This little projector uses what's called a laser beam steering projection system to generate 720p video from 5 laser diodes (2 red, 1 blue, 2 green). The projection system is by Microvision and modified by Sony to get some more brightness. Advertised as 65 ANSI lumens but looks closer to around 300 lumens from a LED pico projector. This kind of makes sense because of the coherent nature of the projection and how the image is generated. The beam goes from top to bottom in a zigzag fashion 60 times per second thanks to a micromirror which I believe is tilted by an electric magnet.
The projector is tiny even in the pico projector standards, slightly smaller than my Galaxy S8 but twice the thickness. Still fits easily in my pocket.
The image quality is excellent, zero to none screendoor effect and hardly noticeable scanlines. Since the image is generated by moving a laser spot around it has no need for focusing.
The non laser stuff: comes with full Android OS, microHDMI port, wifi screen sharing, builting media viewer and web browser, microSD card reader, USB-C port for charging and aux port.
Automatic keystone correction feature which works pretty well.
Top of the screen is a touchpad for controlling the mouse cursor.
The case is made from aluminum except the top which is probably plastic.
Honestly I think if they just went with plastic case and not put an actual Android and touchpad on it they could make it more affordable. The AAXA M6 LED pico projector costs as much and is advertised as 1200 lumens and 1080p.
Anyway, this is how the projection looks like:
This is exactly how it looks to the eyes except the two bright lines caused by the camera's CMOS sensor.
In the dark I enjoy projecting movies at 100'' on my cream color ceiling. At this point it starts getting dim.
Contrast advertised as 80,000:1, not sure why not infinity to 1 since its a modulating beam moving around.
On the bottom of the projector there's info about the lasers used.
170mW red, 165nW blue, 100mW green. You might guess which diodes they use. Since there's two reds and greens my bet is they used waveplates to get from revious 35 lumens to 65.
Cons: no zoom. Always in focus is cool but fixed zoom kinda zeroes it out.
Laser generated image is grainy, very subtle but noticeable.
I contacted PicoPro and they have plans of releasing a 80 lumen version of the engine in Q4 of 2018 but it will still be 720p.
Conclusion: if you need a truly pocket video projector than this is probably the best option right now. 30,000 lamp hours is more than I'll probably ever use it. If you want 100'' or more screen and don't mind a projector not fitting your pocket you'll probably be better off with a bigger but brighter and cheaper LED pico projector as at those sizes its just not bright enough even at pitch black.
From a laserist perspective it's nice to see such a polished and high quality product. it's also sad to see so few companies (just Sony and Celluon?) using the technology. Also sad to see it falling behind LED alternatives both in resolution and brightness. Still not sure why Microvision is only interested in such tiny pico projectors and doesn't release a bigger but brighter version of their projection system. Competition's projectors are mainly much bigger, at least twice the size, so I don't get the reasoning of only sticking with the smallest design they can get away with.
But in this size category I believe it beats any led pico's ass.
PS. I payed too much to be comfortable disassembling it, sorry.