TCL’s PlayCube projector is more fun than a Rubik’s Cube

The best all-in-one portable projector is the one that makes all the right compromises. It needs to balance image and sound quality with battery life and responsiveness in a device that’s not too expensive and small enough to take anywhere. TCL’s fun little PlayCube delivers the right mix to justify paying $800 for a 1080p projector in 2026.

I tested the TCL PlayCube running Google TV during a two-month road trip, and then again for a few months at home. It’s so small, adaptable, and enjoyable that I’ve had no problem setting it up at a moment’s notice, day or night, anywhere I’ve been.

TCL says the PlayCube’s 90-degree rotating design was inspired by the Rubik’s Cube. Just give it a twist whenever you need to lift the image over obstacles. Otherwise, you can mount it on a tripod via the threaded connector at the bottom, or flip it over onto its backside for some bedtime ceiling viewing. The PlayCube also features all the automatic adjustment modes you’d expect in a modern portable projector, including focus, keystone correction, obstacle avoidance, screen detection, and eye protection.

The other notable thing about the PlayCube is its brightness. 750 ISO lumens isn’t bright for a home theater projector, but it’s very bright for a portable that easily fits into the palm of your hand, measuring 149.8 x 96.6 x 96.6mm (5.90 x 3.80 x 3.80 inches) and 1.3kg (2.7 pounds).

It’s bright enough to watch videos during the day when all those lumens are focused into a tight 30-inch rectangle inside my van, or at 100-inches when projected against it at night. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have that color-adaptation tech found on Samsung’s new (battery-less) Freestyle+ projector, so the blue-gray hull affected the palette. Regardless, it was still very watchable.

The audio produced by the PlayCube’s lone 5W speaker is fine. There’s no stereo separation, but it’s loud enough to fill a room. It just lacks fullness, warmth, and detail. Music from Florence and The Machine and Kendrick Lamar sounds shrill and thin. The screeching tires, gunshots, and explosions from a 007 chase scene produced a rather muddled soundscape, but it was still enjoyable. The sound is uncomfortably harsh above 60 percent volume, which is still plenty loud. During one outdoor movie night, I felt compelled to set the volume no higher than 20 percent to avoid bothering the closest neighbor some 50 meters away.

Alternatively, you can connect headphones or self-powered speakers through the audio jack or over Bluetooth. The projector can also be used as a Bluetooth speaker, which turns off the lamp but, annoyingly, not the fan. That fan produces 27dB when measured at a distance of one meter, which is fairly quiet for a projector but still noticeable during still moments.

The runtime from the PlayCube’s 66Wh battery was inconsistent, but it performed very well in recent tests. TCL claims up to three hours – I measured exactly three hours and one minute after a full charge in the projector’s brightest mode, while streaming The Aviator over Netflix, a film that runs for 2 hours and 50 minutes. It also works with USB-C power banks if you need even more time. The PlayCube recharged from zero to full in 104 minutes from a 65W USB-C charger.

I experienced wild shifts in battery life over my four months of testing, which I think can be attributed to TCL’s power management in standby mode. A short press on the power button puts the projector to sleep, allowing it to wake in up to 30 seconds. In standby, the fan spins up periodically, sapping energy — which could be the reason I saw severe battery drain when vanlifing in warmer climates. The issue disappeared when I returned to the mild temperatures at home. A firmware update might have also helped.

Regardless, you can long-press the power button for a full shutdown to avoid any phantom power drain suffered in standby. The PlayCube then takes about 80 seconds to boot up, but that can be accelerated by turning off some of the automatic screen adjustment features.

The user interface can also be sluggish at times, like most battery-powered projectors. Sometimes Google TV needs a frustrating second or two before it’ll respond to navigation commands from the remote control. The automatic image adjust features are also rather slow to kick in. But I’m grateful when they do, even if obstacle avoidance can be hit or miss. Fortunately, everything can still be fine-tuned manually.

TCL says the PlayCube is “designed specifically for camping projection.” That makes me — an avid vanlifer — its primary target, and I’ve come away very impressed. At $799.99, TCL’s PlayCube projector isn’t cheap, but you won’t typically find this mix of brightness, battery life, and portability for less. Xgimi’s Halo+ comes close for the same price, only in a bigger package that offers improved stereo sound but shorter battery life… but it’s currently on sale for just $449, which is a very good deal.

Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge