projector

I knew Celluon had something special on its hands when I reviewed the $349 pocket-sized video projector PicoPro earlier this year: the Korean company known for laser-projecting keyboards released an iPhone 6 Plus-sized HD projector, capable of simulating a TV using lasers, a speaker, and a rechargeable battery. PicoPro’s projection system was MicroVision-developed and laser-sharp, requiring no manual focus knob — an advantage over rival projectors such as the otherwise more powerful AAXA P700 and ST200, which I subsequently reviewed and liked.

This week, Sony is entering the pico projector market with MP-CL1 ($350), which uses the same MicroVision laser projector found in PicoPro. Sporting the same 1920×720 resolution and putative 32-lumen brightness/80,000:1 contrast ratio as PicoPro, MP-CL1 promises to create a 40-inch TV image at 4-foot distances, an 80-inch image at 8-foot distances, or a (very dim) 120-inch image at 12-foot distances. Sony has pitched it as a “take it anywhere” big screen display for the iPad, iPhone, and PlayStation 4; it’s equally viable for Apple TVs and HDMI-ready Macs. So which is the better value: MP-CL1 or PicoPro?…

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Pico projectors — video projectors small enough to fit in pockets or bags — are handy if you need to carry a tool that can display videos on a surface much larger than your iPhone’s screen. And if you’re willing to step up from an iPhone 6 Plus-sized footprint to a projector that’s still smaller (in two dimensions) than an iPad mini, there are benefits: larger projectors can hold more powerful lightbulbs, better speakers, and bigger batteries, amongst other features.

AAXA’s P700 ($450) demonstrates what you can expect if you jump from a pocket-sized projector to one that fits in a bag or briefcase. It adds around 50% more physical volume to AAXA’s $299 ST200, which I reviewed and liked five months ago, leveraging the extra space to offer over 4 times the light output, noticeably stronger audio, and slightly longer battery life. If you’re looking for a way to display Mac, Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, or iPod content on up to a 150″ surface, you’ll want to see what P700 offers…

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Aiptek, the company behind a number of mobile projector products that we’ve seen in the past, is about to release a brand new pico projector for iPhone 5 and we just got our first look at the product during the ShowStoppers IFA event in Berlin. Texas Instruments, who provides the DLP technology powering the product’s projection experience, was on hand tonight at ShowStoppers showing off the new “MobileCinema i55.” It’s similar to other pico projector cases Aiptek has launched in the past, but this time provides a couple new features on top of built-in Lightning connector support for the iPhone 5. We went hands-on and have a video of the product in action below the fold. 
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