Pros & Cons
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- Very compact.
- Lightweight.
- Low price.Touchpad on top.
- Built-in rechargeable battery.
- Data and video images free of rainbow artifacts.
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- Subpar image quality.
- Soft audio.
- Minuscule focus wheel.
AAXA P2-B Pico Projector Specs
| Engine Type | DLP |
| Inputs and Interfaces | Analog VGA |
| Native Resolution | 854 x 480 |
| Rated Brightness | 130 |
| Weight | 0.55 |
At a glance, the AAXA P2-B Pico Projector ($219), the latest addition to the company's stable of roughly cube-shaped projectors, may seem like a throwback. It lacks a few of the key features of the AAXA P2-A Smart Pico Projector, which we described as "an impressive example of miniaturization" when we reviewed it last year. If built-in Android and wireless connectivity aren't critical to your projector experience, though, you can save some money going with the P2-B. It's impressively compact, even including a touchpad on top. We just wish that its image quality for both data and video were a bit better.
Mostly, a Square Deal
The silver-gray P2-B measures just 2.3 by 2.8 by 2.8 inches (HWD) and weighs 8.8 ounces. The body can fit easily in the palm of my hand. It is a DLP projector with an LED-based light source. The lamp has a rated brightness of 130 lumens and a claimed lifetime of 20,000 hours, so it should last as long as the projector. The projector has a native resolution of 854 by 480 pixels, which is typical among micro projectors. The P2-B's built-in rechargeable battery lasts up to 150 minutes on a charge, according to AAXA's estimate.
On the left side of the projector (as viewed from behind, just to the side of the lens), is a tiny focus wheel. I found that I could manipulate the wheel one-handed by holding the P2-B ($125.00 at Amazon) in the palm of my left hand and turning the wheel with my left thumb. I could also turn the wheel when the projector was supported by its small-but-sturdy tripod. This tiny focus wheel is not ideal, but it's functional.
On the front of the projector, to the left of the lens, is a series of slots that act as a ventilation grille, with a microSD card slot nested among them. On top of the projector is a tiny touch screen, below which are two buttons: Source (which takes you to a screen where you can choose between HDMI and composite video sources) and a button with a backspace icon, which takes you to your previous screen.
AAXA manages to pack a lot of ports and jacks onto the back of the projector, while still having room for two air vents. A tiny power button and the socket for the power plug are on the right-hand edge, to the right of the largest vent (for the cooling fan). The other ports are to the left of that vent, in the side's upper left corner. They include mini HDMI and composite video/audio. (This latter port fits the plug for an adapter cable, the other end of which has three RCA plugs for use with a DVD player or other video device.) An audio-out jack fits headphones or a small, powered speaker. Last but not least, there's a USB Type-A port, which lets you attach a USB thumb drive for playing media or text files, or connect a USB mouse for navigating the screen.
In appearance, the P2-B is a near-match to the AAXA P2-A, apart from their color schemes—the P2-A ($199.99 at Amazon) is white with blue-and-silver trim, and it adds a micro USB port. Inside, though, the projectors are quite different. The P2-A is Android-based and can connect via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, while the P2-B lacks Android and wireless connectivity. The P2-B also somewhat resembles the RIF6 Cube in appearance, but the Cube ($189.99 at Amazon) is tinier and lower in brightness.
Connectivity and Navigation
When you turn the P2-B on, you soon see a Home screen for the projector's built-in media player. It offers six choices: Videos, Music, Photos, Text, Settings, and Input Source.
You navigate among these with the touch pad on the top of the projector or via the included, credit-card-size remote. If you press the OK button when one of the first four choices is highlighted, it will let you choose between Micro (SD) Card and USB (thumb drive), and you can project content stored on either of these kinds of devices. (Compatible file formats include AVI, BMP, GIF, JPG, MP3, OGG, TXT, WAV, and WMA.) For Input Source, you can choose between HDMI and RCA (composite audio/video), and project content plugged into the respective port.
A Little Pico-Projector Testing
I tested the P2-B from about 6 feet away from the screen, onto which it threw an image of about 48 inches (measured diagonally). I noted some degradation in image quality with the introduction of ambient light; in those conditions, a more comfortable image size was about 36 inches. I tested both data and video image quality over an HDMI connection. I also did some ad-hoc testing by viewing video, photos, and text files that I had saved to a USB thumb drive.
Based on my testing using the DisplayMate suite, the P2-B's data images are of a quality suitable for typical presentations to small groups, provided that you use fairly large type. Text was not particularly sharp; white text on a black background was easily readable at sizes down to 10.5 points, while black text on white was easily readable at 12 points. Some grays looked slightly purple or red.
The projector also exhibited relatively poor dynamic range, in that light grays tend to show up as white. You will want to avoid using light gray shades in your presentations. On the plus side, the P2-B's images are nearly free of the potentially distracting rainbow artifacts frequently seen with DLP-based projectors.
When showing video with the P2-B, you're best off sticking to short clips. Reds were often oversaturated, and there was often a loss of detail in bright areas. Some scenes, especially ones with human faces, showed posterization—a uniformity in color punctuated by abrupt shifts in tone like you might see in a stylized movie poster. Again, though, the rainbow artifacts frequently seen in video from DLP projectors were nearly absent.
Audio from the single 1-watt speaker is soft, suitable only for very small rooms with people sitting close to the projector. It was at times a bit crackly, too. Should you want louder or better-quality sound, you could connect a pair of powered external speakers to the projector's audio-in port.
A Sacrifice for the Price?
Similar in design to the AAXA P2-A, the AAXA P2-B Pico Projector eschews that model's Android operating system and wireless connectivity in exchange for a lower price. Although Android lets you run and display apps from a projector, for many users it's not a critical feature. The P2-B retains AAXA's useful media-player functions, while allowing you to view or stream over an HDMI or composite video connection, and it is small and portable. Traveling with this projector is no burden, and you can go really light by bringing your presentations on a flash drive or card.
Its image quality for both data and video were wanting, though. Our Editors' Choice LED mini-projector remains the LG Minibeam LED Projector (PH550), ($499.99 at Dell) which has better data and video image quality and nifty features like a built-in TV tuner. The AAXA P2-B is much smaller, however, so you might consider the AAXA model if size matters much more than projection quality.
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