Overall and Final Verdict
There are a few different angles that I have been looking at the Nebula Capsule Laser, the first is comparing it with the original Capsule that I took a look at last year, and with that as our benchmark the Capsule 3 Laser is a huge success, every single issue I had with the original has been addressed in one way or another. Not only does it now have autofocus but the auto keystone as well is extremely helpful and you still have full manual adjustment as well but it doesn’t save manual adjustments so if you set things up and power it down then back up you will need to redo that. The original Capsule was running an extremely out of date Android OS on older hardware and the big thing was that it didn’t by default have access to the Google Play Store at all, just a barebones Nebula store, and with that, you didn’t have access to a lot of useful apps and with the OS being out of date a lot of the play store apps wouldn’t work so you would have to sideload older versions. All of that has been addressed here and that alone is a game changer as it opens up almost endless streaming of movies, television, and other content. They have also increased the resolution for each version of the Capsule which coming from the original is a huge jump going from 480p up to 1080p.
The Capsule 3, with it being laser based runs cooler, and with lower power draw it also has better battery life than the original. You get two and a half hours of video streaming which is enough for a full movie and more unless you are trying to watch Oppenheimer. It has Type-C for charging this time around which means all of your standard phone chargers may be able to charge it as well, but even with just the battery power that is all you may need to put on a movie when camping or hanging out outside at night but you will need a little more power if you plan on using it to project the football game with how many commercials they pack into those these days.
There are still a few downsides though even with all of the big issues of the original addressed. The first one I want to talk about is the Android version, this was an issue before and with Android 11 the Capsule 3 isn’t out of date… Yet. But it is pushing it and I would love to see Nebula be a little more active in pushing OS updates to help extend the device life a little bit. With the updates the Capsule 3 Laser is larger than the original. The original model was the size of a soda can and even though it has the same shape the Capsule 3 has scaled that up some. This isn’t too big of an issue, but something I did want to point out. With camping and outdoor use in mind, I would also love to see it come with some sort of basic case to help protect it from the elements between uses. It isn’t dust or water protected at all and that is fine when it comes to using it, but both could damage the Capsule 3 even when not in use. The last downside is going to be its 300 Lumens lighting rating. This is a portable and compact projector and with that, we do have to keep our expectations down but I would still love to see this improve. It is better than the direct competition however with the Samsung Freestyle Projector which has been tested to just be 200 Lumens. But with the power it has, you are only going to get the best experience in the full dark. I was able to use it in my office with the lights and windows open, but my office is also known to be darker than most rooms.
The Nebula Capsule Laser has an MSRP of $799.99 which is also a huge jump up in pricing compared to the $299.99 MSRP of the original Capsule projector. It is less than the Samsung Freestyle’s MSRP which at its launch was $900 but the Freestyle is now selling for $599.99 which makes the Capsule 3 Laser pricing harder to swallow. Currently, on Amazon, they do have a $100 coupon which takes it down to $699 but Nebula is going to have an uphill battle with Amazon packed with cheap low quality “1080p” portable projectors selling for under $300. Having Android built-in and having batteries built in alone set it apart from them. But not everyone is going to do that much research. Overall the Capsule 3 is capable and a nice all-in-one device that is perfect for someone with the extra money to be able to put on a movie for kids on the side of the house when outside at night in the summer, projecting/streaming games this fall, and even a great way to up your Halloween game with projected decorations if a few of the projection loop apps could get AndroidTV support.
Live Pricing: HERE
