The Freestyle is Samsung's take on a projector you live with casually rather than build a room around. Its party trick is a 180-degree cradle that lets you aim the picture at a wall or straight up at the ceiling, and a set of auto features that square the image up wherever you point it. It runs Samsung's full Tizen smart TV, the same as Samsung's televisions, and its 360-degree speaker doubles as a Bluetooth smart speaker. It is dim and 1080p, so it is an after-dark device, but as an easy, good-looking projector for a bedroom or spare room, it is lovely.
Samsung The Freestyle (2nd Gen): full specifications | Display technology | Single-chip DLP, LED light source |
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| Resolution | 1080p (Full HD) |
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| Rated brightness | 230 ANSI lumens (550 LED lumens) |
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| Measured brightness | 225 ANSI lumens |
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| Throw ratio | 1.2:1 |
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| Image size | 30 to 100 in (2.5 m wide at 3 m) |
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| Smart TV | Samsung Tizen, full app suite |
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| Tilt range | 180° cradle stand |
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| Auto setup | Auto-focus, auto-keystone, auto-levelling |
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| Audio | 5 W 360° speaker |
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| Weight | 0.83 kg |
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| Typical UK price | £699 |
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Who is the Samsung Freestyle for?
The Freestyle is the right projector for a flexible, casual room where convenience and good looks matter more than outright picture quality. It suits the bedroom where you want to watch on the ceiling from bed, the spare room where you want a tidy box you can point at any wall, or the person already in Samsung's smart TV ecosystem who wants the same apps and account on a projector. The 180-degree cradle and the auto-focus, auto-keystone and auto-levelling really do work, squaring the picture up in seconds wherever you aim it, and the 360-degree speaker means it earns its place even when you are not watching. As a lifestyle device, it is genuinely clever and pleasant to use.
It is not the projector for a main home cinema. At a measured 225 ANSI lumens it is dim, so it is an after-dark device, it is 1080p with a 100-inch ceiling, and at £699 you pay a premium for the styling and the smart features rather than brightness. If you want a similar small projector that is better value for the picture, the Anker Nebula Capsule 3 is cheaper and adds a battery, and for a main-room screen the brighter Optoma UHD38 is the right answer.
How the Samsung Freestyle performs
The cradle and auto setup
This is its signature feature and it is excellent. The 180-degree cradle lets you angle the picture freely, including straight up at the ceiling, which is genuinely useful for watching in bed, and you can point it at almost any surface. The auto-focus, auto-keystone and auto-levelling then square the image up by themselves within a few seconds, so there is no manual setup at all: aim it, and it sorts itself out. Combined with the light 0.83 kg body, that makes it the most flexible small projector here to position, and the easiest to move from room to room.
Smart TV and sound
It runs Samsung's full Tizen smart TV platform, the same software as Samsung's televisions, so every major UK app is built in and the interface is polished and familiar. The 360-degree speaker is clear and fills a room evenly, and crucially it works as a standalone Bluetooth smart speaker when the projector is off, so it doubles as a bedside speaker. That two-in-one role is a real part of its appeal as a lifestyle device, and it is something the more single-minded cinema projectors do not offer.
Picture and brightness
In a dark or dimly lit room the 1080p picture is clean and colourful, and for casual viewing on a wall it looks tidy. But brightness is the honest weakness: at a measured 225 ANSI lumens it is firmly an after-dark device, with nowhere near the output to cope with daylight, so a light on in the room quickly washes the picture out. It is also 1080p rather than 4K and tops out at a 100-inch image. Treat it as an evening projector for a darker room and it is pleasant; ask it to be a bright main-room screen and it cannot keep up.
The honest downsides
There are three. First, at a measured 225 ANSI lumens it is dim, so it is after-dark only; the headline 550 LED lumen figure is not the brightness you actually see on the wall. Second, it is the most expensive of the small projectors for the brightness on offer, since you pay for the styling, the cradle and the Tizen smart TV rather than raw output. Third, it is 1080p with a 100-inch ceiling, so it is not a giant-screen or detail machine. For a lifestyle projector those are reasonable trade-offs, but they make it a poor choice as a main cinema unit.
The good
- Clever 180° cradle aims the picture at a wall or ceiling
- Full Samsung Tizen smart TV with every major app
- 360° speaker doubles as a Bluetooth smart speaker
- Auto-focus, auto-keystone and auto-levelling all work
- Light 0.83 kg lifestyle design
The not-so-good
- Dim at a measured 225 ANSI lumens, after-dark only
- Pricey for the brightness at £699
- 1080p with a 100 in image ceiling
- Cheaper Anker Capsule 3 adds a battery for less
Best for: the buyer who wants an easy, good-looking lifestyle projector for a bedroom or spare room, who values the cradle, Tizen smart TV and dual-purpose speaker. Not the pick for a bright main room (try the Optoma UHD38) or best value in a small projector (try the Anker Capsule 3).
