3M

The nice folks at AAXA has sent us one of their new L1 laser pico projectors for review. Just for your information, AAXA is an advertiser here at picoprojector-info, but I'll try to be as objective as possible.

The L1 Pico-Projector is a small laser-driven LCoS pico-projector (800x600, 20 lumens). It is focus-free, which is great (more on this later). It can accept RCA/VGA/S-Video inputs, and can also read files from a USB key (which is very useful). It's got a little bit of internal memory (160Mb) - which only makes sense for documents or presentations. The L1 costs $599, it's an expensive pico!

The nice guys over at Ray Displays have sent us a Ray Projector for a review. The Ray is an LCoS projector with 640x480 resolution and 8-10 lumens. The Ray costs $199 (available in Ray Displays' web site).

What's in the box

Apart from the projector, you also get an operation manual, a small tripod, a charger and a host of cables and connectors: RCA cable and coupler, and 3 A/V cables - 2.5mm, 3.5mm and another 'white' 3.5mm (compatible with Apple iPod and iPhone video output).

Update: I just got word from 3M that the MPro-150 is *not* actually shipping yet - this is an error in their web site. The release date is still 'early February'. 

3M's new MPro-150 pico projector is now shipping. You can get it for $395 over at 3M's own store. It costs $10 less at Amazon, but it's still not shipping. You can pre-order, and it'll probably start shipping within a few days. The MPro-150 is 3M's third pico-projector. It looks pretty much like the MPro-120, but it's brighter (15 lumens), and adds built-in memory (1Gb) and removable micro SD card (it comes with a 2Gb SD card). The MPro-150 supports Office documents, PDFs and Audio/Video files.

3M Mpro-150

Taiwan's RoyalTek has released their first pico-projector, the RPJ-2000. It's a stand-alone projector (with no internal memory) that uses 3M's 2nd-generation LCoS engine. It's available now in Taiwan and in Europe (219 euro for the basic version). It got approval from Apple - being compatible with the iPhone and iPod (the connectivity kit costs 30 euro extra). It's also very quiet, as it uses Quanta's no-fan cooling tech. RoyalTek hopes to ship around 60,000 units next year - through their own brand, and through ODMs.

RoyalTek RPJ-2000

RoyalTek wants to develop 5 new pico-projectors in 2010. One of them will be a equipped with digital TV - just in time for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. They hope that football fans will buy it and be able to view the games anywhere, and on any surface.

Via Computex Biz

The Aiptek T20 notebook pico-projector is now available for 199.99$. This tiny (85 grams!) device is designed to use with notebooks - it does not have a battery, and is powered from a USB port. It uses a 3M LCoS engine - VGA resolution and up to 42" images.

Aiptek T20

UPDATE: The contest is over... we have a winner, which will soon get a 3M MPro-120 pico projector...

Do you want a 3M MPro-120 pico projector? 3M were kind enough to give us one of these cool gadgets to give away to our readers. This LCoS based 2nd-generation projector has 640x480 resolution and 12 lumens brightness, and can project images up to 50". And it's small - like a mobile phone (okay, maybe a bit larger...). Here's our in-depth review.

3M MPro-120

How to enroll:

It's dead easy - just follow us on twitter, and send the following message "Entering into the PicoProjector giveaway. To participate, follow @projectorpico and retweet this message". That's it.

3M are currently offering two projectors, and they have lowered the price of both:

• The new MPro-120 now costs 309$ (down from 327$). It's a 640x480, 12 lumens LCoS based projector with a 4-hour battery life (at low brightness).
• The MPro-110 now costs 171$ (down from 230$). It offers the same resolution and brightness as the MPro-120, but has a lower battery life (the older engine is less efficient, and the battery is smaller).

3M MPro-120 pico projector

A couple of months after sending us a MPro-120 projector for review, 3M were kind enough to answer a few questions we had. The person we interview here is Gabe Wiebenga, the product manager of the MPro range of pico projectors.

3M's latest projector is the MPro-120. It is LCoS based, has 12 lumens, 640x480 resolution, and works for 20,000 hours. It has a very good battery life (4 hours at low brightness, 2 hours at max brightness). The MPro-120, which also includes stereo speakers costs 309$.

3M is one of the market leaders in providing handheld battery operated projectors and mobile projection engines and components.

I had an interesting discussion with Karl Guttag from Syndiant, about the difference types pico-projectors, I thought it was a good idea to turn it into a post (thanks Karl!).

There are three main types of pico-projectors:

• Stand-alone: These are devices that are essentially just a projector. They receive the input via a cable (A/V, USB, etc) and cannot display anything unless you use another device to stream the video signal. Sometimes these include speakers, too. Examples include the 3M MPro-120, Optoma's PK-100 and PK-101 and Microvision's upcoming laser-based Show WX.
• Media-player: These projectors also include on-board memory (or a memory-card slot) and can play files directly from the memory. Obviously the projector needs to support the file type you want to view, whether it is photos, videos or audio files. Examples include the AAXA P2 and the Optoma PK-102. Some of these projectors actually include a mini PC. The Allcam CP1 actually runs Win-CE, and thus can show Office documents, includes a touchpad controller and can be hooked to external mouse and keyboard. It's a bit bigger and heavier than the average pico-projector, though.
• Embedded projector: in this case the light-engine is added to an existing product (projector-phone, camera, laptop, PDA, etc.) as an accessory. Examples include the Samsung Show phone and Nikon's Coolpix s1000pj camera.

The 3M Mpro-120 is 3M's second generation pico projector. The new MM200 projection engine is LCoS based, has 12 lumens, 640x480 resolution, and works for 20,000 hours. One of the major improvements is the battery life - 4 hours at low brightness, and 2 hours at max brightness. The MPro-120, which also includes stereo speakers costs 309$.

3M has kindly sent us one for review.

First impressions

One of the first things you notice about the MPro-120 is that it's a very high-quality product. It looks and feels great. Even the accessories are good - the charger has nice changeable plug connector (US, UK, Europe and NZ/AU plugs), for example, and the leather bag is a nice touch.

What you get in the box:

• The projector
• A nice leather bag
• A tripod
• A tiny manual
• A charger, with changeable plug connectors
• 2 Connectors - one for A/V component input, one with VGA and stereo-in
• 3 Female-to-male RCA converters

There isn't a lot to say about the projector itself. On the front you got the lens and the focus wheel. In the back you have the VGA or A/V connector, and the DC-In. On the top you have 4 buttons: volume +/-, brightness and battery status, and also the main power switch. You have a small LED which shows the battery status (full, empty, charging).

Finally, on the bottom you have the tripod connector, and also a small 'flip down' stand..