Did you know that smartphone technology has advanced so much in the last 13 or so years since the launch of the iPhone, the popularity of Android phones, and the rise and fall of Blackberries, and so forth that they’re practically handheld computers? It’s true. You can do anything with them. You can use them as a camera, a gaming device, a movie or music archive, streaming or browsing gadget, and so forth. The only problem is that their display is usually too small to give you a cinematic movie-viewing experience.
Thankfully, you can link up a projector with an iPhone or iPad to get you big-screen privileges using mostly handheld or portable devices. Our pick for the best mini projector for iPhones and iPads is the TOPVISION Mini Projector for Smartphones and Tablets. Why? It’s because it’s fully compatible with many of the latest versions of iPhones and iPads. It can be used for presentations like with your laptop or with movie-viewing like with your DVD or BD player.
How to Connect an iPhone or iPad to a Projector With a Cable
A simple adapter cable is usually enough to connect your iPhone to a projector. Every projector has a video cable used to connect to notebook PCs, tablets, and phones whose content will then, in turn, be projected through its lens and screen. That’s what’s needed here. The beauty of TOPVISION is that you can easily link it with an iPad or iPhone without needing an adapter (more on this later), but if you wish to use an adapter that can work too.
- Apple Digital AV Adapter Cable: The simple adapter cable by Apple Inc. is your best bet to connect your iPhone or iPad to a projector like the TOPVISION Mini Projector. You might need an adapter for your iPhone or iPad because it lacks a standard video port. You’re lucky if the projector comes with an adapter cable and port for your phone or tablet, but usually, it doesn’t and it mostly has USB or HDMI ports instead.
There are two adapters for you to choose from that Apple sells for the projector or monitor linkage.
- Lightning to VGA Adapter: This adapter allows you to link your iPhone’s Lightning port on the bottom to connect it to standard VGA video cables that many a projector should also include. Don’t get a USB adapter though. Those are typically reserved for flash drives. It’s better to get the VGA or HDMI adapter instead.
- Lightning Digital AV Adapter: Speaking of HDMI, the Lightning Digital AV Adapter is specifically suited to link your iPhone or iPad to an HDMI cable that then links to the HDMI port present in nearly all projectors of the 2010s and 2020s. For vintage iPhones with their 30-pin dock connector, they include video cable adapters available for those models as well.
- USB Cable or Lightning to USB Adapter: You normally can’t link an iPhone or iPad to a projector with a USB cable. Why? The projector reads or interprets the iPhone as a USB Flash Drive instead of a media player or source. You can access the files on your phone but you can’t mirror its actual user interface. The TOPVISION Mini Projector is different. A simple USB cable or Lightning to USB cable leads to screen mirroring. This is a feature unique to TOPVISION.
If you regularly use a specific projector type for your iPad or iPhone, you can simply buy a specific set of cables for that projector. For example, use HDMI adapters for all projectors or perhaps VGA with the 30-pin cable and screws on either side for more vintage ones. Remember that HDMI is the thin, wide plug that’s mostly used for linking devices to HDTVs.
If you’re always on the go and you wish to use your iPhone or iPad for presentations on different available projectors instead of movie-viewing, then you can have both cables on hand. However, if you’re instead using it for movies and TV shows, an HDMI adapter will mostly suffice.
How to Connect Your iPhone or iPad to a Projector Wirelessly?
There are two ways to connect your iPhone or iPad to your projector wirelessly. You can broadcast it through your Wi-Fi connection or through the help of a wireless dongle. It either uses the Internet or it uses its own wireless waves transmitted by dongle or transceiver to a receiver on the HDMI end of your projector. As for Internet connections, you can link up your projector through devices like Chromecast or Apple Fire TV Stick in order to also link up to
- Depends on Projector-to-Projector: Wirelessly linking your iPad or iPhone to your projector varies from a projector to a projector. In the case of the TOPVISION, wireless connection via a dongle, an Internet streaming device, or by Apple TV can work as well as a simple cable that comes with the device. Other projectors include instructions for connecting when you turn them on. They can link to any device that also connects with your Wi-Fi Internet connection.
- In Most Cases It’s Through Wi-Fi: In most cases, a projector uses your Wi-Fi and Internet to network with your phone to establish a connection. Just follow the instructions on the screen or given to you by instruction booklet. From there, you can use or mirror the display on your iPhone screen to your projector. You can even orient the screen from portrait to landscape as easily as you would with your iPhone (by moving the phone sideways).
- Apple TV: Connect your projector to your Apple TV by wire. The iPad and iPhone can mirror its display wireless to Apple TV using Airplay. From there, connect your iPhone or iPad to the same Wi-Fi network as the Apple TV and projector. Open the Control Center on the TV and tap on the screen mirroring button. Tap the name of the Apple TV you wish to connect to. In newer iOS versions, the iPhone screen will appear to the projector linked to the Apple TV. Move the mirroring slider from on/green then tap done in order to begin your presentation.
What Does TOPVISION Bring to The Table?
TOPVISION, first and foremost, is a mini projector specifically made in order to connect to many types and models of smartphones and tablets, particularly iOS devices like iPhones and iPads as well as Androids. It’s a projector capable of synchronizing or mirroring your iPhone/iPad screen with up to 1080p support.
You can view pictures, do presentations, and play any movies that you can play on your phone or tablet. You can also use your phone to play Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime then mirror it on your projector so that you don’t need a Chromecast or Amazon FireStick to stream exclusive online content.
- Synchronization with Your Smartphone Screen: It’s TOPVISION’s specialty to connect itself to your iPhone or iPad as well as your MacBook as well as various other laptops, tablets, and Android phones. It can connect to other devices under the Wi-Fi environment or through an HDMI adapter. The roughly 3-pound mini projector is also unique in that it links to your phone with a USB cable. Usually, most projectors require an HDMI adapter linkage. With TOPVISION, you can use its Lightning USB cable available for iPhone linkage.
- The Benefits of iPhone and iPad Connectivity: The TOPVISION Mini Projector isn’t only limited to iPad and iPhone connectivity, but it specializes in those two because it caters to a niche of customers that use their smartphones for business and home video projection purposes. These devices are practically handheld computers in their own right. It’s therefore handy to have a mini projector that’s fully compatible with them, thus allowing you more travel flexibility. You can use these devices for home cinema and presentation purposes, in short.
- Wide Compatibility and Streaming Limits: Aside from iPhones and iPads, you can also link the projector to TF cards with a maximum of 32 gigabytes of storage, USB sticks, various laptops, HDTVs, various tablets, Android phones, DVD players, BD players, the Amazon FireStick, SD cards, AV devices, USB Flash Drives, laptops, PCs, and much more. This way, you have more flexibility in your viewing experience. Just keep in mind, the projector doesn’t support play-protected videos due to copyright from Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. Just because it specializes in iPhone and iPad compatibility doesn’t mean it’s limited to them.
- Multimedia Home Projector That’s Also Portable: It’s both a business projector with a 16:10 aspect ratio and a video projector that can play high-fidelity HD movies and TV shows because it’s a multimedia home projector with extra portability options to make it as mobiles like the iPhone and iPad it’s compatible too. It’s not like other projectors that are limited to presentations and business conferences or movie and TV display applications. It’s literally able to mix business and pleasure or home entertainment together just like how your phone or tablet can be used for work and play. That’s how flexible TOPVISION’s mini projector is.
- Works in Both Darkness and Light: Just as the iPad and iPhone can be used in various lighting conditions with the right adjustments (day mode and night mode), so too can the 3,200-lumen TOPVISION can be used in both the dark environment of a home cinema or theater and the daytime environment of school conference or work convention. Its display doesn’t easily fade or become muddy in the presence of ambient light or even daylight as long as you have enough shade to spare. That’s because 3,200 lux is quite bright and specifically made with business presentations in mind (conference rooms can get quite bright inside them).
- The Excellence of a 3200 Lux LED Video Projector: What does it mean that the TOPVISION Mini Projector is a 3,200 lux LED video projector? It means it has a brightness of 3,200 lux or lumens, which is plenty bright for your daylight, backyard, or conference room projection needs. It can withstand quite a lot of ambient light from the sun or light fixtures while still remaining bright enough for your audience to see. Also, it uses an LED (Light Emitting Diode) environmental lamp that can last for more than 50,000 hours. You can enjoy quite a lot of home theater movies or do thousands of presentations under such a long-lasting lamp.
- The Luxury of TOPVISION’s 3200 Lux Projector: Many LED projectors out there can only go up to 2,800 lumens. By going the TOPVISION Mini Projector route, you can use your tablet and smartphone to do projections on various lighting conditions, whether it’s in the darkness of a home cinema or the bright lights of a classroom with the window curtains pulled up. You can even dare use the projector for glamour camping or glamping since you need both portable devices and the brightest projector possible to make movie-viewing in camp possible.
- LED Is Forever with TOPVISION’s LED Lamp: TOPVISION also features a lamp that isn’t only one of the brightest in the industry of business and home cinema projectors. It’s also among the longest-lasting LED lamps around. The lamp can last for more than 50,000 hours or about 30 years of regular use without changing the lamp at all. It’s not that expensive to change the lamp either, so you can enjoy 60 years or a lifetime of usage out of your projector with just a single LED lamp replacement (as long as the projector itself can last for 60 years).
- The Perfect Home Cinema Experience: The TOPVISION Mini Projector might sound like a business projector with its intense lux and LED lifespan numbers, but it’s actually a dual or hybrid projector that can accomplish both presentations and home entertainment jobs superbly. This portable mini projector that’s so small you can take it out for camping can also be used for a home cinema. It’s small enough to allow for easy rigging, mounting, or placement anywhere in your living room or “man cave”. It also has a contrast ratio of 2000:1 and a 16:10 aspect ratio that can adapt to the 16:9 widescreen requirements of most shows or movies.
- Viewing Specs Galore from a Gift of a Projector: The throw distance of the projector is at 1.5 meters to 5.2 meters or 5 feet to 17 feet. The projection size can also vary from 50 inches to 176 inches. In other words, it can be as compact as a medium-sized HDTV screen or as big as a wall or a drive-through theater inflatable screen. 3 meters or 10 feet is the recommended viewing distance when watching something from the projector with your family and/or friends. This is the distance that’s most relaxing to your eyes and won’t cause it unnecessary strain. It also comes with its built-in hi-fi speakers but usually using home cinema or Bluetooth speakers instead is preferable.
- Adjustments Required to Get a Clear Image: The projector has a ±15 keystone correction in case you’ve decided to go all-in on your decision to use the portable devices for camping entertainment. An iPad might even have the processing power of a laptop sans the keyboard and mouse, thus allowing you to play more intense computer games that your iPhone can’t handle. Regardless, don’t forget to adjust the focus ring for good measure to get a clearer picture from your TOPVISION Mini Projector even when dealing with awkward angles or throw distances. By the way, its tempered glass lens has superior thermal stability to ensure high-temperature resistance even when watching movies outdoors in the summer.
- Lifetime Technical Support: Another thing that made us fall in love with TOPVISION is its lifetime technical support for its projector. No other smartphone-compatible projector in our shortlist had such topnotch conditions for repair and troubleshooting. Just register the product after receiving it from the mail or from the shop. This way, you can get a 3-month extension to return the device if damaged and a 24-months guarantee. If you have any further questions about the device, you can contact TOPVISION’s customer service for more info. We did so and got extra information about its specs that helped out our research further.
When All Is Said and Done
TOPVISION Mini Projector supports 176-inch displays or the widest of projector screens. Its LED lamp has 50,000 hours of service. It’s also compatible with DVD players, laptops, cable TV or satellite boxes, VGA, HDMI, Roku, and the Fire TV Stick. However, its main claim to fame in this article is its ease of use when mirroring content on your iPhone or iPad. A USB cable is enough to mirror either device type’s screen via the projector. It can also be linked through Wi-Fi or adapters in case you want alternative ways of projection connection.
You can always depend on the lovable tandem of the TOPVISION Mini Projector and your iPhone/iPad whether you’re leading a business seminar or hosting movie night (indoors or outdoors). You can mirror the screen of your iPhone unto your projector and pretty much do anything with it, from watch movies or prepare presentations through a presentation app. It’s less bulky to do presentations with an iPad or iPhone. You don’t need as many wires or plugs to play movies with a smartphone either. You can even play mobile games through the iPhone/iPad and projector connection.
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