[ad_1]
The Philips Pocket Projector PPX4350 Wireless ($399.99) weighs just 4.2 ounces and fits in a shirt pocket, making it of obvious interest if you need a pico projector. Its key limitation—that it doesn’t come with an AC adapter to let you keep using it when battery runs down—is frustrating, but fixable. While the battery keeps going, though, the PPX4350 Wireless( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) is a highly capable projector in an impressively small package. As long as you don’t need it for, say, watching a full-length movie, that may be enough.
At 0.7 by 2.1 by 3.8 inches (HWD), the PPX4350 Wireless is bigger than the Philips Pocket Projector PPX4010 ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) that I recently reviewed, but smaller than the vast majority of pico projectors—and lighter as well. At 50 lumens, it’s rated at a higher brightness than many competing models, including the Celluon PicoPro , our Editors’ Choice pico projector, which has a 32-lumen rating. The UO Smart Beam Laser Projector ($359.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) offers a 60-lumen rating, but its 2.2-inch cubical shape makes it hard to fit in a pocket.
Basics and Setup
The PPX4350 Wireless is built around a 640-by-360-resolution DLP chip paired with an LED light source. The resolution is unusual, and it’s a little low for reading text easily from a document or a spreadsheet. However, it’s half of 720p’s 1,280-by-720 resolution, with a native 16:9 aspect ratio. That makes the projector a poor option as a companion to a laptop for data projection, but a reasonable choice for watching widescreen video. The LED light source is meant to last the life of the projector, with a 30,000-hour rating.
For such a small model, the PPX4350 Wireless offers a surprising wealth of choices for image sources, including lots of connection options and a 4GB internal memory that it can read files from directly. If you don’t need a wireless connection, Philips says the identical projector is also available without the Wi-Fi dongle as the Philips Pocket Projector PPX4350 ($329.99)
Similar Products
Philips Pocket Projector PPX4010
Check Stock
(Opens in a new window)
Read Our Philips Pocket Projector PPX4010 Review
Celluon PicoPro
Read Our Celluon PicoPro Review
UO Smart Beam Laser Projector
Check Stock
(Opens in a new window)
Read Our UO Smart Beam Laser Projector Review
AAXA P4-X Pico Projector
Check Stock
(Opens in a new window)
Read Our AAXA P4-X Pico Projector Review
Epson PowerLite 1761W Multimedia Projector
Read Our Epson PowerLite 1761W Multimedia Projector Review
Optoma ML550
See It
(Opens in a new window)
Read Our Optoma ML550 Review
Dell 4220 Network Projector
Check Stock
(Opens in a new window)
Read Our Dell 4220 Network Projector Review
Optoma ML1000P
Check Stock
(Opens in a new window)
Read Our Optoma ML1000P Review
InFocus LightPro IN1146
Check Stock
(Opens in a new window)
Read Our InFocus LightPro IN1146 Review
Casio Slim XJ-A252
Check Stock
(Opens in a new window)
Read Our Casio Slim XJ-A252 Review
Celluon PicoAir
Check Stock
(Opens in a new window)
Read Our Celluon PicoAir Review
ZTE Spro 2 Smart Projector (AT&T)
Check Stock
(Opens in a new window)
Read Our ZTE Spro 2 Smart Projector (AT&T) Review
In addition to a Power switch on the left side of the PPX4350 Wireless, there are a mini HDMI port that also supports MHL, a microSD card slot that lets the projector read files directly from SD and SDHC cards, and a mini-plug audio-out port. In addition, there are two captured cables located on the left rear corner of the unit, with one offering a so-called male USB Type A connector on the free end, and the other offering a female USB Type A connector.
The male connector lets you charge the battery, either by plugging it into a computer or a third-party AC adapter. If you connect it to a PC, it also lets the PC see the 4GB internal memory as a USB drive, so you can copy files to it and manage them. The female connector lets you plug in a USB key to read files directly or connect the Wi-Fi dongle that comes with the projector and adds the ability to connect by Miracast and Apple Airplay. Finally, built-in Bluetooth lets you connect to a Bluetooth headset or speakers.
For my tests, I connected the PPX4350 Wireless to a computer and a Blu-ray player via HDMI for our standard tests, including DisplayMate(Opens in a new window) images, and also connected using Miracast. Setup is standard for each type of connection, with a thumbwheel on the top left of the projector, just behind the lens, for adjusting the image. Focusing is a little easier than with most thumbwheel-based adjustments, with the wheel clicking through a series of distinct steps. However, the low resolution puts anything sharper than soft focus out of reach.
Battery Woes
Philips rates the battery life for the PPX4350 Wireless at 90 minutes for the default Optimal (brightest) mode or 2 hours for Eco mode. Both are within the typical range for a pico projector with rechargeable batteries. Once the batteries dies, however, you’re pretty much dead in the water until you recharge it. With most small projectors, you can plug into a power source and keep going. With the PPX4350 Wireless, you can’t unless you have a sufficiently high-power AC adapter.
The PPX4350 Wireless is actually running off the battery even when it’s connected to a power source. If you let the battery fully run down, it takes 5 to 10 minutes for it to charge enough for the projector to work again. But even then, in my tests with the projector connected to a computer’s USB port and to a 1-amp charger, the battery drained faster than it charged, quickly dying again. It even died during testing when I tried fully charging it first, and then connecting to a USB port for power while using it.
This could be seriously annoying if you’re trying to watch something that takes longer than the battery can last. The only way around it is to buy a third-party 2-ampere charger. The good news is that you may already have one. My latest phone came with a fast charger, for example, which turned out to offer 2 amps and let the projector work even after the battery died. The amperage for any charger you have should be written on the charger itself. Still, for the projectors’ price, not bundling in an AC adapter is puzzling.
Brightness and Image Quality
Based on the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendations, the 50-lumen rating for the PPX4350 Wireless makes it bright enough for extended viewing in theater-dark lighting for a 27- to 37-inch image (measured diagonally) at the projector’s native 16:9 aspect ratio and assuming a 1.0-gain screen. In moderate ambient light, the size drops to 18 to 20 inches. For short sessions, you can easily use a larger image without tiring your eyes.
See How We Test Projectors
Quality for data images is severely limited by the low resolution. It’s good enough for PowerPoint slides or the like with just a few lines of large text, but text at typical sizes for a document or a spreadsheet was hard to read in our tests. On the plus side, colors in graphics are suitably vibrant and well saturated, and I saw rainbow artifacts rarely enough in our tests that it’s unlikely anyone would find them bothersome.
Video quality is best described as good enough to be watchable, but far from impressive. At 640 by 360, the PPX4350 Wireless delivers even lower native resolution than you would get from a standard-definition TV (SDTV), which leads to a soft-focus look compared with anything you’re likely used to. However, color is well within the realm of reasonable.
I saw rainbow artifacts often enough in a black-and-white video clip in my tests that those who see these artifacts easily and are bothered by them may find them annoying. However, with color clips in my tests, they showed infrequently enough that it’s unlikely anyone would consider them an issue.
Surprisingly, the 1-watt speaker puts out enough volume to be all you’ll need if you’re sitting within two or three feet of the projector. If you prefer, however, you can connect to a headset or speakers using the mini-plug audio output or Bluetooth.
Conclusion
For a laptop companion, be sure to consider the Philips PPX4010, which is the smallest projector in this group and designed specifically to work with a laptop PC. The laser-based UO Smart Beam and Editors’ Choice Celluon PicoPro and the LED-based Philips Pocket projector PPX4350 Wireless are all better choices for connecting to other image sources more easily. Both laser-based models have a higher resolution than the PPX4350 Wireless, and automatically focus at any distance from the screen. However, the PPX4350 Wireless is the only one that can read files directly from an SD card or its own internal memory.
3.5
(Opens in a new window)
(Opens in a new window)
View More
The Philips Pocket Projector PPX4350 Wireless delivers watchable video and lots of connectivity options. But at $400 it should come with the AC charger required to run it when the battery dies.
[ad_2]
Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/philips-pocket-projector-ppx4350-wireless