Pocket projectors are a specialty category that is extremely competitive. With its Pocket Projector (resolution 854×480 only), Lenovo enters a heavily contested segment with players like ZTE and others. For anyone who has had to travel with a full-size projector, the benefits of these smaller version is rather obvious: for a fraction of the weight, it is possible to have a very decent 1-1 presentation, and when your work is done, you won’t have to wait until the lamp has cooled down before re-packaging the projector and move onto your next appointment.
The Pocket Projector is designed to work with an Android smartphone or tablet connected over DLNA (over Ethernet) or Miracast (wireless display connectivity), both of which are popular technologies, suitable to share both still pictures (JPG), audio files (MP3), or video files (MP4, AVI). There are two integrated speaker (0.5W) to output audio. Don’t expect a cinematic experience, but they should get the job done for presentation purposes, or when watching TV shows. There’s also a 3.5mm headphones connector if you want to keep the sound down.
It is also possible to use the projector as a stand-alone device, thanks to its 32GB of internal storage (it’s a microSD) that can accommodate a rather large media library. When doing that, you lose the benefit of using your Android apps, which is OK for basic photos and videos projection.
The Pocket Projector is small and can be setup to accommodate various vertical projection angles. The brightness specifications is 50-Lumens, which is decent for a projector this size, but keep in mind that full-size portable projectors can top 800 Lumens (20,000 hours LED average life span), and that brightness will decrease as the size increases. In theory, the Lenovo Pocket Projector can output a 110-inch image (at DVD-resolution, I’m not sure I’d go beyond 40”, personally), but it’s best to do that in a dark room.
The pocket projector has a built-in battery that let it run for 150mn (2.5 hrs)and it costs $199 and will start shipping in March.
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