A mini portable projector might or might not be of the pico variety. However, if it’s a handheld projector, chances are it’s a pico projector. It’s also likelier that it’s a Digital Light Processing (DLP) projector as well.
Single-panel LCD technology can be miniaturized, but DLP chips are likelier to outdo them in every important aspect that makes a portable projector so beneficial—from brightness to portability to image quality.
Regardless, check out this detailed guide on mini portable projectors and why we recommend the Kodak Ultra Mini.
Why We Recommend the Kodak Ultra Mini Portable Projector
Here’s the deal when it comes to the Kodak Ultra Mini Portable Projector. It represents everything that’s great about a mini portable projector or even mobile devices across the board. It’s small but not terrible. It’s instead amazingly high-quality when it comes to its imagery.
The resulting image can fit quite the large screen at a relatively ultra-short throw distance, meaning you only need a nearby table to mount it in order to watch your film or TV show from up close. As expected of the Kodak brand.
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What to Look for When Buying a Mini Portable Projector
The key features you should watch out for when shopping for a mini projector are the following. First and foremost, it should have advanced technology because only advanced technology can allow a projector that small to perform excellently.
Brightness
Naturally, your projector should be bright. DLP is exceptionally bright at this size, particularly the 60 ANSI lumens of Kodak. Just remember that this size of projector requires dark theater settings for the best results.
Ambient light is especially unforgiving when it comes to mini projectors. You need improvised spaces in order to control lighting where you’re supposed to use these display devices. You still need extra brightness to see the full quality in HD or Ultra HD.
DLP is better because single-panel LCD projectors have low transmittance. You need multi-panel LCD to compete, but those are bigger and more expensive. For something battery-powered, it’s bright enough to be used outdoors (in the shade).
Portability
Another reason why people use the mini projector is its portability. You can take it with you like a laptop or smartphone. However, just because it’s small doesn’t mean it should be terrible at its job. Its portability should be tempered with quality.
Therefore, it’s not just about finding a small enough projector. It’s also getting the smallest possible projector about the size of a smartphone yet getting smartphone-like functionality about it, making it indispensable for your business trips and vacations.
A projector should produce quality pictures while remaining light and small. Single-panel LCD projectors—even miniature ones—tend to be bigger in size. DLPs, on the other hand, dominate the pico and mini projector market.
Image Quality
Don’t sacrifice portability with image quality. However, if you want both portability and image quality, you might have to pay extra for it. This is the balancing act you should take into consideration when getting a mini projector.
How do you measure image quality? It’s simple. If your pico projector produces an image bright enough, big enough, and smooth enough to give the imagery of standard-sized projectors a run for their money, then you’ve gotten your hands on a good mini projector.
Good image quality hinges on tech (DLP over single-panel LCD), the brightness of the light source, optical elements of the projector lens, and projector placement. Buying a reputable portable projector will ensure you of professional image quality at a fraction of the price.
DLP versus Single-Panel LCD
When it comes to pico or mini projectors, you should buy a reputable DLP projector from the likes of Kodak or its close competitor, BenQ. Why? It’s because they offer the best quality and materials. They’re renowned companies that craft small projectors with commercial cinema-level image quality.
Your home system will get the best possible results from them instead of a single-panel LCD. Let’s talk about the pros and cons of each.
- Brightness: DLP is a highly reflective type of projector. Therefore, it has a higher brightness even though the ANSI lumens it has is comparatively lower than a standard-sized projector made for outdoor use (it has 60 ANSI lumens versus 3,000 and above ANSI lumens).
However, when compared to the single-panel LCD, DLP pico projectors offer superior brightness since they can only accomplish 4% to 6% light transmission. An LCD mini projector requires the darkest of home cinema rooms for sure.
- Portability: Hands down, a DLP projector like the one from Kodak has superior portability simply because with DLP micro-mirror tech and chips, you can go smaller yet retain or surpass technological quality every time. After all, DLP chips are way smaller.
In contrast, LCD chips are 5-6 inches big, so their mini projectors are more the size of lunchboxes or even a whole game console in comparison to the mobile device size you can achieve from a DLP projector.
- Image Quality: Sure, DLPs aren’t perfect quality-wise. With them, unless you pay extra for improved DLP tech, you will tend to suffer from the rainbow effect where you’ll see rainbow afterimages every time the video has fast movement in it.
However, DLP still has an edge over LCD since LCD is the older standard and requires the bigness of the standard-sized projector in order to showcase its rainbow-free benefits Many LCDs have tech repurposed from smartphones versus DLP pro-tech.
What Does the Kodak Ultra Mini Portable Projector Bring to the Table?
The Kodak Ultra Mini Portable Projector offers best-in-class performance at 9.25 watts of wattage and 60 ANSI lumens of brightness that’s quite reflective for a projector of its size and mobility. This package offers you not only the Kodak projector but also an integrated 1-watt speaker.
Furthermore, the device comes with effortless onboard controls and, most importantly, a big screen image at ultra short throw distance. It truly is the tiniest movie projector in the world, but its image is anything but tiny.
Technical Details
The projector has a 100-inch max screen size, 1300:1 contrast, 640×360 native resolution, 2-hour max playback, and 25-60 ANSI lumen brightness. It’s also lightweight at 150 grams and the size of 3.1 inches by 3.1 inches by 0.79 inches.
It’s also compatible with smartphones, laptops, and tablets. It can connect with the Samsung Galaxy, Android phones, iPads, iOS iPhones, Apple Macs, and Windows PC computers. Or it’s supposed to, but some formats require outright adaptors to work.
Contemporary Compatibility
Yes, we’ve mentioned Apple device compatibility issues as one of its cons. However, there are ways to finagle a connection, including Lightning to HDMI adapters. Regardless, it’s highly compatible to a wide variety of devices.
It has an onboard media player as well so that it can play media on its own rather than requiring a BD or DVD player linkup. It has an integrated MicroSD, USB, and HDMI hookup plus a 3.5mm audio input as well.
Ways to Enjoy
We love the Kodak Ultra Mini Portable Projector because of how versatile it is. It represents everything that’s great about a portable projector. You can use it indoors or outdoors since it’s bright enough to work even in daylight (at the shade, though).
You can also hook it up to your laptop or smartphone in order to watch media from there. Its pocket-sized power offers you up to 2 hours of movie excellence until requiring a recharge. It’s also useful for presentations with clients and slideshows at the office.
Various Other Applications
You can get creative with your applications for this projector, including projecting photos for tracing onto confectionaries or nightly watches of your favorite shows at camp in lieu of an HDTV or smartphone (since its screen is way bigger).
With its size, it can fit on a tripod to make mounting and placement a breeze. You can use walls or an actual accompanying screen in order to make its display as large as possible with this tripod setup. Just make sure the mounting screw is the right size.
Conclusion
If you’re considering getting a mini or pocket projector, the best and brightest (literally) one by our estimation is the Kodak Ultra Mini Portable Projector. This palmtop-sized projector is both an ultra-short-throw projector and a pico projector in one package.
For roughly $170 or so (prices vary), it fulfills the requirements of what a mini projector is all about then shatters all expectations by delivering extra brightness than the average projector of its type and price range.
References:
- “Kodak Ultra Mini Portable Projector – HD 1080p Support“, Amazon.com, Retrieved April 7, 2021