In mobile business, smaller is almost always better. However, as mobile technology grows smaller I find that the display often suffers. Although the displays on mobile devices have increasingly impressive specs, there is always one category that they are lacking in – size. The largest tablets are only about 10 inches diagonally, and this size can really take the sizzle out of your reel during an important meeting. The solution? Toss a pocket sized projector into your travel bag!
Vivitek has released a product dubbed the Qumi that’s a perfect mobile display. This projector is bright (up to 300 lumens) and weighs less than a pound and a half, which is roughly the weight of a tablet or less than half a laptop. The Qumi uses LED technology which improves durability and brightness while reducing power consumption. It’s also 3D-ready thanks to a Texas Instruments chipset. The Qumi’s connectivity options allow it to be used with lots of devices, such as smart phones, laptops, netbooks, tablets and cameras.
Features:
- Native HD 720p resolution
- Up to 300 lumens of brightness
- Estimated 30,000 hours of operation
- USB and MicroSD slots for content and memory expansion
- 3D-Ready via DLP® Link™
- Connectivity options: Mini-HDMI, Universal I/O, AV mini-jack, mini-jack audio-out
- 1.4 pounds and available in black or white finish
Full specs can be seen on the Vivitek site.
Similarly, 3M has introduced some new pocket projectors. One I’d like to highlight is the MP180. At only 32 lumens it’s not nearly as bright, but the MP180 offers a different and impressive class of features. Unlike the Qumi, the MP180 is battery powered which allows you to give presentations for hours even when away from a power source. Secondly, this device has an easy-to-use touch screen interface. It also features on-board wifi and 4 gigs of upgradable storage. The wifi and storage means that you can use the device itself to browse the web or grab that file you forgot. More information can be found at the MP180 product page.
The bottom line for me is that both are really great pocket projectors. At a recent press event I had the opportunity to try them both and found them to be impressive. The Qumi was definitely a better quality projector with a brighter picture and more definition (so much so that I considered replacing my home television with one to save space in my small apartment.) However, the MP180 was the most portable projector. Because you don’t need to plug it in and it includes speakers and file storage on-board, you can literally do a presentation in the middle of the woods with nothing but this device and the side of your tent.