[REVIEW] Wanbo T2 Max New: What is the projector under 150 € like?

Wanbo T2 Max New is an updated version of the popular Wanbo T2 Max, which we also tested—so you can find our review on our website. The new version should bring several improvements, including better brightness.

In our review, you’ll learn what specific upgrades it brings compared to the older model. We’ll test all its features, take a look at image quality, and share our hands-on experience using it.

Where to buy the Wanbo T2 Max New?

You can order the Wanbo T2 Max New from the Geekbuying online store at a discounted price. It’s available in white and blue color options.

Best coupons for the Wanbo T2 Max New

The item will be delivered from a Czech warehouse in about seven days after the package is shipped. Before you confirm your order, don’t forget to apply our coupon—it will visibly lower the total price.

Technical specifications

Since this is a newer version of the model with the same name as its predecessor, but with the “New” label, we’ll compare both models in the technical specifications.

Packaging contents & quality

The Wanbo T2 Max New projector was delivered to us by DPD courier in a compact box measuring 200 x 154 x 230 mm, with a total weight of 1.68 kg.

Similar to the older model, the manufacturer has put care into quality packaging here as well. The projector box is actually protected by an additional box. We personally like this kind of product packaging style, because the product box stays undamaged.

Inside, the projector is secured in foam inserts, and at the very bottom of the packaging you’ll find the remote control together with the adapter and a cable for plugging into the mains. Batteries for the remote control are not included. A small bonus is a set of stickers.

Design and build quality

At first glance, the new model’s design is almost indistinguishable from its predecessor. Take a closer look, though, and you’ll notice several differences. Its vertical setup remains the same, with the lens dominating the front and a large cooling vent grille. The overall dimensions have increased very slightly to 113 x 146 x 156.5 mm.

However, the manual focus wheel on the top side has disappeared, since the new model features automatic focusing with the option to fine-tune via the remote control. The opposite, bottom side is home to the tripod screw thread. Unfortunately, it’s still too shallow, so after mounting on a standard tripod it doesn’t hold firmly because it can’t be tightened fully. The solution is to use a sort of spacer.

The back features HDMI, USB, a power port, and a connection port for a 3.5 mm headphone connector. There’s also a grille here that covers a larger area compared to the older model.

Brightness, the image, and its quality

The Wanbo T2 Max New projector boasts better brightness, which has risen from 200 to 450 ANSI lumens. The lens itself has also been improved so the projector delivers a nicer picture with better colors, plus HDR10 support has been added.

The physical resolution hasn’t changed—it’s still Full HD 1920 x 1080 px, even though you can also find a 4K logo in the presentation materials. We don’t have the older model available for a direct comparison, but even 450 ANSI lumens isn’t enough for comfortable wall projection during the day. We need to darken the room to see the picture properly.

At dusk or in the dark, it’s much better. We don’t get the feeling that the image quality is dramatically improved. Brightness is better, but you can’t expect miracles from a projector for 150 EUR.

Image size, adjustment, and focus

Wanbo T2 Max New can display an image from 40 to 100 inches depending on the distance from the wall or screen. The minimum distance is 1.1 m and the maximum is 2.6 m. This is where it gets worse, because the older model could show up to a 200″ image at a 4 m distance.

At a distance of 1.1 m, the image is 40″ wide; at 1.6 m it’s 60″ ; at 2.1 m it’s already 80 ” and at the maximum distance of 2.6 m it’s 100″. The projector can display an image from different angles—this is what the projection adjustment is for. You can mount it on the ceiling “upside down”, and it doesn’t have to be perfectly perpendicular to the wall. It’s also possible to slightly increase or decrease the image size, so the stated sizes are only approximate.

Automatic AI-based focusing works well, although sharpness isn’t perfect at the very edges. For potential corrections or manual focusing, there’s a pair of buttons on the remote control.

Performance and storage

The manufacturer doesn’t specify which processor it uses in this projector. Among the available specs, you’ll only find the RAM capacity—1 GB together with 16 GB of storage. In this respect, the projector doesn’t differ from its predecessor.

The system is generally smooth, and responses to the remote control are mostly good, but opening some apps sometimes takes longer than we’d expect. At times, you can even notice laggy responses, especially if the batteries in the remote aren’t fully charged.

Overall, the performance is reasonable for its low price. You simply have to account for occasional slower responses.

As for cooling, the projector draws in ambient air from the rear and expels warm air forward through the corresponding cooling grille. The noise level during operation is around 34 – 35 dB.

Remote control

The included remote control is really comfortable to use. Its buttons are rubberized; when you press them, they click gently, and overall it feels good in your hand. It has several buttons such as power on/off, showing the mouse cursor, calling up the menu or settings, muting the sound, and a button for going back or to the home screen.

Also standard is a four-way circular selector with a confirmation button in the center and volume control. Besides these common buttons, we also have a pair of buttons for manually sharpening the image.

Graphical interface

Compared to the older Wanbo T2 Max model, where Android is version 6, the new Wanbo T2 Max New comes with a major upgrade in the form of Android 9.0. The biggest change is visible right on the home screen, which in the older version was very simple and design-wise outdated.

Meanwhile, the home screen environment of the new model is already modern. At the top, you’ll find the main menu, which includes Search, Home, Apps, Video, Music, and Settings.

The home screen consists of sort of tiles. At the top, there are large switchable app tiles for Facebook, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix. Below them, you’ll find smaller tiles where you can see the apps shown above again, along with others. Among them are BBC News, Chrome, Disney+, TuneIn, and HDTV.

However, besides YouTube and Netflix, these tiles are only links to download the corresponding apps. At first glance, it looks like there’s a huge number of preinstalled apps, but in reality most of them are only presented as links to download them.

The ones that are actually installed can be found in the Apps tab, under the My apps category. These include BlueTooth Speaker, Miracast, EShareServer, iMirror, Google Play Store, Browser, YouTube, and Netflix. The remaining apps that are listed in the Apps tab split into categories are just mentioned links through which you can download them. You can also find a sort of own App Store with apps.

Personally, we don’t really like this style, because overall the interface looks too crowded with various apps and links. Compared to the simple interface of Google TV or Android TV systems, this overlay is unnecessarily complicated.

In the Video and Music tabs, you’ll find many links to videos of different genres from multimedia apps like YouTube or Netflix. We didn’t find a way to remove these links.

Thanks to the presence of Google Play Store, we can also install our Slovak services for watching online TV, such as Magio Go, Antik, or Skylink, as well as VOYO, HBO MAX, and more.

More ways to watch content

We can also play multimedia content from a storage device connected via USB, but the projector doesn’t support the latest H.265 codec. Another option is connecting an external device via HDMI or sharing content from your smartphone.

When sharing your smartphone screen, you can use the preinstalled EShareServer app, but it requires installing the EShare app on the smartphone as well. A simpler solution is Miracast.

You can also use the projector as a Bluetooth speaker thanks to the BlueTooth Speaker app.

Settings menu

The settings offer various customizations divided into eight categories. The first one is network settings, where you’ll find available WiFi networks. In the second category, Projector, you’ll find all settings related to the projector image, such as projection orientation, zoom, calibration, automatic focus, or the so-called Trapezoid, where you can adjust all four corners of the image.

The third item in the settings menu is the source selection, where you can choose only HDMI or USB. Next, there’s a multimedia player called Media Center, which somehow, in our opinion, doesn’t belong in the settings. There’s also a separate tab for software updates, Bluetooth for connecting accessories, Boot Source, and language settings. Slovak and Czech are not missing here either.

The last options in the settings include memory cleaning and the Settings options that hide time, network, projector information, and so-called common settings. These group together the settings we already mentioned, supplemented with additional ones such as apps, picture settings (preset modes, custom brightness, contrast, saturation, and sharpness), sound including an equalizer, a timer, a screensaver, or keyboard settings.

The settings menu is quite extensive, but again it’s a bit oddly arranged.

Speakers and sound quality

Behind the back grille, besides cooling, you’ll find a pair of 3 W speakers. They’re full-range speakers with a minimum frequency of 60 Hz. Compared to the older model, the sound quality should improve by up to 80 %.

Generally, the speakers of projectors don’t stand out much, but in this case it’s a noticeable improvement over the predecessor. The sound is better, the bass is more pronounced—although there’s still room for improvement. The volume is more than enough, and the overall sound quality is truly good for this price range.

However, there’s still an option to connect an external audio source. We personally tested connecting a Samsung soundbar via Bluetooth, but it didn’t work without issues. The sound was often interrupted.

Wanbo T2 Max New: Final assessment

The new model of the well-known Wanbo T2 Max projector with the “New” label brings several improvements over its predecessor, with an almost identical design and the same body. Brightness has increased from 200 to 450 ANSI lumens; the new model also adds automatic focus, and the sound quality has been improved too.

The new projector also received a newer Android version—9.0—which comes with a significantly more modern graphical interface. However, the system is cluttered with lots of links to various apps, videos, or music from well-known multimedia services. Probably for that reason, the projector’s responses are sometimes a bit slow.