nScreen Deluxe - Review | Gadget Magazine

Price
£129.95/$149.99
Available from
www.honestech.co.uk
System Specs
• HDMI/Composite connection • Supports iOS, Android and PC • Simple setup process

AirPlay mirroring has been around for some time and, for the most part, it works well. That said, if you’re looking for a solution that works with more than just iOS devices (which may well be a situation that crops up, particularly in an office environment), then you’ll need something slightly more flexible. Honestech’s nScreen Deluxe aims to do just that, allowing you to wirelessly stream any media to your HD TV or projector from your iPhone or iPad. The nScreen, disappointingly, doesn’t support Macs, but does allow PC and Android users to join in on the fun. It’s a bit of shame, but there’s still no denying that its compatibility is pretty impressive.

Out of the box, the nScreen unit itself is no bigger than a conventional wireless router and has some pretty similar physical connectivity options in the form of USB, Ethernet, HDMI and composite. One of the nicest surprises here is that the nScreen comes bundled with both a composite and HDMI cable – something you rarely see included in the price for devices like this. Setup is a breeze. Simply hook up your nScreen with your TV or projector using the supplied cables, give it some juice via the included power adapter and turn it all on. It will automatically transmit its own Wi-Fi network for you to connect your devices to (although you can link it to your existing Wi-Fi network via a router and PC app). The accompanying iOS apps are free to download from the App Store.

In practice, the nScreen holds up fairly well. Once we’d downloaded the iOS apps, updated the nScreen’s firmware (which is easily done via a USB stick) and connected to its own Wi-Fi network, our iPhone and iPad were able to quickly stream both photos and videos to the nScreen and were played out perfectly on a HD projector. The only stumbling block here was 1080p HD videos, which seemed stuttered and appeared a little laggy. However, 720p videos were handled by the nScreen with aplomb. PDF files could even be streamed and annotated live via a separate app. The nScreen also handled multiple devices, with the most recent device to connect heading to the front of the queue and taking over the stream. 1080p HD issues aside, in a business environment, we could really see the nScreen excelling. It’s easy to set up and use, compatible with a huge range of devices and, most importantly, it delivers emphatically on its promises.

Buy now?

Pros Simple setup, small unit size, and great compatibility
Cons No Mac support, and 1080p video is a little ropey