Gadgetory

So a company called Blackview released a brand new phone - for sale right now - that has a full-on projector in the top. Talk about crazy features. Today we're going to be durability testing the Blackview Max 1 to see if it can handle every day life and see what this projector is all about. Spoiler alert - the projector is a bit better than you think it is. Let's get started. [Intro] So obviously, projectors need to be operated in kind of a dark environment. They're not as bright as say a TV. But with one click, the Max 1 is activated shooting the projector out the back. And right now we're about 2 meters away and this is the equivalent of a 45 inch TV, which is incredible, especially since it's coming out the top of a cell phone. It's a laser projector with the resolution of 720p, but it's interesting because you can just take it anywhere. It's in your pocket and you can use it at a moment's notice where ever you want. Every now and then you might catch a line in the video you're watching flickering down the projection, but that's only because of the camera I'm using to film this phone. In real life it doesn't appear when you're watching the projection. It has something to do with the camera shutter speed or something like that. Here's another example with a little drone history video that I made. This was me filming with the DJI Mavic Pro 2 out in the middle of Idaho with the wrecked plane in the woods. Kind of an interesting video...I'll link that if you want to take a look at it. It's crazy to me that they fit a laser projector in the top of this phone, and it's displaying on the wall behind me. Some phone companies are like, oh, we don't have room for a headphone hack, and then Blackview's over here putting an entire projector. So whether you want to watch movies or play video games, what's cool about this is that it can actually display whatever's on your cellphone behind you or on the ceiling of your room as you're using this phone. And it's super funny that Apple produced the iPod for, you know, $300, and then there's this phone for almost the same price that has a full fledged projector in it. It just goes to show you that your dollar goes a much longer way with Android than it does with Apple. Blackview does say that while you're using the projector, it can project for 5 hours before the battery goes down, which is pretty impressive. So we've talked a bit about the features, but you know we're really here to find out if it's durable or not. Let's start with the scratch test. It's hard to get over how cool this phone is. Quite possibly one of the coolest, or at least the most unique phones of 2019. On the Blackview website, the Max 1 is being sold for $400 with the caveat that it only works in Europe and Asia right now. That might change in the future, of course. But either way, it's pretty cheap. This might come as a surprise to nobody, but the Blackview Max 1 starts scratching at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7. The earpiece is made from metal with just one thin row of circles just to let the sound through. There are 2 cameras on the front, both protected by the front glass, a 16 megapixel front camera with a secondary depth sensor. The right side of the phone is pretty standard - metal construction with a textured metal power button and a plain metal volume rocker. The top is where the real party happens. Still all made from metal up here which is good. But then when I go to analyze the rectangular opening for the laser projector, it's made from plastic. Yeah, it is recessed below the frame so it should be protected from scratches most of the time. But since plastic does scratch easier than glass, special cleaning precautions should be taken when wiping off the surface. The left side of the Max 1 is pretty plain, minus the removable SIM and SD card tray - huge fan of that. It's very easy to transfer SD cards full of movies. The bottom of the phone has a loudspeaker grill, USB-C port, and no headphone jack. But since they stuffed an entire full projector into the top of the phone, I think we can make an exception this time around. The back panel is made from glass with the Blackview logo printed on the underside, which won't scratch off. The camera lens housing is made from metal, and the circular lens protecting the 16 megapixel sensor is thankfully made from glass. The fingerprint scanner is scratchable. After some heavy abuse it can still read my finger, but then when I go to unlock the phone, it does not work every single time. The phone does get a little warm when the screen is turned on and it's projecting at the same time. Not as warm as when I hold my lighter up to it of course, but the little device is doing a whole lot of work when it's projecting. Luckily the internal 4680 milliamp hour battery is there to handle the extra workload. It can supposedly project for 5 hours at a time. Even after 40 seconds under the flame from my lighter, nothing was really happening to the 6 inch 1080p AMOLED display...just a yellowish tinge to the pixels, but they eventually recovered and the yellow tinge went away. To turn the projector on, it's just one click, and then whatever's on your screen starts popping out the top. Blackview claims their projector can make a 200 inch screen, but I think it would be pretty washed out at that point. In a totally dark room, I think about 40 or 50 inches is plenty good enough. Good enough, of course, with the stipulation that the phone is structural and can handle the abuse of everyday life. When bent from the back, there is no flex with the phone. It's a pretty thick little guy with over 10 millimeters, which is 3 millimeters thicker than the iPhone 10s, but it definitely doesn't budge. It's hard to argue with a super thick brick phone construction. I was honestly getting kind of bored with the smart phones of 2018, but here in 2019 with all of it's motorized cameras, internal projectors, and time-of-flight cameras, and super high internal optical zoom cameras, it's turning out to be a fantastic year for smart phones. The Blackview Max 1 passes my durability test. It'll be super fun to see what that projector component looks like from the inside. This phone is just yet another example of if you want a phone that does cool stuff, you just have to pay less money for it. Would you every use a projector if it came built-in to your phone? Let me know down in the comments. Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already. I will be taking this thing apart. And come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter. Thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.