Miniature Gadgets - Connectivity for the Pico
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The Pico is equipped with a range of powerful connectivity options. Mini USB handles battery charging, either from the mains using the included adapter or from a PC. To receive video, the projector is equipped with a custom 2.5mm 4-pole composite AV input jack socket. This can accept input from any device equipped with composite AV output, in either PAL or NTSC format. This includes not just the usual suspects – cameras, camcorders and the like – but a whole array of modern media-capable cell phones, media players and home entertainment hardware.
Optoma has shown that it intends to maximize support for such devices, and so broaden the appeal of the projector, by releasing connectivity kits for specific devices. The Apple connection kit allows the Pico to work with Standard, Classic, Nano and Touch iPods as well as all models of iPhone, while another kit is available that works with the majority of newer Nokia phones.
Another welcome feature is that Optoma has also built a tripod connector into the Pico’s casing. In fact, there’s little that hasn’t been thought of. The only obvious connector that is lacking is an audio output. This is a great shame, as it means the Pico’s sound is dependent on its tiny built-in speaker.
The volume that a speaker this size can generate is constrained by the laws of physics, and this is the one department where the device lets itself down a little. A bigger speaker could have been incorporated, but that would have increased the projector’s overall size, thereby defeating the whole point of the exercise.
Optoma has quite rightly reasoned that most input devices, and all cell phones and media players, have sound outputs of their own. Solo viewers can turn off the Pico’s speaker and listen on headphones, while the best bet for a group watching a movie on a typical iPod and Pico setup is to connect the iPod’s sound output to a sound dock.
The Pico is one of those devices that promises to change the entire landscape. Equipped with a projector this small that can be connected to a phone, camera or media player, it has become instantly possible to set up an impromptu screening just about anywhere you go. Optoma haven’t built the perfect device – it could be improved in many ways, especially by being brighter and with better sound reproduction – but, as with the Spypen, such criticisms miss the point. If these two devices are anything to go by, the future of miniaturization is alive and well.
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