Samsung sees salvation in the projector market again. After their first UST projectors, they embark on a completely different tour with The Freestyle, that of portable projectors. The Freestyle looks very nice, is very light and offers a lot of features. Can he live up to those expectations?
Samsung The Freestyle
Recommended retail price € 999,-
What Full HD Portable DLP Projector
Line-up 1920 x 1080 (with pixel shifting), lumen output 550 LED lumens, projection ratio 1.2 (100 inches diagonal at 2.65 m)
Connections 1x micro HDMI (v1.4 ARC/eARC), 1x USB-c (power), Bluetooth, Airplay 2
Lamp LED light source with 20,000 hours lifespan
Extras 5W 360° speaker, HDR10, HLG, WiFi built-in, Tizen Smart Hub, DLNA media player, 30dB
Dimensions 104 x 173 x 95mm
Weight 0.8 kg
Consumption 50 watts (max
Website www.samsung.com/nl
7 Score 70 
- Pros
- Lightweight
- Easy and flexible to set up
- cool design
- Excellent image quality
- Great Sound
- Negatives
- Slightly too little light output
- Interface is sometimes very slow to respond
- Bracket sometimes slips to a lower position
- Battery and carrying case optional
At Samsung, they have no doubt thought that the boom of portable Bluetooth speakers could also translate to portable projectors. After all, we look at a screen even more than we listen to music.
The Freestyle certainly looks very hip. The small white cylinder stands on a base with a bracket that allows the projector to rotate vertically 180°. The housing is perforated for ventilation, and at the bottom for the loudspeaker.
At the top there are a number of touch buttons above the lens. On the side, next to the connections, we find a switch for the built-in microphone.
Quickly set up and connect
The Freestyle is really very light at 0.8 kg. You take him to another room in a moment. And drafting happened just as quickly. Place, aim and the projector does the rest. Auto-focus, auto-keystone and auto-leveling ensure a correct image, even when aiming at the ceiling (while lying in bed, for example).
There are of course limitations, but the auto keystone straightens out even fairly extreme projection angles. You can also manually adjust keystone and focus if things really go wrong. The auto-levelling seemed to be the easiest to throw off balance. But all in all, it really is a very manoeuvrable projector.
The only downside is that the projector does not rotate continuously in the bracket. Moreover, when you project almost horizontally, it sometimes nods further down. We had to give the screws of the bracket an extra twist, otherwise The Freestyle would leave its head hanging a bit.
The Freestyle is fully aiming for wireless connections, you notice that. The USB-C connector on the side is for power, not media. Furthermore, there is only a micro HDMI connection. So you need an adapter for your regular HDMI cable. But Samsung has placed the two connections a little too close to each other, and made the power connector unnecessarily wide.
It is therefore quite possible that your reducer just won’t fit. An HDMI cable with a micro-HDMI connector or another power cable is the solution. The HDMI connection supports ARC and eARC.
Streaming plenty
Unfortunately, installing the projector was not as easy as simply setting it up. At the start you get the option to use Samsung Smartthings. Not only did this run very slowly, but when we wanted to reinstall the projector after a reset, it didn’t even work anymore.
Fortunately, there is always the option to perform the installation with the remote. The remote is a sleek white version in the style of the TV remotes. A minimum number of keys, and four hotkeys to launch Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Samsung TV Plus. It works via bluetooth, and is rechargeable via usb-c.
Also, once installed, the projector sometimes seemed excruciatingly slow to respond. A faster chipset would not have been a luxury for our taste. Especially for a projector where you will probably often use without an external source.
Because functionality abounds. With the latest incarnation of Samsung’s Tizen Smart Hub, The Freestyle delivers all the smart TV features you’ll find on Samsung TVs. From Airplay2 and smartphone mirroring to all streaming services that you will find on a Samsung TV. Anyone who has a Samsung TV at home can send the image from the TV to the projector.
You can also use The Freestyle with Ambient Mode, to put all kinds of calming, or just festive images on the wall. Samsung supplies a matte lens hood that you can use to change the projector into an atmospheric light, but we didn’t think that was really successful. It is possible to play games on this projector. We measured an input lag of 46.3 ms (2K60), which is not a top result, but is just enough.
Nice image, but lacks some light
The Freestyle is a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) projector. Keep in mind that it does not take 4K signals. The DLP chip delivers sharp images, although it always seems to give a little extra sharpness that you cannot switch off via the settings.
Where The Freestyle really disappoints is its light output. Samsung claims 550 LED lumens in the specification, but unfortunately that is not the same as ANSI lumens. When we measure the projector, we achieve a maximum of 250 ANSI lumens. That immediately sets some firm preconditions for use.
When eclipsing, it is best to aim for a maximum of 75-inch image size. That’s still good, but this projector aims for more universal use. With some ambient light, however, you have to aim for 55 inches or smaller to still show a reasonable image, and that seems really small to us.
With a contrast that varies between 350 and 450:1 depending on the image mode, you can put very nice images on the wall when it is darkened. Only very dark images are difficult to paint. Also, don’t hesitate to experiment with the ‘contrast enhancement’. This can be avoided on a TV, but on this projector it can provide some extra impact.
We choose the Film image mode and it appears to be calibrated excellently. A neutral gray scale and accurate color reproduction ensure beautiful, realistic images. In the settings we do not find an option to adjust the display in case the wall you are projecting on is not white. Samsung does have a ‘Smart Calibration’ feature, with which you can calibrate the projector using a select list of smartphones.
The projector also supports HDR10 and HLG, but doesn’t really have the capabilities to deliver that real HDR impact. It lacks contrast, light and color range. The Samsung does work well within its limitations, so you can view HDR footage, but it still looks more like an ordinary SDR image.
Also a 36-degree speaker
You will generally not be bothered by the noise of the cooling. The soft noise stays neatly in the background. The 5W speaker also provides more powerful sound than we feared. Even with the volume above 80, the speaker continues to do its job without really obvious distortion. And even when we chase some techno through the speakers (Witches by Angemi), the sound continues to leave a good impression.
Samsung labels The Freestyle as a 360° speaker and we can agree with that. The sound is quite uniform around the projector. If you wish, you can connect the projector to an external speaker via bluetooth or ARC/eARC.
Samsung provides a lot of accessories. We would have liked to see some of these included as standard. Like the carrying case, or one of the colored silicone skins. A battery is also available as an accessory, which clicks into the bottom of the projector to preserve the cylindrical shape.
Probably one of the nicest options is an attachment that allows you to turn the projector into a standard E27 lamp socket. Ideal if you have been looking for an interactive solution for your board games for years.
Conclusion
The Freestyle looks great, but a few things went wrong in the finish and design choices. This projector would really benefit from more light. And a more responsive interface. The bracket with which it stands on its foot allows it to rotate, but sometimes lacks the necessary grip to keep the projector in place.
We certainly think the idea of The Freestyle is successful. Setup is generally super smooth. And we have no problem using this projector in all kinds of places. It also delivers very good images, if you darken a bit, and as long as you don’t view dark footage.
With the Smart Hub you have access to almost all major streaming services. The audio is also excellent, which is an excellent performance for such a small projector. Unfortunately, we think the price is quite high, for that we would have liked an extra accessory, the case or the battery for example.
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