mer is a free spirit among projectors: instead of an angular housing, it is housed in a handy cylinder that looks like a small spotlight, and resting on a round base, it can be rotated 180 degrees: up, down, forwards and backwards. backward. As a result, the small projector even illuminates the ceiling, making it ideal as a media bedside companion. The manufacturer believes that its Freestyle name is well chosen Samsung.
The delicate video cannon costs around 1,000 euros. What do you get for it apart from the original design? The data sheets promise a Full HD resolution and a maximum brightness of 550 lumens, i.e. a brightness that is sufficient for the small cinema in the middle, but suggests a dark environment. Depending on the projection distance, Freestyle creates murals with a diagonal of 250 centimeters, created with long-lasting LED cells and a DLP chip as a mirror element. The projector draws power from a plug-in power supply via a USB-C cable. Unfortunately, this puts the motion artist at bay, but a remedy is in sight: Samsung will soon offer a proper battery that can be clipped under the mount. The projector outputs sound from a built-in integral speaker or from a Bluetooth box through the hall radio.
Helpful UI, Helpful App
The projector opens all conceivable streaming sources via WLAN, ARD and ZDF media libraries can also be tapped, and audio streaming services can also run the show. The projector sorts through all the offerings in a user interface that is well known to owners of TVs of the same brand. The Freestyle also uses Samsung’s Tizen operating system. External image and sound sources can communicate with the projector via radio or cable. Apple devices, for example, send their videos via Airplay 2, Blu-Ray players connect via an HDMI cable with a micro connector.
Switching from a broadcast program to the HDMI input is not that easy. Unfortunately, Samsung hasn’t provided a menu item for this in the UI, and the projector’s tiny remote doesn’t offer a button for it either. This can be remedied by controlling the device through the Samsung Smart Things app. However, in our tests, the HDMI switch worked more easily. The projector automatically recognized when a video cable was plugged in and switched accordingly. The Freestyle is also suitable for painting decorative walls: Colorful prisms or beautiful landscapes are saved as images, and written material for suitable occasions, eg Happy Birthday or Greetings, is also included.
Autofocus shows weaknesses.
The projector has two automatic features that can be turned off to adjust the image. One, called keystone correction, straightens all the edges, the other adjusts the focus. We were able to make friends with keystone correction. She works well and reliably. We weren’t that happy with the autofocus, the manual setting results in visibly higher image sharpness on the device. It’s also a shame that you have to work your way through the menus for this feature.
Well adjusted, the projector delivers sharp and beautiful HD images, if necessary, even in front of a colored screen background: with the Smart Things app on an Android phone, you can automatically correct the color tone. The brightness of the projector is not sufficient for daylight environments, but you shouldn’t expect that from a projector in this class. We were even pleasantly surprised by the sound of the picture. The Freestyle has a pretty powerful voice and sounds better than many kitchen radios.