Mobile World Congress is underway and ZTE have unveiled an update to their Spro range of Android-powered smart projector line up. The Spro family is a range of devices suitable for business communication or as an entertainment device. The devices include the necessary hardware supporting voice conference calls or projector use, and use a touchscreen for control. There’s an external USB camera, which means the devices can be used for video calling using applications such as Google Hangouts. The new projector, the Spro Plus, represents an upgrade of the predecessor Spro 2 device. Key improvements include the touchscreen being increased to 8.4-inch and the internal rechargeable battery capacity increased to 12,100 mAh.
In the detail, ZTE have improved the Spro 2 in most respects to produce the Spro plus. The device’s video output quality with the addition of both vertical and horizontal keystone correction. The engineers have refined the autofocus and audio has also been improved as the Spro Plus now uses a JBL Audio system which include two 4W speakers. For conference calling, the Spro Plus includes high performance HARMAN sub-miniature microphones and can detect voices from distances greater than five meters. The Spro Plus’ projector uses laser rather than LED illumination technology in order to project at 500lm, which ZTE say is the ideal luminescence for either broad daylight or dark rooms – and means that the projection is visible for all viewers. The Spro Plus puts out an eighty inch image at a distance of 2.4 meters and thanks to the horizontal and vertical keystone, it can project onto any place in any direction.
The device uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon System-on-Chip backed up by 3 GB of RAM. There’s either 32 GB or 128 GB of local storage, plus it supports SDXC expansion of up to 2 TB of data. Networking includes high performance 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 with optional LTE. Device software consists of Android 6 Marshmallow as an operating system. The 8.4-inch screen is a high resolution AMOLED panel of 2,560 by 1,600 pixels and the device measures 229 by 150 by 25mm. Adam Zeng, ZTE Mobile Devices Chief Executive Officer, said this on the new device: “The Spro Plus is ZTE Mobile Devices’ latest example of igniting digital life with imagination. We’re proud of the Spro Plus, which showcases a pioneering technology as a first-rate product and delivers an even more intuitive user experience. This allows our users to have unlimited business and entertainment opportunities.” The device will be available this summer in both Wi-Fi only and LTE cellular data variants.