Monthly Archives: April 2009

The idea of being able to project a video from a phone onto a wall has long been the subject of concept ideas and something that has not really been possible. Small projectors have been produced over the past few years which are mainly used in offices for presentations and slide sets, but they can be prohibitively expensive and this would explain why they have not branched out from the business communities.

Most smartphones can now carry Office documents and are more than capable of presenting slideshows and Word presentations. They have tended to be used for carrying this information rather than sharing it with others, but Pico has comes up with a solution that will enable you to go to a meeting with no bulky laptop or projector and to carry everything you need in your pockets.

The Pico Projector is tiny and will fit well alongside a smartphone in a suit jacket, but can it deliver on a seemingly impossible promise?

My first test was to view Word documents on a white wall and once the initial ‘look at that!’ moment was over I started to appreciate what was happening. There are two brightness settings of which the brightest is required for any surface which is not completely white, but you can get away with the lower setting on a standard office wall.

The tripod adaptor ensures that it is stable, unlike the fiddly screw things you get on normal projectors, and setup is instantaneous. I have spent many a long meeting waiting for people to work out why the laptop is not connecting to the projector or why the projector cannot stay straight and it has now becoming a running joke. Turn the Pico Projector on, connect it to your phone and you are done- besides the focusing, there is little else you need to do to be up and running straight away.

Power is provided by an internal rechargeable battery which lasts for up to 1.5 hours, and you can also power it while watching a slideshow or movie. Sound can also be exported to a suitable system and if you try this another huge advantage of this accessory comes to life; movies.

I tested it with a Nokia N79 and with the lights turned down and sound out to a decent sound system, my kids were more than happy watching Finding Nemo. My 5 year old daughter spent most of the time walking up to the projection and wondering why there was no screen, but there is little I can do about that:) The quality of the displayed video is impressive and even though 60 inches is a bit of a stretch, a sharp image was produced at a much larger level than on my current TV.

To use the projector with an iPhone or iPod you will need to purchase a suitable cable for £30 + VAT and for a Nokia, a cable is available for £15 + VAT. These may seem steep, but the standard iPhone TV cable is roughly the same price and often does not work (it never did for me).
Conclusion

£250 sounds expensive for a one trick accessory, but it really is not. When you compare the potential of this device to standard projectors and the fact that you can use it anywhere in the home or office, all of a sudden it looks like very good value. It is well built and does exactly what it says it should. You may not need a tool such as this, but for people who require portable projection or for those who want a flexible entertainment experience at home, this is definitely one to consider carefully.

Available from Clove for £249 inc. VAT

This video was taken with a poor quality camera and the actual video quality is much better than you see here.

Features

A 60” image that fits in your pocket
Enjoy a big screen experience on the move
Portable, lightweight and palm sized
20,000 hours of lamp life
Internal rechargeable battery with up to 1.5 hours life
In built speaker

What’s in the box

Optoma Pico Pocket Projector
2 x Batteries
AV Cable
Tripod Adapter
MiniUSB to USB Cable
Power Adapter
Case