Today we spotted an interesting gadget for you by Aiptek, based in Hsinchu, Taiwan. They are known for their video products and especially for their projector technology. They now also have a portable gadget, called MobileCinema i60, which connects your smartphone as video source for the projection.
Recently we showed you a DIY smartphone hologram projector video but the Aiptek MobileCinema i60 is meant for 2D projections onto an even surface like a wall or canvas. Sounds neat, right? Let’s have a look at the technical key specs.
Light
The projector uses LED technology to deliver a 70 lumens projection and the 640 x 480 pixel (VGA) resolution can stretch to a 60 inch display size on a distance of about 6.5 feet. While this makes for an “ok-quality”, it seems that this is far from up-to-date even in the consumer electronics space. It’s very likely that you will need to turn off the light to enjoy a presentation, a photo slideshow, or a movie with that 70 lumens. Laser technology could have been a better choice, as this is also the trend in commercial projection technology.
Resolution
VGA resolution is also a tough limitation. Mostly media has been standardized in widescreen formats, which will lead to black-bars in the projection, when watching a movie, stealing some of the displayed picture. For photos in landscape format a 4:3 format is still considered normal but if you view photos in portrait format this will again cause the media to be displayed in a smaller space, unless you turn the projector around by 90 degree. The 70 lumens are debatable but the VGA resolution seems too outdated in my books.
Noisy Fan?
German gaming platform ingame also tested the Aiptek MobileCinema i60 and their review contains a lot of interesting in-action photos. So even if you don’t understand German, the photos might be of interest to you, if you plan on buying a projector gadget for your iPhone. At the end of their review article they also mentioned that there is a fan noise when the projector is running, which is loud enough to be permanently conscious of.
Pricing
The MobileCinema i60 is designed for the iPhone 6 but can be connected to other devices as well. For a price of $300+ Aiptek settles this nicely designed gadget in a med/premium segment of accessories, but the specs simply don’t justify the pricing in my books. This is my personal opinion based only on the hard data and if anyone of you has some hands-on-experience to share, please do so in the comment section below.
Summary
I like the idea and I like the design of the Aiptek MobileCinema i60, but the price-value-ratio just doesn’t make a case for me. Having in mind that Aiptek means Affordable Innovative Personal Technologies as per their webpage, I feel a little stunned about the pricing actually, as $300+ are not quite as affordable as the gadget should be, considering the technical components. The gadget looks very nice, is portable, serves also as a power bank, and has other features, but maybe you can find a better solution for your portable projection needs. Personally I predict projection functions to be included in future smartphones out-of-the-box. What do you think? Please share your thoughts below!
YouTube: Aiptek MobileCinema i60 – HD (en)
Photo credit: Aiptek
Source: Aiptek / Jordan O’Brien (Commercial Integrator) / Marco K. (ingame)
