The Lenovo Pocket Projector, is Lenovo's first foray into
the projector market.
The Pocket Projector has a fresh approach to lens tilting that gives it a
distinctive appearance. Somewhat unusually, it offers wireless streaming of
content from computers and mobile devices, and can display photos and video
stored on memory cards with no wired connections, either to a computer or a
video source. It does a decent job handling both data and video.
Impeccable design and architecture
Attractively designed, The Pocket Projector measures 120mm x 110mm x 29.5mm easily fitting in ones outstretched hand and weighs180 grams. The projector is two-toned; its right side, as viewed from the front, is silver-gray, while its left side, which houses the lens, is a matte black. This color scheme is not just cosmetic; the entire left side swivels upward as far as 90 degrees while the right side remains in place, letting you point the lens at any angle between the full horizontal position and the ceiling. This gives you unusual flexibility in the height at which you place the projector relative to the screen.
Connecting
Although we did experience some dropped wireless
connections in testing. The exact cause of the lost connections is uncertain,
as the network I was testing on is usually reliable. Reconnecting is easy
enough, but it still is a nuisance.
Storage and Handling
Swiveling the lens upward reveals a microSD card slot on
the left side's inner edge. On the back of the right side are an On/Off button,
a headphone jack, and a Micro-USB port to charge the Pocket Projector (a USB
cable and wall adapter are included). On top of the right side is a four-way
controller with central OK button, plus a backspace button, for navigating the
projector's on-screen menus. (The projector does not come with a remote
control.) There's a built-in, rechargeable, 5,400mAh battery that, according to
Lenovo, should last 2.5 hours on a charge, similar to the results we saw in
testing.
With its LED light source, the Pocket Projector has a long
rated lamp life, up to 20,000 hours, so the bulb will likely last as long as
the projector itself. The light engine uses a Texas Instruments DLP chip. Its
native resolution (854 by 480) and rated brightness (50 lumens) are fairly
typical of a pico projector.
Connectivity
There are no physical ports for connecting the projector to a computer or video source. You can project content either from a microSD card placed in the projector's card slot, or wirelessly from a Mac or an iOS device, an Android smartphone or tablet, or a Windows computer, running Windows 8.1 or later and supports Miracast. From a microSD card (up to 32GB), you can show images in either PDF or JPG format, or video files in a variety of formats, MP4, AVI, MPEG, and MOV among them.
There are no physical ports for connecting the projector to a computer or video source. You can project content either from a microSD card placed in the projector's card slot, or wirelessly from a Mac or an iOS device, an Android smartphone or tablet, or a Windows computer, running Windows 8.1 or later and supports Miracast. From a microSD card (up to 32GB), you can show images in either PDF or JPG format, or video files in a variety of formats, MP4, AVI, MPEG, and MOV among them.
As for wireless connectivity, your computer or mobile
device must be connected to a Wi-Fi network. Depending on the computer, phone,
or tablet you're connecting to, the projector will either connect to the same
Wi-Fi network as your device (as is the case with an iPhone), or directly to
the device via a peer-to-peer connection (as is true with a Windows computer).
Performance
In testing, I projected photos and videos from a microSD card, and mirrored the screen of both my iPhone and Windows computer in viewing video as well as viewing Office files. I set the projector in a dark room about 4 feet from the screen, where it threw a 40-inch image (measured diagonally), which proved a good size for video. In a situation with a lot of ambient light, optimal image size was about 18 inches.
In testing, I projected photos and videos from a microSD card, and mirrored the screen of both my iPhone and Windows computer in viewing video as well as viewing Office files. I set the projector in a dark room about 4 feet from the screen, where it threw a 40-inch image (measured diagonally), which proved a good size for video. In a situation with a lot of ambient light, optimal image size was about 18 inches.
Video quality is decent for a pico projector running on a RK2928,
Single Core™ Cortex-A9 1.2 GHz processor. I saw rainbow artifacts (little
red-green-blue flashes) in the Pocket Projector's video often enough that they
would likely be annoying to those sensitive to them. Audio from the twin
single-watt speakers is predictably weak; if you want louder or higher-quality
sound, you could connect a pair of powered external speakers through the
audio-out jack.
Easy usage
The Pocket Projector can be used by businesses as well as
consumers. Image quality is ideal for typical presentations, with black text on
white reasonably sharp except at very small sizes. The only issue noted is a
minor color-balance issue; to the keen eye there appears to be slight reddish
tinge in some white backgrounds.
Conclusion
The Pocket Projector is Lenovo's first projector to come to market, and it's a good start. It has a swiveling lens that lets you project at an angle, a long life for its rechargeable battery, and it does a decent job in handling both data and video, if you're not too sensitive to the rainbow effect. Its video quality falls short but if you're happy with microSD and wireless connectivity, the Pocket Projector is a solid choice.
The Pocket Projector is Lenovo's first projector to come to market, and it's a good start. It has a swiveling lens that lets you project at an angle, a long life for its rechargeable battery, and it does a decent job in handling both data and video, if you're not too sensitive to the rainbow effect. Its video quality falls short but if you're happy with microSD and wireless connectivity, the Pocket Projector is a solid choice.
In Kenya, the Lenovo pocket projector is available exclusively at Fgee Online at just 28,999ksh.
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