Wanbo’s Cube 2S, a 500-lumen single-LCD projector that runs Hisense’s VIDAA operating system instead of Google TV, went on sale at Spanish retailer Powerplanet this week for €179.90, according to a report from Foro3D dated October 8. In the United States the same model is listed on Amazon at $239.99 as of October 12, which is $50 more than the $189.99 it carried when AndroidPCtv covered its launch on September 3.
The Cube 2S is the VIDAA-based sibling of the Google TV Cube 2 Pro. It keeps the cube-on-a-stand design: the optical block sits on a bracket that tilts through 230 degrees, so it can be aimed at a wall, the ceiling or a tent roof without a separate mount. Native resolution is 1920×1080 with HDR10 decoding, contrast is quoted at 2,000:1, and the light engine is LED-lit LCD. A time-of-flight sensor handles autofocus and keystone correction, and the built-in speaker is rated at 8W with Dolby Audio. Amazon lists the weight at 1.64kg.
Inside is a MediaTek MT9660 paired with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. The chip is named in the Amazon listing and confirmed by Portugal’s Echo Boomer, which reviewed a unit supplied by Wanbo on September 18 and found menu navigation acceptably quick despite the small memory.
The interesting part of the Cube 2S is not the hardware, which is close to what Wanbo already sells, but the software deal behind it. VIDAA is the platform Hisense built for its own televisions and later licensed to Toshiba and Loewe. Seeing it on a sub-$250 projector from a different Chinese brand is a sign that Hisense is now selling the OS as a product in its own right, much as Google does with Google TV.
For buyers, the practical benefit is licensing. Wanbo’s US listing says the projector carries official DRM certification for Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube, Apple TV+, Peacock, HBO Max and ESPN, and Echo Boomer confirms Netflix, YouTube, Disney+ and Prime Video run natively. Most no-name projectors at this price ship with a phone-grade Android build that either lacks Netflix or plays it at reduced resolution, so a licensed OS is a real point of difference. VIDAA also adds a block of free ad-supported live channels, AirPlay 2 and Miracast casting, and a phone app with voice control.
The trade-off is the app catalog. Echo Boomer found that Portuguese services such as RTP Play and the apps from Vodafone, NOS and MEO were missing, and anyone used to the Play Store will find VIDAA’s store narrower. Hisense’s own projectors show the split too: our report on the German L9Q Pro found Hisense ships VIDAA in Europe and Google TV in America on the same hardware.
Published specs for the Cube 2S do not fully agree. AndroidPCtv lists the single video input as HDMI 1.4. Wanbo’s Amazon listing describes an HDMI 2.1 port with eARC and CEC that accepts a 4K signal, and adds a note that native resolution stays at 1080p. Those are very different ports for anyone planning to send audio to a soundbar, and none of the coverage we have seen tests eARC. Until someone does, buyers who need eARC should treat it as unconfirmed.
Foro3D also calls the Cube 2S a short-throw projector, but Wanbo’s own figures do not support that. The quoted throw distance is 1.1 metres for a 40-inch image and 3.4 metres for 120 inches. A 40-inch 16:9 picture is about 0.89 metres wide and a 120-inch one about 2.66 metres, which gives a throw ratio of about 1.24 to 1.28:1. That is a standard throw, roughly what most compact projectors need, and the projector has to sit more than three metres from the wall to fill a 120-inch screen.
Spanish prices include 21 percent VAT. Without tax, €179.90 comes to about €148.70, or roughly $167 at the current exchange rate. Amazon’s US price of $239.99 excludes sales tax and is about 44 percent higher. Echo Boomer quoted $199 at Wanbo’s own store in mid-September, and the Amazon price has since moved from the $189.99 seen at launch to $239.99, so the US price has drifted up just as the first European retail price arrived well below it.
At $239.99 the Cube 2S moves out of the impulse-buy bracket and into competition with established options. The most direct rival on licensing is the Dangbei N2 mini, which also uses an LCD engine and ships with officially licensed Netflix, YouTube and Prime Video. It costs $199 on Amazon as of October 12, $41 less than the Wanbo. On paper the Cube 2S is brighter, with 500 ANSI lumens against Dangbei’s 200 ISO, but the N2 mini has several things it lacks: InstanPro automatic screen fitting with obstacle avoidance on top of focus and keystone, a fan noise rating under 27dB, and Dangbei’s sealed EngineX optical engine. The sealed engine matters more on LCD projectors than on DLP models, because dust that gets into an open LCD light path appears as permanent spots on the image, which is one of the most common complaints about cheap LCD projectors after a year of use.
The Cube 2S has its own strengths. The tilting stand is more flexible than most, AirPlay 2 is built in, and if the eARC port works as Wanbo describes, it will be unusually well connected for a projector at this price. Its 31 Amazon ratings average 4.7 stars, but that sample is still too small to say much about long-term reliability.
Our guide to the best LCD projectors of 2026 covers both the single-panel and 3LCD sides of the market. On the evidence so far, Hisense has found a new way into the budget projector market without building the projectors itself. If more white-label makers adopt VIDAA, the advantage of having official Netflix will shrink, and these cheap projectors will have to compete on brightness, sealing and noise instead. For now, the Cube 2S is better value in Madrid than in Minneapolis.