By Staff Writer – John Federico (@gadgetboy)

In one of my first posts for TechStartups.com I talked about being ready to pitch at any moment and a set of really powerful speakers that can help with the job.

While it’s good to be heard when you need to be, supporting visuals are usually the more important component of a pitch. For an audience larger than one, that requires an LCD projector.

Portable projectors have existed for years and over time have gotten smaller, brighter and with greater resolution – but you still wouldn’t casually carry one around in your bag.

A new class of projectors, typically referred to as Pico Projectors, hope to change that. These little guys are designed to be small – some small enough to fit in your pocket – and to be used not just with your laptop but with portable media players like the iPod/iPhone or even portable DVD players.

But are they good enough to whip out and pitch a client or investor?

AAXA Technologies, a hardware company based in Santa Ana, California, has released their next generation P2 Pico Projector and it may be close to good enough for a last-minute pitch.


Specs

• 33 Lumens brightness (by comparison, most business-class portable projectors are around 2000 Lumens)
• 800 x 600 native resolution using an LCoS projection module (by comparison, most portable projectors run at a resolution of 1024 x 768, sometimes higher and with a 16:9 aspect ratio)
• Built in media player with support for MP4/MP3/WMA/OGG/WAV/AVI/WMV/SMV/ BMP/JPG/GIF/TXT (I’ve never found this helpful, but I suppose you could export your presentation as a video file and run it right from the projector.)
• 1GB onboard storage + MicroSDHC expansion slot
• AV / VGA and USB inputs
• Headphone/audio output
• Integrated 1 Watt speaker (1 Watt! You’ll definitely need external speakers.)

Our friends at Gadling put the unit through it’s paces having run tests using a variety of media types, distances from the projection surface and even dimness of the lights.

All told, they were impressed.

What’s in the Box

In the box you’ll find the projector, battery, battery charger, AC adapter, AV cable, VGA cable, a tripod with battery pack adapter and a remote control.

It retails for $349. Considering that a portable projector with 2000 Lumens and a native resolution of 1280 x 800 from, say, Hitachi costs $779, that’s not too terrible a deal.

Wish List

Personally, I think there’s a market and use case that no one has considered: secondary displays. When I’m in the office I use dual displays – the 13″ display on my MacBook and a 24″ LCD monitor. I really miss it when I’m traveling.

I’d like to see a pico projector with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a DVI or USB connection that can be used as a secondary display in my hotel room or in a workstation at the Continental lounge. If it were light enough, it would be a boon for productivity while on the road and the ability to pitch on the fly is also nice perk.

Bottom Line

If you want to be prepared to pitch with a moment’s notice, it seems like the AAXA P2 could fit the bill, for now.

Disclosure of Material Connection: http://dsclzr.us/0

Related articles by Zemanta

• Sanyo’s Soon-To-Be Released Two-Lamp PLC-XF1000 Projector Brings A Blinding 12,000 Lumen Rating [Projectors] (gizmodo.com)
• The 3M MPro120: It’s About Time Pico Projectors Grew Up [Pico Projectors] (gizmodo.com)
• 3M revises its pico projector: MPro120 to be better, faster, stronger (crunchgear.com)
• FPS hopelessly leaps into pocket projector game with Pearl M3 (engadget.com)

Tags: AAXA Technologies , Investor Pitch , LCD Projectors , Pico Projector , Portable Media Player , presentations , Sales Pitch