It’s not everyday that a company releases a groundbreaking product, for AAXA, that day has come with the release of their M4 Mobile LED Projector.
The M4 is a compact projector that houses a new next generation optical engine providing 800 Lumens. The built-in battery provides around 90 minutes of playback at 400 Lumens, which is still an insane amount for a battery projector. Another great convenience is that the M4 offers a DTV function, if you have an antenna for your TV, you can plug the Antenna right into the projector and watch TV as you normally would on your TV, this adds a great deal of convenience and functionality to the unit.
AAXA has yet to send us one as a demo unit (please!) but from what content they’ve published on this unit it seems like a serious contender for anyone making presentations, this gives a full sized projector a definite run for it’s money.
Here’s a full breakdown of the specs:
Native Resolution: 1280×800 (WXGA)
Brightness (Plugged In): 800 Lumens
Brightness (Battery): 400 Lumens
Contrast Ratio: 2000:1
Maximum Image Size: 150″
Keystone Adjustment: Automatic
Speakers & Audio: 2x 2W Stereo Speakers, Headphone Jack
File Playback: MicroSD & USB Host
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Dimensions: 8.3″ x 5.3″ x 3.1″
Weight: 2.44 lbs
Inputs: HDMI, VGA, Composite A/V, DTV Antenna
You can find more info on the M4 Mobile LED Projector on AAXA’s Website: http://aaxatech.com/products/m4_mobile_led_projector.html
A new watch is on the horizon that will change the game for everyone. This watch will be sleek and light, but will not have a face. This new watch is the Ritot Smartwarch. It is hailed as the “first projection watch”. Unlike traditional watches, which have a conventional display with either an LED digital face or an analog face, this watch will instead use a pico projector to project everything on the back of the hand.
Users can choose to view the time in more than 20 colors. Available in Sport or Bracelet designs Ritot offers vibrating notifications, messages and alerts. A shake of the wrist will dismiss a notification. Users can also set up their smartwatch to receive notifications like emails, calendar alerts, text messages, caller ID, Facebook messages, tweets, weather alerts and more will be projected by Ritot. After 10 seconds the projection will automatically disappear. Battery life will be around 150 hours in projection mode and 1 month in stand-by mode.
Even though the team behind it says that the pico projector is good enough for use in both night and day, we really have to see it in the flesh to ascertain how good or bad the readability is under direct sunlight.
From the AAXA’s LED Android to PhoneSuit’s Lightplay, there are many pico projectors that have a brain of it’s own. The newest entry to an OS powered projector is the ODIN that runs Android.
Today Dos Owls successfully finished their campaign on Kickstarter to raise $250,000 to begin production. They successfully surpassed that goal by almost $20,000. Those who paid at least $445 will get their units in December; and then the device will hit regular stores with a MSRP of $845.
Specs wise, the ODIN sports a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and built-in stereo speakers, which allow folks to use it as a wireless speaker. Android 4.4 KitKat is running the show, and yes – you can install any app on ODIN and beam it to the wall.
When it comes to the lamp ODIN uses, it’s pretty much what we would expect from any pico projector – it’s a 115 lumen bulb with 1000:1 contrast ratio, and resolution of 854×480 pixels. We would love it even more if it was HD, but I something’s got to give, I guess.
The ODIN comes with a 3,000 mAh battery that promises a little over an hour of entertainment at full brightness or two hours in the so called “portable mode.” Alternatively, if you use ODIN as a wireless speaker, you can get up to 8 hours of music playback; though that’s not the point.
I’m kinda sad I haven’t caught ODIN before, cause now you can’t get it. I thought it’s worth talking about nevertheless. Hopefully, this won’t be the last Android-powered portable pico projector and that soon enough, we’ll be choosing between multiple different options.
If you are not to artistically inclined or you maybe you are and want to turn your wall into a mural of what you just painted on a small canvas then this is for you!
If you don’t have a pico projector then you best go and buy one! Once you have your pico projector, you’ll need a design and a canvas. Simply projector you design from the pico projector on to your canvas and then start tracing away.
To give you an idea heres an instructables of tracing a design onto a cake.
This year at CES 2014 Phillips showed off its new PicoPix PPX3610. Its an Android based pico projector that has wifi capability. The catchiest thing about this pico projector is that its physical navigation button is not a button at all, its a touch pad? …Yup, you can swipe and select through your menu of applications with your finger.
The wifi connectivity means you can run Netflix and Candy Crush on the projector just as you would a Word doc, although your mileage may vary when using the touchpad as opposed to a touchscreen. The brightness of the LED-powered DLP light engine is 100 lumens, which is pretty good for the pico projector category, although some designs are rated as high as 300 lumens.
Since the use case is quite different, the projector’s battery life isn’t anywhere near your regular Galaxy Tab. The PicoPix lasts a mere 2 hours, but you can buy an optional dock (see below) that extends the life to a total of four hours. The dock also adds 2-watt stereo speakers to add some oomph to those YouTube videos.
The PicoPix PPX3610 will be available in January for $549.
Favi Entertainment has a new mobile projector called the Favi Pico+ that is wifi enabled and supports Miracast and Airplay wireless playback. It syncs with mobile devices and laptops to project content on projection screens up to 100 inches in size. The company’s new Pico+ projector, unveiled this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is about the size of typical smartphone and packs a 5000mAh battery supplying three hours of continuous playback in eco-mode.
Short throw pico projectors are getting more and more of a standard. People have limited space but want a bigger image at a shorter distance and QP Optoelectronics is set to unveil their new short throw pocket projector at this years Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014 in Las Vegas.
In just a few weeks, QP Optoeletronics will debut some exciting new developments with their ultra-short throw pico projection technology. Continuous improvements have resulted in a projection engine that has throw ratios of 0.5 to 0.3. A typical pico projector will have a throw ratio of 1.4 to 2.2. This means that a user can produce images that are 3-5 times (or greater) in size from a fixed distance. This is a critical advantage for a pico projector. James Lupino, QP Optoelectonics’ Vice President of Business Development states, “We believe 2014-2015 is where innovative products will emerge that include our short throw projector as a key enabling component.”QP Opto is targeting both mobile projection, as well as head-up displays (HUD) and mobile eyewear, where greater throw ratio and high brightness are beneficial. We look forward to seeing these latest advancements from QP Optoelectronics and will publish any new developments here, at Picopros.com!
Scenes from Paul Walker’s The Fast and The Furious projected on a huge wall by the Brookstone Pocket Projector Pro and the AAXA P300!
Who will be the main course in this years holiday pico/pocket projector review: Brookstone’s Pocket Projector Pro or AAXA’s P300?
Since it’s the holiday season, we’re going to be stuffing our homes with friends and family. So you’re definitely going to have to keep them entertained with something when they’re all sitting around in their food comas. Well this year you can prepare for it. The time is right buy some new gadgets and what better thing to get than a mobile projector! This year we’re going to compare projector recipes so you’ll have something to serve as entertainment. So we’re going to compare the Brookstone Pocket Projector Pro ($429) and the AAXA Technologies P300 ($389). There are some good ones out there, but we’re going to compare this new Brookstone pico/pocket projector with something fairly comparable in price, features, and brightness.
The Ingredients
The AAXA P300 is battery powered (battery Included) and lasts upwards of 60+ minutes on a single charge. Now the Brookstone Projector has the “optional battery” that will keep it going for 2-hours, which is really good. The down side is that the battery is going to cost you an extra $99 bucks! So the total to make the Brookstone completely portable is around $529…again, a side dish to think about.
While we’re on addition features, both the Brookstone and the AAXA have keystone correction. The really cool feature of the Brookstone is that is has a USB output to give you the ability to charge other devices on the go, if you buy the external battery with it. The features that the AAXA P300 has that the Brookstone doesn’t is an onboard media player to project video and text files or play your music directly from a its built in MicroSD reader(up to 32GB) or through its full size USB port to read from a USB memory stick.
The Recipe
These projectors are very portable and pack some great features, some more than the other. However, the side dishes of any meal only complement the course, which in this meal review, is the projection quality. The Brookstone Pocket Projector is rated at 200 ANSI lumens and the AAXA P300 comes in at 300 ANSI lumens; both of which have a resolution of 1280 x 800 (WXGA). The contrast ratio of the Brookstone is 1000:1, while the AAXA P300 is at 2000:1.
The Main Dish
Now on to the main course of this holiday projector review! Both these projectors are about 4 feet form the wall and are so we can see how well they compare to each other.
You can see that the brightness of both these projectors are very bright! The AAXA P300 does have a more vibrant range of color to its projection quality. Although the brightness of the AAXA is rated at 300 lumens and is a bit brighter, the Brookstone does a a good job itself. The brookstone is rated at 200 lumens but seems to be a bit brighter than that, guessing maybe hitting close to 250 lumens instead. But projected from the same distance you can see that there is a difference.
So putting the whole thing in perspective, the Brookstone Pocket Projector Pro is small in size and very bright for its size, comparing fairly well to the AAXA P300’s 100 lumen advantage. However, things to keep in mind from this is that the price is a little steep and gets really pricey if you want to add the battery to the package. For the AAXA p300 that is a little bigger in size, but at a reasonable price, you’ll get those few extra features; the battery, onboard media player and USB/MicroSD memory reader ability.
Here are the specifications
Brookstone Pocket Projector Pro
AAXA Technologies P300
Battery Sold Separately ($99)
Battery Included60+ Minutes on Full Charge
200 ANSI Lumens
300 ANSI Lumens
1000:1 contrast ratio
2000:1 contrast ratio
Aspect Ratio:16:9
Aspect Ratio:16:9
Image Size:Up to 115”
Image Size:Up to 120”
1280 x 800 (WXGA)
1280 x 800 (WXGA)
2x 1.0-watt speakers
2x 1.0-watt speakers
No Media Player
Has Onboard Media Player
Inputs:HDMI
3.5mm Audio-Out
DC Input
(MHL micro USB to HDMI cable, micro and mini HDMI adapters Included)
Alcatel has a new pico/pocket projector docking port to support mobile phones. They’ve made this to give mobile users the ability to project directly from their phone without draining the battery of the phone. It isn’t for sale just yet and no release date has been announced. Stay tuned for updates!
Alcatel OneTouch is at least keeping an eye on this niche with a new docking station that doubles as an aforementioned pico projector. It’s a prototype accessory that’s compatible with the OneTouch Hero, thanks to its set of magnetic docking contacts on the back — all you have to do is clip it on and the phone recognizes that it’s been attached. The projector is 12Lm, which is a little dimmer than we’d prefer (we were told that the final product may actually be brighter than this, but they can’t confirm for now), and the company claims it can show a screen larger than 70 inches.
