The end result is this: The Mint V10 Projector. Made by Taiwanese company Aiptek and measuring in at 125 x 55 x 23mm, it can project an image size of 50 inches from just 1.8 metres away. It can be partnered with pretty much anything, from a DVD player to your PS3, and it literally fits in your jeans pocket.
The LED lamp is supposedly good for 20,000 hours worth of viewing, and unlike traditional projectors, there’s no need to warm it up before you start your impromptu Powerpoint presentation on a business flight to LA.
The rechargeable Li-ion battery will give you about an hours worth of viewing time, while an SD card slot compliments the 1GB of internal memory, giving you the power of photo slideshows everywhere. Resolution is decent at 640×480 in 4:3 aspect ratio, while inbuilt stereo speakers will supply you with your movie soundtrack.
Inside the box, when the V10 launches in September, will be a 3-in-1 cable for audio and video, plus a tripod for secure viewing. And if you get really excited, you can chuck some MP4, AVI, ASF, MP3 or.JPEG on the inbuilt storage for constant entertainment.
Considering how cramped full of features this sounds on paper, the asking price of $649 sounds like a good deal. But there’s definitely going to be some sacrifices in quality for video in a device like this. The question is – does the convenience of the small form factor outweigh the quality limitations?
That’s for you to decide…