter content, which all projectors can handle well to a degree. Watching Fallout, the rich colour palette of the wasteland looks incredible: natural and deep colours punctuate the screen. Yet, there’s still a lot of detail in the picture, with HDR10 adding to the contrast and detail through the range.

Of course, with 900 ANSI lumens to play with, HDR doesn’t have the top brightness that brighter rivals, such as the JMGO N1 Ultra have. With The Creator, the flash as the bomb goes off at the stop is detailed, but it’s not so bright as to almost hurt the eyes.

Dual 5W speakers, certified by DTS and Dolby Audio, are present. There’s no dedicated subwoofer, but bass response is impressive, with a low thump that adds to soundtracks, particularly action scenes. I found speech clear, and the projector is loud enough to fill a room without needing external audio. Of course, if you want full surround sound, the HDMI eARC output means you can hook up external audio.

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