Its no doubt that the mobile phone market is evolving rapidly each passing day and addressing one or the other needs. And its increasingly changing shape and features to adopt even advanced feature sets unimagined before. Now projector on a handheld device though seems futuristic, considering if they could replace fully functional projectors. It would be interesting to see how the current crop of projectors on mobile phones perform.
Though projector phones are meant for the niche market, the number of manufacturers offering this feature has been on the up. And now the list includes the likes of Intex, Spice, G’Five and Micromax. Though Spice was not the first to bring the projector phone to the table it certainly was instrumental in making it popular with their “Ye boat nahin” ads for the Spice Popkorn Projector phone. So lets go ahead and look at what the Popkorn Projector phone has to offer.
Specifications:
- 2.7” QVGA Color Display
- Battery 1200mAh Li-Ion battery
- Built in Projector
- 3.2 MP camera
- Bluetooth 2.0
- FM Radio
In the box:
- Handset
- Charger
- Earphones
- Proprietary USB cables
- Mini speaker
- Tripod stand
- Laser pointer
- manuals
Build & design:
The body of the Popcorn projector phone is made of rubbery plastic and has a metallic bezel on the front and a metal cover on the back. The front of the device has a 2.7” QVGA screen, separate menu and call buttons around a diamond shaped five way D-pad. The alphanumeric keys are placed together on four rows thus making it difficult to type on the phone. The call speaker phone is also placed a little towards the left side to accommodate the projector.
The left side of the device has the volume keys while on the right side you only have the Projector button.
On the bottom you have a proprietary USB slot and not the regular ones, which would prove it difficult for you to source Popkorn’s USB cables from the market in case you end up losing the original ones.
Besides you also have antennae on the bottom along with the mic. The top of the device houses the projector which has heat ventilation on both the sides as well, one each on the top right and left of the device as well.
The back of the device houses a 3.2 MP camera on the top left hand side and the projector display adjuster lies at the center top. With the speakers lying towards the bottom right of the device.
The overall design of the device is average and makes it look clunky and cheap. Though the phone feels solid and comfortably heavy in the hand, seems like it might lose its sheen pretty quickly and develop scratches easily as well.
The tripod stand for the projector is a fairly simple one with a standard design which is available with projector phones from other manufacturers as well. The holder for the phone is pretty smartly designed with cushioned holding such that it does not end up scratching the phone. The legs of the tripod stand are very fragile though and can easily get bent.
You can check out the un-boxing and quick review video of the Spice Popkorn Projector Phone here:
Performance:
The 2.7” screen of the device is quite dull and readability under the sun is not very great. Typing on the Spice M9000 is very difficult and slow as the keys need to be hard pressed and feels very uncomfortable at the same time.
The Spice M9000 has a proprietary USB which is very small and it’s not easy to connect accessories on the device easily.
The camera on the device is below average and doesn’t give you clear images. Also video recording from the 3.2MP camera is just not good enough. Irrespective of the price of the device, the camera should at least give you clear images and videos which is not the case.
The speaker on the phone is not that great. It distorts on higher volumes and gives a shrilly sound. The earphones provided with the phone are loud and clear enough to be able to enjoy music on it. The build quality of the earphones is cheap and it looks very fragile. It also lacks any bass on it.
The mango shaped speaker provided with the phone does not work well when connected to the PC. But surprisingly its performance is completely transformed when it’s connected to the phone. It’s loud, clear and has bass to offer as well. Though it distorts a little at higher volumes, considering the price factor it’s completely worth it.
The laser pointer also has a small torch attached to it. Though I can hardly imagine anyone using it to give any formal presentation but using it to fool around.
Projector:
Setting up the Spice M9000 projector phone on the tripod stand is a breeze and as I said earlier, there is no risk of scratching the phone while mounting it on the projector.
The projector can be activated easily using the shortcut button on the right of the device. Though there are no options to rotate the screen which is very irritating considering the fact that the projector strangely projects the screen at 90 degrees anti clockwise. It’s only when you switch on to the videos that the projector self adjusts itself in correct direction.
Mind you the projector has a luminosity of only 20 lumens and as such would not be advisable to use in daylight. Hence it should be used only in night by creating sufficient darkness in the room, which is already a big setback once you consider using it for any kind of presentations during the day time.
We liked the quality of the projector. Though you cannot use it to project from long distances it’s still clear and crisp enough at close ranges, we cant say the same about colors on the display though. Adjusting the clarity of the projector using the scroller is effortless. So overall the projector on the device is decent enough.
Though care has been taken to ensure the smooth functioning of the device in the form of ample ventilators on all sides and screen cap, still we are not sure about the durability of the projector. If it will manage to stand the impacts of falling is also unknown.
The projector is definitely not a substitute for professional presentations and watching movie together on it also seems unlikely. And I wonder if an individual would use it to watch movies or presentations on it. Hence the usability of the projector is a huge question mark.
Check out the video to see the working and performance of the projector on the Spice M9000:
Verdict:
The build of the phone and the overall quality is poor. Agreed that the Spice M9000 provide you with more number of features, at the end of the day the usability of the device and the experience is what counts, which unfortunately we found lacking a bit.
But in case the projector feature on the phone attracts you and if at all its going to be of any use to you, the Spice M9000 can be an option. But before that you can take a look at Micromax X40 as well.
