Plug your smartphone into a portable pico projector and use any wall
for movies, presentations, or life-sized Angry Birds.
When these pocket-sized movie machines first started popping up a few
years ago, the earliest models were dim, chunky-looking, and had poor
color balance. Not only have the optics and the display technologies
improved significantly since then, but our source files have gotten a
bump as well. We’re carrying around hours and hours of HD video in our
pockets or on our iPads, and pico projectors have stepped up their
game accordingly.
The newest generation of projector tech affords better color control,
contrast and focus. The latest crop is also brighter. Most picos pump
out between 15 and 50 lumens— you’ll still need a dark room, but
that’s a big improvement. Some models will also dress up your visuals
with additional processing like white balance correction and auto
keystone correction.
And what fun is Office Space on your cubicle wall without
great sound to match? Some of the units we tested glossed over that
part of the equation, but some of them crank out the decibels at a
level that rivals the best speaker docks.
Photo: Jens Mortensen