Asus announced their new ZenBeam Latte at CES 2021 today, and it’s kind of cute. It is a mobile cinema projector that looks like a kind of one-eyed mini-robot covered in fabric. Importantly, it shoots your 720p image using up to 300 lumens of LED light, making it brighter than the capsule projectors we’ve seen from names like Anker, and has an integrated 10W Harman Kardon tuned speaker system for initialize.
Strangely, Asus insists that its projector looks like a cup of coffee.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22233590/feature.jpg)
Not that. It’s not the right format (just watch the video!), And why would a “homemade” cup of coffee (Asus’s word) be gray instead of a glorious brown? Asus also claims that it is “the first projector to offer a fabric exterior”, which is proven to be false.
Of course, you can’t drink Asus’ latte because it just distributes light and sound. It can wirelessly design your phone or an HDMI device, however.
So, consider this an opportunity, gadget makers: build the cup of coffee that Asus didn’t make. Just make sure it lasts longer than a movie – Asus quotes three hours on a 6,000mAh battery – and is bright enough to create a decent-sized screen. Asus says it can produce a 40-inch image when placed one meter from the wall, 80 inches at two meters and a maximum of 120 inches (presumably at three meters). Don’t expect a 300-lumen projector to be too bright from three meters away.
Asus says it is arriving in the US in the second quarter of the year, but there is no pricing information.