JMGO recently broke new ground with its compact O2S Ultra projector, claiming to have the shortest throw ratio of any model in the industry, and now just two months after its launch, a successor (of sorts) has arrived.
The JMGO O3 is another ultra-short-throw projector model that’s designed to snuggle up nice and close to the vertical projection surface, making it ideal for big-screen pictures in compact rooms, although it’s not quite as “snuggly” as its predecessor. That said, it’s more of a step-down model, with lower specifications than its older cousin.
Its throw ratio of 0.18:1 doesn’t quite match the O2S Ultra’s 0.16:1, but it’s still pretty impressive, allowing it to throw up 100-inch visuals from just eight inches away. Whereas the O2S Ultra is capable of 4K resolution, the JMGO 03 is a 1080p model, and it’s only able to put out 1,400 ISO lumens of brightness, falling well short of the O2S Ultra’s 3,600 lumens. On the other hand, it's more compact than the O2S Ultra , with dimensions of just 250 x 219 x 107 mm (9.8 x 8.5 x 4.2 inches), weighing just 2.4 Kgs, making it an ideal travel companion.
Still, that's not to say the O3 is a bad projector by any means. Like its cousin, it features JMGO’s Microstructure Adaptive Laser Control or MALC triple-laser light technology, and though it’s unlikely to be such a rip-roarer in daylight viewing conditions due to the lower brightness, it offers an impressive 110% coverage of the BT.2020 colour gamut. It’s also said to have colour accuracy to a Delta E value of less than one, while contrast is 10,000:1. Motion compensation controls are also baked in to help sharpen those busy action scenes and video games, while AI helps to enhance the black levels. There’s also a nifty wall colour adaption feature, which means the projector can work just as good on a wall that’s painted blue or yellow, for example, as one covered in white emulsion, enhancing its flexibility.
Set-up wise, there’s autofocus, auto-keystone correction, fit-to-size and obstacle avoidance on board, and DeepSeek’s AI chatbot is featured, providing help for voice searches.
The JMGO O3 is also a decent little option for video gamers thanks to its pair of HDMI 2.1 ports and support for variable refresh rates at up to 120Hz. The Chinese version of the projector runs the Bonfire OS software, but we imagine it will be refitted with Google TV once it hits the global markets.
Rounding out the specifications is the 20-watt sound system, with a pair of beefy twin speakers aided by JMGO’s Master Sound tuning technology. That should ensure it puts out some pretty noisy audio, and Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding are both supported for surround sound effects.
We don’t know yet how much the JMGO 03 is going to cost, but the signs suggest that it’s going to be a lot more affordable than the 02S Ultra. It’s currently on sale in China, where it retails at the impressively low price of just ¥3,749, which translates to around £397.50 at the current exchange rate. We do expect the company to bump up the price a bit because of distribution costs, but still, it promises to be pretty cheap for an ultra-short-throw model.
