I purchased this projector in Oct 2011 directly from Aaxa. I am a teacher working in two schools and I use this projector nearly every day. I connect my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 to it and also play video files from the internal drive or a flash drive, mostly successfully. The specs are the best in this category at the moment, and the design is good. There are a few details that other reviewers have not mentioned, however:* The fan noise is more than noticeable. It's actually a little annoying.
* The power button is situated such that the P4 can be switched on in a crowded bag pretty easily.
* The buttons are not very responsive. My feeling is that this is more of a system software issue than a purely hardware issue. Button clicks frequently get no response or a delayed response. I feel like the system software is not quite ready for prime-time.
* While it's impressive that they included any sort of internal speaker, it's only usable in a very quiet environment and then really only for speech. There's really no point at all to listening to any sort of music track with it. If you plan on using headphones, then you're fine, but if you need to run a cable to a pair of external speakers then you're losing the cable-free benefit of a battery-powered device. If you don't mind plugging it in for power then you might as well get a brighter pico projector.
* The P4 does NOT mount properly on any external computer, and I've tried several Mac and Windows machines. The manual says very clearly that it should be able to do this. When connected via USB, it might mount for just a moment, but then it will immediately unmount or produce some kind of error message. I've had absolutely no success transferring files directly from a computer to the P4. When I contacted their support staff about this, I was told that I should put my files on a flash drive, and then move them from the flash drive to the P4. This is very disappointing and inconvenient. (Are other users having this problem? I'd like to know.)
* Transferring files from a flash drive involves going into Windows CE, which requires the additional purchase of the little USB keyboard. The keyboard is pretty cool, but it's somewhat expensive, and because it's so small, it's awkward to use.
* When copying files, I've frequently had weird anomalies where the P4 seems to think there are two copies of the file, with slightly different directory paths, and it gives me error messages that it is unable to find the second file. Irritating!
* Video playback always starts with the first video in your directory, requiring you to stop playback, go back to your directory listing, and select the file you want.
* Although the internal flash drive is 2 gigs, the operating system takes up a great deal of that, so there isn't more than a couple hundred megs onboard, and that's not much room for decent-quality video. I have not tried using an SD card.
* The color reproduction, even on a flawless white wall in a dark room, is mediocre at best. There are a few settings to adjust the color, most of which are totally unusable. My expectations were not that high, but I wouldn't want yours to be, either.
* The P4 doesn't sync as readily via VGA as you'd expect. If your cable gets jerked out, you can't just plug it back in. You'll probably have to manually re-sync it or possibly restart the P4.
* The battery does not last more than 70 minutes.
None of these issues are substantial enough for me to return the unit or recommend against buying it, but they might matter to you, depending on your planned use. The basic utility of the P4 is massive, although the shortcomings are constantly annoying. I look forward to future units from Aaxa, where we'll hopefully get 120+ lumens (laser driven?) from a longer-lasting battery, better and more adjustable color, and perhaps some kind of wireless a/v streaming. But for now, this is a very handy and useful device.
I'm not a huge fan of the operating system on it. For instance, if you use the USB stick and have 100 files in 10 folders, the menu just shows those 100 files. I like systems which keep my files in folders for easy navigation really handy if you're plugging in a 500GB external drive with several thousand files. Large drives are no problem for the P4, but sifting through thousands of files is more time consuming that clicking through 3 levels of folders.
Also, the on-screen display only seems to go away after you've hit the play button. If you hit the FF or RW button the display will stay on the screen, then you'll need to hit pause and play so the display will disappear. Perhaps there's a fix for this, I didn't call tech support because it doesn't bother me too much. Also, the FF and RW only goes forward in 7 minute increments, making it impractical to rewind to hear a line in a movie you couldn't understand. Also, the display doesn't read the time quite right. For a 2:14:00 movie, it lists the time as 2:134:00.
But I still give this unit 5 stars. Why? Because it's awesome at what it should be. A light and powerful projector that can be thrown in a backpack. I can hook up any other source (like my portable video drive with RCA-outs which behaves just like I like it to) and have a great little theatre. None of my previous projectors could play files, so the fact that this one does with some minor quirks, is like a bonus.
One thing I noticed when looking at Pico/Pocket/Portable projectors is that most don't list the size/weight of the plug-in adapter in the description, unless you really search for it and with many of the pocket projectors you get an adapter about the size of a laptop adapter, which to me makes it much less portable. With the P4 and some other Picos, the adapter is more the size of a cell phone adapter, which was the big draw for me.The P4, after research was the pico projector I decided to go with. It is surprisingly bright for its small size. The images are crisp and clear. I mainly use it to project movies from my laptop but it comes with Windows CE so if you're one to do presentations, with a USB mouse you can use the built in software to access word/powerpoint/excel. I have used an apple vga adapter to mirror my iphone 4S as well and it works brilliantly. I would definitely recommend this projector if you are in the market for a small, portable projector. After reading the reviews and seeing all the specs of the different pico projectors on the market, I decided to go with the P4.
In summary i am very pleased with the performance, it acts as advertised.
One problem tough, the mouse keeps appearing on the middle of the screen, even when it's not connected to the device. So you have the plug it every time to put the arrow aside.
In conclusion, it beats the competition by far. I recommend it!!This is perhaps one of the most amazing hi-tech 'gadgets' I have purchased. First, its size is remarkable and truly pocket-sized! But the real 'show' is indeed the super bright projection light produced by the unique combination of 3 LEDs. I already owned a full-size theater projector (Panasonic) and so my benchmark was pretty high. This device does everything the product ad or spec sheets say and then some! Folks are amazed at the quality of the color and smooth image (no screen-door grid) and its portable, super-micro size. Yes all the comments about some of the minor software flaws are there but one adapts to these minor irritants after a few days of use (i.e., unable to have folders for any sub-files -videos, pictures, music. Yes, the projector's audio is iffy, but I added a dynamite, portable 3-inch Altec Lansing battery speaker (model Orbit iM227) which really fills the room. I also order from Amazon the 3M fold-up, portable screen which offers table-top bright reflective surface. I preload my videos onto a 16GB Micro SDhc card. In a dark room, you can even project image on a white wall at an amazing 6 feet size and it displays quite nicely. Also I purchased the iPhone-iPad adapter plug from AAXA which works but can be spotty to connect if not plugged in snuggly (AAXA recommends no covers on your mobile devices as they interfer with plug connection). My only disappointment so far is not being able to display PDF documents as projector comes from box. Windows CE is built-in and not sure if Adobe has PDF reader for M/S CE OS. Also a pop-up stern warning is displayed if you want to enter built-in WinCE app. AAXA will does not provide tech support for CE mode. So, now after two months since purchased, I say this device just delights and amuses folks. Real fun is when you offer to display your photos or videos on the nearest wall or napkin at a restaurant table from your iPhone!!
Aside too from the fun use, business and professionals who do presentations and need graphic depictions of their offering would do well to try out this handy, and very reliable device as a presentation tool.
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