Small box, big picture
The iPhone 4’s Retina display maybe
gorgeous, but it’s still on the small side for watching movies. BenQ has come
up with a neat solution in the shape of the Joybee GP2, a cute little LED
projector with a built-in iPhone/iPod Dock that enables it to project
whatever’s on the iPhone’s screen onto a wall.
Benq
Joybee GP2
Sturdily built and decked out in black and
white glossy plastic, the GP2 is an attractive device that sits comfortably in
the hand. It weighs just 560g and comes with a padded carry case, so it’s very
protable.
Its short throw ratio of 1.13 means you can
project a 44in screen image in just one meter, so you can even use it in
smaller rooms. If you have more space, though, you can enjoy a maximum screen
size of 160in.
Its 2W speakers aren’t really up to much,
but there’s a 3.5mm line-in jack so you can attach external speakers or
headphones for a more immersive home cinema experience. And if you don’t have a
suitable surface on which to place it, there’s a crew thread in its base so you
can mount it on a tripod.
Not content with showing content from
iPhones iPods, the GP2 has VGA, composite and USB video for connecting to a
Mac, component and HDMI for games consoles and Blu-ray and DVD players, as well
as an SD card slot and a USB port for external storage. There’s also 1.3GB of
usable internal memory, and you can copy files to the projector from your Mac
over USB.
File format support is nothing if not
comprehensive, including MOV, MP4 and H.264, JPG, BMP and PNG, AAC, MP3 and
WMA.
The
Joybee GP2 has a veritable embarrassment of connection options, with VGA,
composite, USB and USB video, component and HDMI, an SD card slot and a 3.5mm
line-in jack for audio
All this versatility also makes the GP2 a
useful presentation tool. Thanks to its internal memory, USB and SD card
support, and the built-in iPod dock, you don’t even need to take a MacBook with
you. An optional external battery pack will give you three hours of projection,
and it comes with a carry case with room for the power supply and cables.
The GP2 has backlit, touch-sensitive
controls on its top surface, plus a credit-card-sized remote control with
blister buttons. The player’s controls don’t give much feedback, whereas the
remote refers you use it on the left of the GP2, as that’s where the receiver
is.
It’s an LED DLP projector, which means it
uses red, green and blue LEDs to produce color rather than a single white lamp
and a spinning color wheel. This not only eliminates the dreaded DLP rainbow
effect – where flashes of primary color are visible in fast-moving or
black-and-white images – but reduces power consumption dramatically. The
downside is that the lamps only produce 200 lumens brightness, which isn’t
enough to view images under bright lighting.
Its resolution of 1.280 x 800 is reasonably
high for such a small projector, which means you can use the mac desktop
without having to compress it into a smaller resolution, but the GP2 still
suffers from inconsistent focus across the screen. There’s an auto-keystone
control, but we didn’t notice it making much difference, so we switched it off,
as keystone correction generally degrades the image. You also get wall color
correction – you select the approximate color of your wall from a list, and the
projector adjusts color balance to compensate, helping image quality.
Despite this, color weren’t very accurate,
but their boldness made up for this to a certain extent. We noticed problems
with skin tones from the start that the GP2’s color certainly wouldn’t use than
adequate for watching movies. We had no problems viewing detail in dark scenes
in Casino Royale, such as the folds in the black velvet dinner jacket worn by
Le Chiffre.
Presentation are good, too, although if
you’re using images you’d be advised to turn down the lights, as the projector’s
limited brightness means your audience won’t see much detail. Charts and graphs
were fine, however, and text was clear – you’ll be fine with high-contrast
content, even under office lighting.
The versatile Joybee GP2 looks like a good
choice whether you’re after a home cinema projector or a portable presentation
tool.
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Details
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Price
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$675
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From
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Apple Store
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Info
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www.benw.co.uk
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Pro
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portable * good resolution * flexible
connections and formats
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Con
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relatively expensive
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