SlashGear Japan
Optoma’s pico-projector first showed up back in June, with few details aside from a tentative promise of limited distribution in late 2008. Now the company has confirmed that the projector, the PK101, will go on sale in December at Japanese Apple Stores, offering buyers a 120g battery-powered device capable of creating up to 66-inch images at 480 x 320 resolution.
Other specs include 1,000:1 contrast ratio and 10 lumens brightness from the LED lightsource; the LED itself is rated for 20,000hrs use, and has two power settings. Inputs include composite video and stereo audio to drive the integrated 0.5W speaker. The PK101 measures 51 x 105 x 77mm and recharges either via an AC adaptor or through its mini-USB port. A full charge is good for two hours.
You’re unlikely to be watching any feature films with 480 x 320 resolution, but it could be handy for impromptu presentations or keeping the kids entertained while waiting at the airport. Optoma will supply the PK101 with two Li-Ion batteries, and the projector has a tripod screw-mount underneath. It will go up for preorder on December 1st, with deliveries expected from December 16th; pricing is unconfirmed but expected to be under 50,000 yen ($512).
2 Responses to “Optoma PK101 Pico-Projector gets December 1st preorder date”
resolution-man November 11, 2008
Watching a film at this low resolution would be much more likely than a presentation, with text. I would even say that the latter is totally out of the question because it will look like crap. A movie will just look a bit more blurry, but that doesn’t make it unusable for this purpose.
NeutralNo Box December 7, 2008
I’ve had this for 3 or 4 days now and watching films straight from my iPhone through it is surprisingly good! Had a 4 hour train journey and had it projecting onto the seat in front, worked like a dream. Down sides: Brightness is not great and will suffer in light situations. Battery life is more like an hour rather than 1.5, but you get two batteries which is good. Internal speaker is next to useless! Check out our video review at http://bit.ly/13tgB
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