The ML550 handled our 90-inch test screen with impressive results, and peaked at a 60-inch-or-so size. Some palmtops have 480p or lower resolution, and a few have resolutions up to 1080p (1,920 by 1,080), but most are 720p (1,280 by 720 pixels). 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The 1080p Anker Nebula Solar Portable offers lots of desirable features, including support for 4K and HDR, built-in Android TV, and good brightness for its size and weight. Meanwhile, other portable projectors have a simple USB output, which allows you to connect laptops and other compatible devices to it. Just make sure you pick one that's designed for the images you're projecting and the space you'll be in. Instead, it has a nice and solid pull-out stand that folds out of the base to hold the projector at the right angle. The image correction feature is also handy for households with children: if the projector is moved or knocked slightly, it will automatically adjust the picture. Does the projector youre looking at come with app store integration? By considering how youre going to use it, youll get the right mix of features. Key specs Brightness: 250 ANSI lumens; Native resolution: 854 x 480; Speakers: 3W dual Harmon-Kardon speakers; Throw ratio: 2:1; Max recommended image: 100in; Inputs and outputs: microSD, USB-C, USB-A, HDMI 1.4, 3.5mm headphone/audio; Wireless: N/A; Battery life: 2.5 to 6hrs; Lamp life: 30,000hrs; Dimensions: 126 x 148 x 40mm; Weight: 689g. With a 12,00 ANSI lumens output and a 1080p DLP chip you get a vibrant, detailed full HD picture, and while wed normally take the talk of HDR and 125% Rec.709 colour reproduction with a pinch of salt, theres no doubt that 4K content from Amazon Prime and Disney+ looks fantastic. (If you do want to bring a laptop with you, though, check out our roundup of thebest ultraportable laptops.) You can connect a streaming stick through the HDMI port, but the Nebula Capsule has its own built-in media player running on Android 7.1. When not reviewing the latest and greatest gear or watching movies at home, he can usually be found out and about on a bike. Its long battery life makes it ideal for portable, on-the-go use. The Anker Nebula Cosmos Laser 4K is not your average compact projector. The Optoma ML750e is one of the best portable projectors in the world thanks to its impressive range of ports. The Acer C250i truly is a multi-talented portable projector with good image quality and a great range of connectivity, plus it's slightly cheaper than the Anker Nebula Capsule II. While theres no onboard battery, you can power it from a USB-C power bank with USB PD. Thats not a bad offer for a $2,199 gadget. Apps - your projector is only as smart as the apps running on it. Everything about Samsung's The Freestyle is geared around ease of use. 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The listed 400 lumens brightness means the Nebula Solar Portable will struggle to remain visible in bright environments, while dark scenes are difficult to make out even in ideal viewing conditions. As well as listing the best portable projectors, we also have our very own price comparison tool that will help you find the best prices as well. Connectivity is excellent, with HDMI 1.4, USB-A and USB-C, which you can use to hook up an Android smartphone or simply plug in a streaming stick. But now is a good time to make sure your tech will be ready to hit the road. It's our top pick for portable streaming projectors. Starting with its streamlined setup process, which can have you up and running in mere moments, Samsung's The Freestyle keeps its approachability up by offering a suite of built-in smart features and streaming apps it's like a Samsung TV OS that you can take with you. Portable projectors are not only perfect for a backyard movie screening, giving you the opportunity to have a large home cinema projector experience whenever you want, but also for students who want big screen entertainment in their dormitory, and for people who travel for business and need to make presentations in various locations. The projectors we highlight here are relatively lightweight, with the heaviest weighing just more than 2 pounds and the lightest right around 3 ounces. Its incredibly easy to set up, auto-adapting for different heights and angles, with a superb auto-focus. In a rather nice touch, the projector can also double as a power bank for other mobile devices. Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. Pico or pocket projectors are a little larger than smartphones. Read Great Stories Offline on Your Favorite Device! The ViewSonic M1 is a versatile and portable projector thanks to its decent selection of ports despite its small size. When you switch one of these projectors to Bluetooth mode, it operates purely as a speaker. Please refresh the page and try again. (Even if "anywhere" these days just means around the house.). The Bluetooth speaker functionality is a great addition to the Solar Portables feature set, effectively delivering two devices in one. You may have some issues syncing sound and picture, but a good projector will have a setting to compensate for this. This means you wont get the pin-sharp clarity youre used to from todays 4K and HD TVs. Best For Movie Watching Away From a Power Socket, PROSReasonably pricedLong battery life between chargesRuns Android 7.1Multiple control methodsDoubles as a Bluetooth speaker, CONSModest brightnessOversensitive touch padOccasional audio distortion at high volume levels, PROS1080p (1,920-by-1,080) native resolution; accepts 4K (3,840-by-2,160) inputSupports HDR and copy protection standards used by 4K UHD discsAndroid TV 9 and Wi-Fi built inBattery life rated at 3 hours in Battery mode or 1.5 hours in StandardCapable autofocus, CONSColor accuracy is off by just enough to noticeDoes not deliver improved image quality with HDR material, Best For Playrooms, Watching Movies Away From Home, PROSAndroid 6 OS lets you download, run apps (including control app)Lightweight and portableIncludes remote control, built-in batteryProjects a decent-size image for its brightnessAbove-par photo quality, CONSSo-so video qualityMere one-year warrantyControls on projector itself are limited, PROSExcellent color accuracy for its size and priceRobust audio for the small sizeBuilt-in battery lasts up to 4 hoursAccommodates any streaming stick, CONSOnly one HDMI port, no other inputsImage settings can't be adjusted, PROSHighly portableSimple yet innovative standInterchangeable top panels in three colorsMedia player handles photo, video, and music files in a variety of formats, CONSCan project images only at modest sizeNo on-body control panelTiny remote is easily lost, PROSLong-lived LED light source4K UHD (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) resolution using TI's XPR fast-switch pixel shiftingHDR10 supportBuilt-in handle for easy portabilityNotably high-volume, high-quality audioIntegrated streaming, Android OS, and smart home features, CONSPerceived brightness is lower than the rated 2,400 LED lumensOut-of-the-box color accuracy is somewhat offDisappointing shadow detail in dark scenes, Not too long ago, the concept of having aprojectorsmall enough to take with you in your bag, let alone in your pocket, was just wishful thinking. You should also check to see if a portable projector has built-in speakers. Android-based projectors let users run pre-installed apps (such as YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix), download more from the Google Play store, and perform other standard Android functions. It does well in projecting photos, and its video quality is fine for casual use. This combination limits their effective use to projecting onto a small screen in a darkened room, with optimal image sizes ranging from 24 to 48 inches, measured diagonally. So-called palmtop projectors are larger (and generally brighter) than pico projectors, typically a bit too large to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand, even with your fingers outstretched. Home cinema doesnt get more portable than the Anker Nebula Capsule. In terms of picture quality, the Anker falls a little behind the Viewsonic. While youre limited by the 480p resolution, the image is surprisingly vibrant with deep blacks and punchy colours when used in a darkened room. It certainly doesn't have the bells, whistles or crispness of other, more expensive portable projectors on this list, but the Yaber Pro V7 is a good budget option. All of the projectors in this list have been hand-picked by us to provide you with the best options when it comes to portability, taking into account such factors as picture quality, connectivity, battery life, and of course, price. Or can it fold into a travel-ready container? Most of our favourite battery-powered projectors have a resolution of 720p or lower, which casts the Acer C250i's 1080p in a very favourable light. With that, you can hook up a pair of headphones or even a Bluetooth speaker. Thankfully, you can get around this by casting content directly to the projector via the projector's built-in Chromecast facility from your phone, laptop or tablet. The ViewSonic X10-4KE delivers 4K UHD resolution, HDR, and built-in streaming, plus an excellent audio system. last updated 21 July 22, Check out our choices for the best portable projectors. Single-chip DLP projectors often show potentially annoying rainbow artifacts (little red-green-blue flashes), but this so-called rainbow effect tends to be more of a problem in standard projectors than in pico or palmtop models. Bafflingly, although you have access to many of the major streaming platforms, including Disney+, Amazon Prime and Apple TV, there's no BBC iPlayer or Netflix app available as a native app. This is the only way to fit all the components into such a small size. But, not all smart projectors suffer from poor resolution. An advantage of LCD projectors is that their images are free of rainbow artifacts. If too much ambient light is introduced, or the image is enlarged too much, it will look washed out and detail will be lost. In many cases, this is a standard-definition chip, giving you the same 848 x 480 resolution as a movie on DVD.