This one neat trick makes Xgimi’s Mogo 3 Pro portable projector more interesting than most

I’ve seen my fair share of portable projectors but the Xgimi Mogo 3 Pro, just announced at the Germany’s IFA 2024 technology show in Berlin, is probably the neatest and cleverest of the lot. Not only is this small cylindrical projector absolutely tiny – about the size of a “Stein” beer glass – it’s also crammed with clever features.

Billed as the “ultimate portable projector” the Mogo 3 Pro weighs a mere 1.1kg and projects a 1080p image up to 120in in size – and that image is bright and clear thanks to a 450 ISO lumens LED light source. That won’t be bright enough to avoid washed-out colours in daylight without drawing your blinds or curtains, but at a demo area on the stand, I was impressed with the sharpness and the colours produced by this compact machine. 

Perhaps more impressive than the size or the image quality, though, is how simple to use it appears to be. A built-in stand that swings out from the bottom gives it 120 degrees of vertical tweakability, while automatic image adjustment means it’s super-easy to set up.

All you need to do is turn it on, point it at your screen and go. Using its ISA 2.0 technology, the projector takes care of keystoning and autofocus for you so there’s much less fiddling around, tweaking the position left, right, up and down for ages when all you want to do is plonk it down on your coffee table and watch a movie. There’s also a safety mode that kicks in whenever someone walks in front of the lens, dimming the light source to prevent potential eye damage.

It comes with a voice-enabled remote control in the box, so you can search more easily than fiddling around with the D-pad on the remote control, and the UI is driven by Google TV, which again is nice and easy to navigate and use. 

What makes this projector special, though – and you can read that however you want – are its various “Ambient” features. Pair it with your smartphone over Bluetooth, fold the projector over so it points down, then play music through it and not only does it sound pretty good – its two built-in 5W speakers go surprisingly loud with quite full sound – but it also doubles as a kind of disco light (although admittedly, this would be a very small disco), changing colour and intensity in time to the music.

Another feature takes advantage of an optional magnification filter (£39) that clips to the front of the projector, to project backgrounds on a whole wall or ceiling, with a selection of moving images to choose from, from oceans to to starry skies. Perfect for chilling out in the bedroom.

The one thing this projector is missing, however, is a built-in battery. There is a USB-C connection, however, so you can run it away from the mains power using a power bank, and Xgimi is offering a battery-tripod combo for an extra £109, which has a 20,000mAh battery built into its vertical part and a 3.4in tripod mount at the top for attaching the projector to. There’s also a case, although that’s a little expensive, too, at £59.

The projector itself will cost £419 and will be available at Amazon from today. We’ll have a full review for you just as soon as we can lay our hands on one.