Royole Moon Mobile Theater Review

Royole Moon Review: A pricey mobile theater that, despite its kinks, delivers powerful performance quality.

As a big fan of getting the most out of movies and gaming, I was more than elated when Royole reached out to me to check out their new mobile theater unit, the Royole Moon. Visual and sound quality mean everything to me. I use Astro A40 TR’s when I’m gaming and a high-end 55″ Samsung HD TV. Needless to say, going into this review, I was expecting a lot from the Moon, especially considering its price point.

The Royole Moon is a 3D virtual mobile theater unit that delivers high-quality audio and visual effects, at a cost. At $799, it is definitely on the higher end of the virtual headset spectrum in terms of pricing, especially when compared to VR headsets like the Oculus Rift going for $399. While this is marketed for travelers and ordinary people, I can’t imagine the average person would be investing this much money into a device that they’ll mainly watch movies on. Why buy a headset that only one person can use for viewing when it’s almost the same price as a new 4K TV that you can enjoy by yourself or with an entire family?

The Royole Moon delivers a high-quality experience with every aspect it promises. Its fold up design makes it easy to store and take with you (although I just used it at home lying in a reclining chair so I could feel like I was in an actual movie theater). Its specifications are on par with what you would expect from an entertainment system of this variety, including:

• Dual AMOLED 1080p Full High Definition displays with contrast ratio of 10,000:1, dishing out a response rate of .01ms at 3000:1 pixels per inch and a contrast ratio of 10000:1. This leaves little room for visual delay.
• Active noise canceling headphones that reduce outside noise intake by 92%, or 22 decibels.
• Adjustable screen size.
• Stereoscopic 3D depth perception for an improved and immersive 3D experience.
• Immersion mask to block out all other light and distractions.
• Touch pad on the right ear cup for navigation and volume control.
• Knobs to change each eye’s focus to adjust for vision deficiencies.
• Micro HDMI to HDMI cord.
• Micro USB to USB cord to connect thumb drives or a USB mouse to use when navigating menus.
• Internal 32gb storage.

My Experience

Recently, my house was in the middle of a remodel, so my entire work space, as well as all my entertainment systems, were packed away and unable to be used. Then my saving grace arrived, the Royole Moon. I charged it up, went through the instructions, and tried it on.  The headband portion of the headset folds up for easy transportation and can tighten and loosen to better fit your head.

However, unless you are laying back or reclining, the headset tends to slip out of position, which makes it start to get blurry as you watch. There are two knobs underneath the screen portion that you can adjust for your eyesight/prescription, although there is no adjustment for those of us who have astigmatism.

Navigation took me a while to get the hang of. On the right ear piece, there’s a touch pad where you swipe to navigate menus. It works perfectly on the main menu, but once you open up something like Netflix, good luck. Navigating through Netflix’s titles isn’t terrible, but once you actually start a show it gets frustrating. The idea of sliding forward to skip through a show sounds good on paper, but in reality, it makes you want to throw a tantrum.

Having the ability to swipe through a show takes away from being able to navigate by buttons, like the pause button. Since the only form of navigation is sliding on the touchpad, and doing that fast forwards the show. You can’t use that method to move the cursor over to the pause button. The first movie I watched was Rogue One on Netflix. In order for me to pause, I had to just exit out of the entire movie. Fast-forwarding is also a hassle because you have no idea how far forward you are going to go, you have to slide and hold your finger down, so it’s all based on your best guess as to where you want to stop.

You can plug in a USB mouse, which will instantly make everything easier. However, I still hold out hope that the navigation will be updated over time so you don’t have to rely on carrying a mouse with you whenever you want to use the Royole Moon.

Speaking of updates, one is supposed to land next week to fix some issues. I’ve noticed as well as other users apparently that sometimes you’ll be watching something, and the audio will start to lag a little bit. This practically ruins the immersive experience the Moon is supposed to give you as you’ll see people’s mouths move but the words won’t follow until a second or so later. It didn’t seem to happen too often, but when getting a product for the performance quality, you tend to take note of issues like this. However, I’ve been told that a fix for this is already on the way.

3D Capability

3D with the Royole Moon looks amazing. It’s as immersive as 3D can get. Unfortunately for me, as soon as it transitioned between 2D and 3D, I had immediate eye strain. As it took quite a bit of time for my eyes to adjust, I thought it was worth noting. However, after getting used to the transition, the 3D aspect blew me away. It is corny to say but the picture really seemed to pop out, but it looked as though everything on the screen was slowly invading the room. The Royole Moon‘s 3D quality easily outperforms standard movie theaters. For those of you like me who get annoyed by the funky 3D glasses and the annoying screaming kids at a movie theater, the Royole Moon will probably be the preferred method for 3D viewing.

Verdict

The Royole Moon, when doing what it’s designed to do, works phenomenally. The visual and audio quality fully immerse you in the content you are viewing. However, at its current price of $799, I wouldn’t recommend purchasing one, unless you are a business person that is always traveling by yourself. If the price is reduced to make it more affordable for families and average consumers, I would 100% recommend this product.