Since miniaturization is such an important concept nowadays, quite a bunch of consumer electronics and computer peripherals are getting smaller and smaller, from mobile phones to notebooks and other portable devices. And the same trend seems to be affecting the projector segment as well, one of the best examples of such a product being Optoma's Pico projector, introduced in November 2008.



The Pico projector developed by Optoma is, indeed, quite small, measuring just around 50 x 15 x 103 mm and weighing around 114 grams, battery included. The ultra-portable device uses DLP projection technology and a LED light for a light source, its estimated functioning life being of around 20,000 hours.



The optics-related specs are really note-worthy (especially given the very small size of this projector), as the Pico provides a 1000:1 contrast ratio, a 1.9:1 throw ratio and a maximum projection distance of 2.6 meters. Plus, given the device's size, the images it produces are quite large, ranging between 0.15 and 1.5 meters (6 to 60 inches), but there's no info regarding the resolution (although the fact that it supports 576i480 video should give us a pretty good hint regarding the output as well).



The device is battery operated, and one charge of the built-in battery via the miniUSB connector will last for around 1.5 hours of non-stop functioning. Unfortunately, beside the power connector, the device only features an AV Input, which combines stereo audio and Composite video. However, in order to allow users to listen to music, the device has also been equipped with a 0.5-watt speakers, which, despite being rather puny, is still better than nothing.



Although we're talking about a fairly “petite” device, the price of the Pico projector is not exactly very small, the device having an estimated sales point of around 430 US dollars.