Think for a moment about the wealth of video content available to iPhone owners. You’ve got YouTube, BBC iPlayer, Joost, Daily Motion and of course the treasure trove of video content that is the iTunes Store – movies, TV shows, music videos, video podcasts, etc. What other phone, or indeed other handheld playback device, has access to so much video media?
Not too surprisingly then the iPhone is a stonkingly good media player. I’m sure I’m not the only one that has watched many hours of video on the iPhone’s glorious display. But there are times when you want to share the experience. Thankfully Apple endowed the iPhone with a pleasing TV output mode. Often overlooked the TV output feature is quite powerful, providing control over aspect ratios and image scaling. Combining TV out with a half decent TV will get you more than acceptable results for the most part, even when viewing video from some of the streaming services such as BBC iPlayer.
Imagine then using this TV output feature to watch your favourite movie or TV show in bed, on a display not limited to the size of that 10 year old portable TV that you really should have dumped by now! But rather, on a display roughly equivalent to the entire width of your king-sized mattress! That the kind of experience is made possible thanks to a new breed of pocket projectors that use LED technology.
The Optoma Pico Projector PK101 is perhaps the best pocket projector available at the beginning of 2009. In a pleasingly designed case, not much bigger than the iPhone, the PK101 contains a cutting edge projection unit based on LED and TI’s DLP technology. Capable of projecting an image about 1.6M across, the PK101 uses 3 LED technology to produce an image that has the kind of colour accuracy you’ll not see in other lesser pico projectors such as the 3M’s Mpro.
Check the video above for a full review, but if you’re in hurry here are the main points you need to take away with you:
- Projects an image up to about 1.6M across!
- Works best in a dark room.
- The built-in speaker is pretty much useless.
- Battery life is around 45-60 minutes for each battery.
- Can be charged via USB.
- Has manual focus, but no other image controls.
- Is shockingly good quality for its size.
- Can be used for a quick family photo slideshow, 1978 style!
It’s hard to find fault with the PK101. I guess if you were being picky you could say that the battery life is a tad short and the internal speaker far too quiet. But for its size and price (between £250 – £300) it really is something quite special. In fact, it’s almost worth the asking price just to see how far jaws drop when you treat your friends and family to some iPhone entertainment Pico style!