What’s the best pocket or pico projector for multimedia entertainment? Our top contenders are AAXA P7 and Anker Nebula. The reason for this is because they’re both versatile portable projectors you can use for family vacations and business trips alike.
You can whip them out on the fly and project your budget charts or PowerPoint Presentation with ease. You can also use them to stream on the big screen various Netflix shows or HBO Max movies.
Regarding “AAXA P7 vs Nebula: What’s the Difference?” here’s the gist.
Comparison Table
Here’s a comparison table between AAXA P7 and Anker Nebula Capsule II.
| Portable Projector Model | AAXA P7 | Anker Nebula Capsule II |
| Brand | AAXA | Anker |
| Weight | 1.2 pounds | 1.8 pounds |
| Brightness | 450 ANSI lumens (battery) 600 ANSI lumens (plugged in) | 200 ANSI lumens |
| Native Resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels Full HD | 1280 x 720 pixels HD |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, and VGA | Bluetooth, USB, HDMI, and VGA |
| OS | – | Android 9.0 (over 5,000 apps) |
| LED Life | 30,000 Hours | 30, 000 hours |
| Speaker | 1x2W | 1× 8W |
| Feature | LED light source | LED light source |
| Display Type | DLP | DLP |
| Unique Features | Onboard Media Player | Hi-fi internal speakers |
AAXA P7 Mini Projector Review
What can be said about the AAXA P7 Mini Projector with Battery? There’s a reason why even in 2021, it regularly features in the Top 10 pico or mini projectors of the year. It’s been that way for many years. It’s a native 1080p projector with a decent speaker system and a bright LED lamp.
Notably, if it’s plugged into the wall, you can get up to 600 ANSI lumens out of it. It has 450 ANSI lumens when on battery power. Although it’s a little bigger than most portables, it makes up for it with native 1080p Full HD resolution to ensure quality images and videos every time.
Related: AAXA P7 HD Projector Review: What Makes This Projector Special?
You can use this device for gaming, business presentations, online streaming, and movie/TV viewing. It includes TF and USB ports as well as Bluetooth 4.0 wireless support (firmware update required). It also provides a built-in speaker, smartphone mirroring, and an Onboard Media Player for good measure.
Pros:
- Its battery runs for 90 minutes.
- It’s undoubtedly portable but not cumbersomely tiny.
- It includes an onboard media player for standalone video play.
- Its image is surprisingly clear and high quality for a portable device.
Cons:
- The cooling fan is quite noisy.
- The internal speaker is not as high quality as others (particularly Anker’s Nebula).
Related: The Best Mini Projector for Netflix
Anker Nebula II Projector Review
The Anker Nebula Capsule II is one of the latest Nebula pico projectors available from the manufacturer. At the very least, it’s one of the company’s most popular and dependable projector offerings available. It’s a consumer-oriented small projector that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker itself.
This is made possible with its high-fidelity Bluetooth-enabled speaker system that allows the Nebula to offer audio-visual superiority and not just video quality. This almost makes up for its 720p resolution. Its intangibles and small details are also quite impressive.
Minor things like keystone adjustment and autofocus are superb. It even outdoes the 1080p AAXA P7 in terms of battery power (it lasts for 2.5 hours or 150 minutes vs. 1.5 hours or 90 minutes). You might prefer this over the P7 if you’re not bothered by the resolution downgrade.
Pros:
- It’s a portable DLP projector.
- It comes with a USB-C charging port.
- It lasts for 2.5 hours viewing time on battery power.
- Its keystone adjustment and autofocus are quite accurate.
- Works with other Bluetooth speakers and can double as a Bluetooth speaker itself.
Cons:
- Less-than-ideal app support for the remote control.
- Chromecast can’t support Netflix content (Nebula Manager can fix this).
Anker Nebula Capsule II vs. AAXA P7 Mini Projector
Even though family vacations and business trips continue to be on hold due to the global pandemic, it pays to have a light, compact, and capable portable projector on hand. It definitely makes for an excellent travel companion once the lockdowns get lifted.
Even if your travel just means going down from your bedroom to the den, it pays to have a quality pocket, mini, or pico projector. With that in mind, which of these two pico projectors offer the best portability features and video quality excellence?
Shared Portable Projector Benefits
They’re both top-rated projectors. They’re both small and portable. They both offer HD quality video. They both provide built-in speakers so that you won’t have to hook up an extra Bluetooth speaker (although that still remains an option).
They’re both “luxury” projectors covering uses in business or pleasure. They can be utilized for on-the-go presentations but just as superbly provide solid support as portable HDTVs. They’re both versatile for all the same reasons listed above. To wit:
Both projectors also come with their own lightweight and ergonomic size. In terms of how pleasing their color schemes are, that’s left as a matter of taste.
Huge Screen Sizes
They’re even better than streaming on a cellphone because they offer bigger images or screens for that cinematic experience. If you’re a businessperson, you can use them to do presentations from a USB-C connection on your laptop or iPad Pro.
Indoor or Outdoor Cinema
They’re also fine to use with a USB-C to HDMI adapter connection for indoor movie viewing or outdoor cinema (you might need an inflatable screen to make that happen though). If your hotel TV has impossible-to-reach HDMI, you can depend on these units to stream content for you.
Smart Device Connectivity
Or if the TV is a compatible smart TV, you can interface with it through these devices as well. If worse comes to worst, you can project their images on a light-colored wall and it’ll be fine because they have sharp HD resolution quality projections.
The Stark Differences Between the Two
Solving the Anker Nebula II vs. AAXA P7 projector debate depends on your priorities. AAXA P7 is a timeless device with few updates that have stood the test of time as a quality portable pocket projector. The Nebula II is a projector that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker with a longer-lasting battery.
With that in mind, let’s cover the details that separate the two from one another. There are certain aspects where P7 is better than Nebula and other aspects where Nebula instead outdoes P7. The one you should go for ultimately depends on your priorities.
Video Quality
This one is simple enough to solve. The AAXA P7 is native 1080p. The Anker Nebula Capsule II is 720p. 1080p has a bigger, more pixel-dense resolution than 720p. This is why 1080p is referred to as Full HD while 720p is the bare minimum requirement for HD.
Granted, in certain allowable screen sizes below 100 inches, these short throw projectors offer identical quality. Why? It’s because, in a given HDTV screen size, you can only fit so many pixels.
Furthermore, Nebula can stream Netflix better than AAXA P7 using Nebula Manager when doing a Chromecast. However, the P7 outdoes Nebula in terms of having its own media player.
Battery Life
As discussed above, the Nebula has a longer battery life than the AAXA P7. The P7 has a 90-minute runtime, which means you need to watch the Snyder Cut of “Justice League” in parts or bits and pieces on HBO Max while the Nebula covers more ground at 150 minutes.
It’s a difference of an hour, people. In terms of run-time, the Nebula literally outdoes the P7 with 2 hours and 30 minutes of battery power versus 1 hour and 30 minutes of battery power. You can plug in the P7 for longer operation and brighter lamp light though.
Lamp Brightness
The AAXA P7 blows the Anker Nebula II out of the water when it comes to brightness in raw ANSI lumen numbers. The P7 offers 450 ANSI lumens of brightness on battery mode and 600 ANSI lumens on plugged-in mode.
In contrast, the Anker Nebula Capsule II can only go 200 ANSI lumens regardless if you’re on battery power mode or on plugged-in mode. On the flipside, this is why Nebula can last an hour longer than the brighter AAXA P7.
Sound Quality
Anker’s Nebula definitely outdoes AAXA’s P7 when it comes to sound quality from even a simple layman’s ear test. The P7 has a subpar speaker seemingly added to the device as an afterthought. It’s decent but there are better options out there.
One of those better options is the Nebula II, which has a speaker so high-quality the whole projector can double as a Bluetooth speaker for other smart devices and media players such as a BD player, DVD player, PC, or smartphone.
Price Point or Affordability
Although the Nebula is a nice, polished product, it comes at a price. For a native 720p projector, it’s quite expensive for an HD device. The P7 by AAXA is much more affordable for most people out there wishing to enjoy the benefits of an “HDTV” or movie projector in their pocket.
Last Points to Ponder
There are other options out there, like the even smaller Optoma ML750e, the big-for-a-portable M6, the decent-for-its-price-point LG PH550G, less bright but native 1080p Kodak Luma 150, and so forth.
However, when all is said and done, we believe the AAXA P7 comes out on top as the gold standard in projector tech, with the Anker Nebula II winning silver or second place (particularly with its superior speaker sound).
You might think vice-versa though if you value battery longevity and sound quality over video quality, affordability, and brightness.
References:
- “Anker Nebula II or Aaxa P7“, Reddit.com, August 5, 2019
- “AAXA P7 Mini Projector with Battery“, Anazon.com, Retrieved April 11, 2021
- “Anker Nebula Capsule II“, Amazon.com, Retrieved April 13, 2021