Hands on: ZTE Spro Plus review

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it might be a projector/tablet hybrid

What is a hands on review?
Spro utterly bizarre
Spro utterly bizarre

Early Verdict

A curate's egg of a device - although it remains to be seen if it attracts people with a particular set of needs

Pros

  • +

    Intriguing idea

  • +

    High-end specs

Cons

  • -

    Chunky

  • -

    Does it solve any problems?

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Is it a bird? No. Is it a plane? No. In fact, we're not entirely sure what the ZTE Spro Plus actually is, but this tablet/projector hybrid is certainly a bit different.

At first glance you might arrive at the conclusion that the Spro Plus is the world's bulkiest tablet - looking more like a hardback book than the slender glossy magazine stylings and thickness of a modern slate.

But, to be fair, there's a reason for that. The Spro Plus has a laser projector that projects 500 lumen which is, and we're going on the company's assertion here, "the ideal luminescence for either broad daylight of dark rooms."

Spo Plus

Charged

That projector is built into a unit that is fronted by an 8.4 inch AMOLED touch screen with a 2K resolution and a whopping 1200mAH battery, running a modified Android OS.

It also boasts a vertical and horizontal keystone correction system that allows it to be used in the wild without a constantly distorted image.

ZTE do have form in projectors - this is not the first entry in the Spro range, and they are very much aimed at business presentations.

ZTE Spro Plus - projector

Despite its bulk, this is an interesting device - in truth portable projectors have never truly broken into the mainstream, despite hovering around for several years. The Spro Plus is not exactly going to make it into your pocket, but it is certainly portable.

Price wise - there's no announcement but we're pegging this as a non-cheap option.

But, as is so often the case, it needs to prove once and for all that it can avoid falling between several stools - is it a good enough presentation tool to genuinely replace the tried and tested 'stick on the television that every meeting room is likely to have' for instance?

Do you need your tablet to have a 2K screen or a battery the size of a Stephen King novel?

In the meantime - this curate's egg of a device is definitely not a bird, probably not a plane and we can't honestly say that it's that super, man.

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.

What is a hands on review?

Hands on reviews' are a journalist's first impressions of a piece of kit based on spending some time with it. It may be just a few moments, or a few hours. The important thing is we have been able to play with it ourselves and can give you some sense of what it's like to use, even if it's only an embryonic view. For more information, see TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee.