Audio/Visual presentations in the past were things that you not only needed large bulky equipment for but also something that had a very limited use and needed someone to run while the presenter was up giving the presentation.  More recently things like Bluetooth remotes and smart mice have allowed presenters to at least control the input source for the presentation remotely reducing the need for a person sitting at a desk running the whole thing.  The ODIN smart projector however takes these problems and provides a solution to every one of them in a compact, battery powered package that can easily be taken anywhere you need to go to make your presentation.

The first thing we’d like to point out is that the ODIN is not the first android powered Pico projector, in fact it’s far from it.  There have been a handful of android powered Pico projectors that have been offered in multiple levels of brightness and portability.   Some of the more notable ones would be the AAXA LED Android which is a unit that sports the highest brightness by far at 550 lumens but does lack a battery and therefore is not as portable, the FAVI A3-Wifi which does have a battery and is ultraportable, however is LCOS and only runs at 30 lumens therefor making it very dim, and lastly the “Lightplay” smart Pico projector which is only slightly brighter than the A3 at 50 lumens, but has a larger body.  All of these smart projectors give you a similar experience where you can use the projector to download apps from the google play store, connect a mouse or keyboard, and has things like Bluetooth and WIFI connectivity.  Another thing they all have in common is that they tend to sport slower hardware similar to older tablets, making the android experience a bit laggy on all of the models we have tried out.

So, what makes the ODIN different?  Well first of all, the ODIN uses DLP technology from Texas Instruments just like the LED android from AAXA.  This is generally considered a higher quality imaging source than LCOS because it is very sharp and has a good vibration reduction which allows the image to stay sharp even if there are vibrations around the projector and also help keep moving images more in focus.  Most of the time DLP is used in larger projectors just due to the size of the imaging unit and due to the fact that LCOS is cheaper and easier to accomplish in small applications, using DLP in a extremely mobile projector like the ODIN is nice because it still gives you that awesome picture experience that DLP offers but in a small easy to carry, battery powered package.

Another thing that is really cool about the ODIN is it’s built in stand.  This stand allows you to basically have the ODIN at any angle when you are using it, you can stand it up vertically, or even just adjust the height of the image while it’s horizontal.  Although a stand on a projector also is not news they are generally small screw like units that you need to manually adjust to get the image at the right level position.  With the ODIN there is no adjusting of feet or anything like that, you simply lift the projector to where you need it and that’s it.  Although the stand that it offers is impressive, one major downside to the ODIN is the lack of a 1/4” screw mount on the bottom for hooking it up to a projector.  I know you may be thinking why would you need a tripod mount on a projector that already has such a nice stand and our answer to that is no matter how good the stand is on the projector, odds are you’re going to run into a situation during its usage where you need to put it in a position that the built in stand can’t support and you’ll be wishing you could just hook it up to a tripod and go.

The ODIN also claims to be even more multi-functional by declaring that it is also a Bluetooth speaker.  While we do understand that the functionality is there for it to act as one we’re more interested in the actual quality of the sound.  With two 4 watt speakers and no sub we’re wondering if the ODIN is really going to sound better than a cellphone when playing music.  Either way it’s definitely a cool feature and innovative use of the Bluetooth functionality in the projector but it’s definitely not going to offer anywhere near the same sound quality as the beats pill or something of the sorts.

As for the specs of the projector, they are really nothing too special, it has a Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 running at 1.6GHz and 2GB of DDR memory which again is a lot less than even the common cellphone has.  Obviously we haven’t tested this to confirm but we feel it’s going to require a light android build for it to remain snappy and functional to offer an enjoyable android experience.  Even if it is laggy however having the android OS built into the projector does bring about some awesome possibilities.  People who use computers lightly or just for office work may find that a product like this could literally replace their computer and allow them to have a functional CPU that they can take anywhere and display much larger than any laptop you could buy.  Here is a full list of the specs that the projector offers so that you can compare them with other models for yourself:

OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY

• Display Technology: 0.3″ DMD (Direct Micromirror Display)
• Light Source: LED (RGB)
• Resolution: WVGA (854 x 480)
• Contrast Ratio: 1000:1
• Throw Ratio: 1.66:1 (meter)
• Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
• LED Life: 20,000 hours
• 115 Lumens ANSI
• Size: 25″ @ 1 yard to Infinity
• Manual focus

INTERNALS

• Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9, 1.6GHz
• Android Operating System 4.4 KitKat
• 2GB DDR RAM
• Wi-Fi (B/G/N)
• Bluetooth 4.0
• 16GB Internal Memory

All of the technical stuff aside, the ODIN seems like a great product that is definitely going to make room for its self in the Pico market.  The price-point may be a bit high at $525 for pre-order and $675 once it’s fully in production so we’re curious to see how many people will actually go out and buy one of these.  Especially when you can get a model like the LED android for only $449 and while you may be sacrificing sound quality and battery power you would be getting a unit over 5 times brighter.  Once the ODIN is out we will most likely be doing a full review on it so stay tuned to see more on this awesome product.

When it comes to pico projectors, Texas Instrument’s DLP technology dominates the market.  Although technologies like LCOS and Laser are still available, most major companies are making the move over to DLP due to reduced cost, increased image quality, and increased brightness.  As far as pico projectors go Texas instruments uses the same type of chip used in their cinema projectors just scaled down majorly to fit into a pico projector, this architecture is called TRP.   TRP has been around for a while but for a good amount of time now has only been capable of producing a 720p image, which needed to be scaled if the projector was going to produce a 1080p image.  The new TRP Full-HD chip can display 1080p natively without any scaling and is still the same size as the older chip.  To give you an idea of what kind of sizes we are talking about, here is a TRP chip next to a DLP chip for a cinema projector:

And to give you even more size comparison, here is the same chip next to some everyday objects:

The 0.47” TRP full HD chip doesn’t only bring new image resolutions to the game, it also can work up to 100 percent brighter and up to 50 percent more power efficient than its predecessor.  Talk about a jump in specs the new chip is already lined up to be the main chip used in all pico projectors by 2015.  Currently TI has a proprietary optical engine that includes the TRP Full-HD chip available but as with all of TI’s other optical engines; it does come at an increased price.

Third party companies are already starting to produce optical engines using the new chip and are all slated to start rolling out some time in 2015.  For the average user or small company, the chip will start being available on the TI store in smaller evaluation quantities and in larger quantities from TI authorized dealers in early 2015 which means that by 2016 we’re most likely going to see a jump in pico projectors from lower resolutions to mostly 1080p.

Now for the detailed stuff, the .47-inch chip sports a 1920×1080 array of aluminum mirrors in what’s called an “orthogonal layout” which is a fancy way of saying that all of the mirrors are at right angles to each-other.  On a flat surface, each mirror has a tilt range of 5.4 microns; this small movement is what allows the chip to control the color of the pixels in the image.  The movement of the mirrors are controlled by electrical signals and move on tiny hinges and yokes that allow the 5.4 microns of movement, with small cushions on the edges to protect them:

The chip features side illumination for efficiency in brightness and to reduce the physical size of the chip.  All of the mirrors are polarized, which allows for less glare and better light management. There is also a 32-bit SubLVDS data bus available to the imaging unit for fast transfer speeds.  It’s really crazy to think that all of these features are packed into tiny mirrors that individually are less than the size of a human hair.

So as you can see, Texas instruments has taken all factors into account with this chip and improved it in ways that we didn’t even know were possible.  We’re really excited to see what kinds of products this chip can help make and also where this will take the Pico projector market.  This also opens up the door to even higher definition chips that are clearly in the future for Texas instruments.  It most likely won’t be long before we see the first 2k or 4k pico projector chip on its way out of production from TI, but until then, enjoy the new line of smaller, brighter, and more efficient 1080p pico projectors that are on their way out of development.