This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

Not all gaming gadgets have to be full of high tech wizardry. Sometimes it’s the simple ones that end up being essential to a gamer’s way of life. I’ve got three consoles and 7 controllers in my living room that all need to be charged in one manner or another. A simple gadget that simplifies this process would be wonderful. Konnet has sent over a Power Pyramid which is supposed to make recharging my PS3 and Xbox 360 controllers a little easier.

The Power Pyramid is a very simple device. In the box you’ll only find the Pyramid itself and a power cord. Plug in the power cord, and you’re done with the setup. It has four docks, which accommodate two different types of controllers. The top pair is designated for PS3, and the bottom two are for your Xbox 360 controllers. Because the two use very different connectors, the docks cannot be used interchangeably.

When you dock a controller, you’ll see an LED light up to inform you that it is connected. Red means charging, while blue means it is finished. Don’t worry about leaving your controllers on too long, as it will stop feeding them juice when they’ve reached their maximum charge.

In summary, the Power Pyramid gives you a place to not only store a pair of Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers, but it also keeps them charged. If you have more than two of each, it might not be the best solution for you. Thankfully Konnet has two other versions of the Pyramid; one that charges four Xbox 360 controllers and another that charges a quartet of PS3 ones. The $55 MSRP is a tad high for something basic such as this, but smart shoppers can find it for around $40 if they know where to look.

[ Konnet ] VIA [ GamerFront ]

By Chris Scott Barr

When it comes to listening to music in your car, you have a lot of options these days. Satellite radio, AM/FM stations, CDs, and MP3 players can all give you access to your favorite tunes. With the popularity of the iPhone, many people like to utilize it for their in-car listening pleasure. Unfortunately if you’re looking for a truly integrated solution, you’ll find that you have few options.

I personally use a Sony head unit which features an iPod adapter. In order to get it to play nicely with my iPhone, I rely on a special adapter from Scoche which does the trick. It gets the job done, so long as you aren’t searching out specific songs or artists to listen to. The controls are clunky at best and barely functional at worst. Most of the time I have to unplug the iPhone, find the artist or song I was looking for, start a song, then plug it back in. I finally became fed up with it, and have started on a search for a better solution. Apline was kind enough to endulge me by letting us test out their iDA-X305 stereo. Read on for my full review.

I’ll start off by reminding everyone that I’m no audiophile. I’ve worked around audio equipment enough to know when something sounds really off, but I’m not going to focus on the audio merits of this device. I’m really only here to talk about how well it functions in conjunction with an iPhone. That being said, the audio quality was not lacking in any way, thus I have no complaints in that department.

Installation

If you’ve installed a car stereo before, then this is familiar territory. You’ll go through the usual steps of stripping wires, twisting them together and wrapping them in black tape. I do get frustrated by manufacturers that decide not to specifically label each individual wire. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but when you’re colorblind (as a large portion of the general population is) and staring at two sets of wires which only vaguely resemble the same colors, it gets frustrating. Proper labeling alleviates these frustrations. In the case of this particular unit, the wires were not labeled. A minor complaint to be sure, but we’ll just call it a pet peeve of mine.

Setup

The controls on this unit are fairly self-explanatory. I had no problems whatsoever navigating the menu to set the date and time. I was also easily able to modify the background of the LCD screen to my tastes. It’s usually at this time that I turn on the radio to set my favorite stations. This was a task that was apparently beyond my abilities.

Most stereos have several dedicated buttons for the preset stations, something that the iDA-X305 lacks. This of course meant that setting a station involved something more than simply tuning to it and holding down on the corresponding preset button. A quick check of the manual gave me information on how to scan all stations and automatically assign the presets. Let me make it perfectly clear that this is in no way helpful whatsoever.

If a person is defining preset stations, it is because in the dozens of signals out there, there are a few that they really wish to listen to. The iDA-X305 merely scans all frequencies and assigns six of the best signals (in no logical order) to the presets. To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to manually assign which stations you want to have. There are four stations that I always keep assigned in my car, only one of which was ever assigned to the list.

Design

Looks aren’t always the most important factor when selecting a device, but most people do enjoy showing off their stereo. The 2.2-inch color LCD screen is going to jump out at anyone sitting in your car. This can be set to one of three modes while playing music. First, you have your typical hybrid display. This will show a thumbnail of the album artwork and all relevant information for the track (name, artist, album). You’ll also see a small clock and date below these. Second, it can display a larger picture of the album cover with only the track name printed. Finally, you can have it depict a large clock along with the date.

There aren’t a lot of buttons to be seen on the face. It is dominated by a large silver knob, which is used for most of the navigation functions. The center is also used for searching and doubles as an “enter” button. Your other primary buttons surround the knob, with a few other minor ones off to the left. As with most stereos, the face is removable, though only partially. The left side will come off, leaving only the LCD screen in place.

iPhone Functionality

The iDA-X305 comes with a USB cable and a special iPod connector. This is long enough to run to your glove box, or just about anywhere in the front of the car you’d like. Upon plugging in the phone, you’ll be greeted with the same charging screen that you see with all iPhone-supported docks. On the stereo itself, you’ll see a brief message notifying you that it is “scanning.” This lasts for a second, two at most, then your music starts.

With the absolute basics out of the way, my main concern was navigating through my piles of music. The last thing anyone wants to do is spend 5 minutes searching for a song while they’re driving 70mph down the interstate. Sure, I have playlists with groups of music that I enjoy listening to, but finding specific songs, albums and artists should be easy as well. The iDA-X305 does an excellent job of this.

With the press of a button you are prompted with the choices of songs, artists, albums and playlists. Once you select one of these, you can then use the large knob to scroll through and make your selection. Since there could be hundreds of options to scroll through, there is a secondary way to get through the list. If you press in on the outer ring of the knob and twist, you can skip through the selections much faster. This can be programmed to skip ahead by 10% of the list, or to the next letter of the alphabet. Utilizing this, one can find exactly what they are looking for in a matter of seconds.

It should also be noted that all of these controls respond almost instantly. Most other head units that aren’t specifically designed around the iPod/iPhone tend to have a delay which causes further headache. This is in no way present here, making navigation a smooth process.

Other Features

The most notable feature that you won’t find on the iDA-X305 is a CD player. This could be a turn-off for some people, as it’s still common for some people to burn a mix CD, or purchase a new album off the shelf. Unfortunately with the rise of MP3 players, the compact disc is dying. I’ll sometimes live in a CD for those times when I’ll not be in the car long enough to bother hooking up my iPhone, but after having this installed in my car for a few weeks, I was perfectly content without that option.

Not everyone is going to have an iPhone or iPod filled with music, which seems to defeat the entire point of having this particular unit. It does support other MP3 players and even hard drives (and flash drives) via USB. I loaded up some of my music onto a 2GB flash drive and tested this feature out. It doesn’t do anything fancy with your files (like display artwork or sort them into artists/albums), but as long as your songs are organized, you should enjoy listening to music in this way. You can still set individual folders to shuffle if you like, and navigating through them is just as easy as on the iPhone.

Optional Extras

The iDA-X305 has support for several extras that Alpine offers. This would include an HD Radio Tuner, Satellite Radio interface and a Bluetooth adapter. We did not have the opportunity to test any of these add-ons, but they are available if you are interested.

Verdict

The Alpine iDA-X305 has a couple of minor annoyances, but these are overshadowed by its seamless integration of your iPhone/iPod. It’s clear that in the future we’ll be moving away from CDs and relying more on MP3 players, and Apple still dominates that market. Alpine has done a great job of making sure this unit feels more like an extension of your iPhone/iPod, rather than a clunky accessory. The $350 MSRP is pricey, but you certainly get the quality that you’d expect from Alpine. (Not to mention smart shoppers can find it for considerably less by shopping around.)

[ Alpine ]

This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

If you’ve never picked up one of Traveller’s Tales LEGO-themed games, it’s something I’d recommend for most people. Sure, they seem a bit childish, but when you combine the nostalgic feel of LEGO’s with Star Wars, Batman or Indiana Jones you’re going to have a good time. The second LEGO Indiana Jones game has been released, and today I’ll bring you my thoughts on the PSP version.

If you’ve played any of the previous LEGO games, then you’ll be in familiar territory. The premise is to run around, smash things, build stuff and solve puzzles. Along the way you’ll collect studs and bricks that will allow you to unlock new characters, maps and bonuses.

Unlike the console versions of the game, you’ll be playing a scaled-down story which is limited to the fourth Indiana Jones flick. Sure, some of you will argue that there are only three. If you’re one of these people, then I assure you that you won’t be missing much by forgetting this game exists as well. Sure, you’ll get a few bonus missions that take place in the other movies. Unfortunately these are short and uninspired.

The amusement of this title is limited greatly by the controls, which seems to be a familiar theme with PSP titles. It is all too easy to completely miss jumps due to not being able to gauge them properly or just having unresponsive controls. Thankfully like the other titles in the series, there is no real incentive to stay alive, as you’ll find yourself reappearing with only a few studs missing.

The graphics aren’t bad (everything is made from LEGO’s, how bad could it really be?) though the scenery of each level seems a bit more bland than the other games in the series. The classic John Williams score is present, though the selection of music is rather limited. Be prepared to hear the theme song a few hundred times before all is said.

This is the first LEGO game that I haven’t really gotten into. I don’t know if the repetitive nature of the series has finally taken its toll, or if the combined factors that I mentioned early simply sapped away most of the enjoyment. LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is currently available for the DS, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3.

[ LucasArts ] VIA [ GamerFront ]

By David Ponce

No one really likes cables. And the more electronic devices we own, the worse it gets. Anything anyone does to do away with all the spaghetti-like clutter is a good thing by my book. So that’s why I’ve always been a fan of Eye-Fi, makers of an SD card with an embedded Wi-Fi chip. Not only because it allows me to do away with the always-hard-to-find USB transfer cable, it actually makes my camera more useful (well, not quite my camera, no fault of Eye-Fi, but more on that in a minute). How so? By making it a snap to actually offload pictures from it and sharing them with whomever I like. This happens to be the entire point of cameras, but being the lazy person I am I’ve been known to leave pictures in there forever.

So does it work? Absolutely. Keep reading for a short review of the product.

I was sent the 4GB version of the card. Great! Being the owner of a Powershot A540 this meant I was out of luck: the camera only supports SDCH cards with a maximum size of 2GB. So I borrowed a friend’s Casio Exilim EX-FC100.

Installing the software that comes with the Eye-Fi card was simple. Just plug into your computer with the supplied SD card reader and the installation takes care of itself. Answer the prompts, enter your WiFi password and any one of 20 sharing sites’ info. After that, you turn your camera on and take pictures. They’ll be automatically sent to your PC as well as to the sharing sites you’ve specified, as long as you leave the power on since the card uses the cameras’ power. Go out, take pictures and come back home. As soon as you turn it on, it dumps everything you took right into your PC once again.

And that’s really all there is to it. It’s a simple product to use that works as advertised. Just make sure you check whether your camera accepts SDHC cards and that it won’t limit the maximum allowable size. This particular model is $79.99.

For a little more info, check out the below video.

[ Eye-Fi ]

By Chris Scott Barr

If you’ve looked at PC cases, power supplies and cooling systems, there’s a good chance that you’re familiar with the name Thermaltake. However, you may not recognize their new brand, LUXA2. The LUXA2 brand features products that keep simplicity, luxury and unique designs in mind. I’ve had the opportunity to check out one of their first offerings, the H1-Touch.

The H1-Touch is very simply a holder for your mobile phone. Specifically, it is aimed at the iPhone and iPod Touch, but the nature of the design allows it to work with just about any phone. Practical applications range from watching a movie to using it as a stand for charging.

At first glance you’ll notice the beautiful brushed aluminum frame, black pad and the six “fingers” which will hold your device. The designers were going for style through simplicity, and I think that they really hit the nail on the head. The Luxa2 brand name is the only visible marking, which is accented by a pair of Swarovski crystals.

So what exactly does the H1-Touch do? As I said before it really only holds your phone. You’ll set your device on the black rubber pad, and adjust the six fingers (which move together as one) to hold it firmly in place. Once there, you can freely rotate it 360-degrees or tilt it all the way back to the other side.

The H1-Touch does one thing, and it does it well. Setting my iPhone in the cradle takes very little effort, and frankly makes using various functions on my phone a little easier when I’m at my desk. My only complaint is that it is a little too light, so it will sometimes scoot back when I press the home button. That aside, it looks and functions beautifully.

Overall, I really enjoy using the LUXA2 H1-Touch at my desk. It complements my iPhone, and looks great sitting next to my MacBook Pro. Of course its limited functionality and luxury price ($49.99) ($29.99) will likely mean that it appeals to a limited crowd.

Update: We have been informed that the price of the H1-Touch has dropped to $29.99.

[ LUXA2 ]

This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

I’ve played a number of PSP titles, and it’s always interesting to see how a developer gets around the limitation of having only a single analog stick to work with. It can provide some significant obstacles, but generally they overcome them. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for LucasArts and Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron.

This latest installment in the Battlefront series places you in the boots of a clone trooper who was created from the DNA of a Jedi Master. I’ll admit that playing a cloned Jedi does have its appeals, but the game never really follows through on this. You’re simply another trooper with skills moderately better than the rest. There’s also a story of two brothers on separate sides of the battlefield, which doesn’t end up being nearly as interesting as one would hope.

The game takes you through a number of battles seen in the movies and other Star Wars canon. Yet again you’ll see battles from a slightly different point of view. This time you’ll be rotating through a series of scenarios that include a ground battle, space battle and firing some sort of large gun at the surface of the planet, or a ship. At first this seems to liven up the gameplay, however, you quickly realize that every single level will have you doing these exact same things. Give it three or four levels and you’ll have pretty much played the entire game. The rest is just a re-hashing of the early levels with a new face painted on them.

Speaking of the missions themselves, most of them are a complete joke. You’ll have a number of objectives to complete before you progress. Usually they consist of going to a location, sometimes an action has to be carried out once you get there (pull a lever, blow something up, etc.). The funny thing is that if you aren’t specifically ordered to kill anyone, you can breeze through many parts of the game by running past all of the enemies until you hit the next checkpoint. Talk about taking the ‘battle’ out of Battlefront.

I would usually be disappointed to find out that I can simply run past all of the enemies. Unfortunately the controls are so abysmal in this game that I found it to be a saving grace. With your single analog stick you control player movement, camera and aiming. I don’t mean to say that the stick controls these things individually in combination with another button. No, it does all of these things at the same time, which makes it difficult to do anything at all.

Movement is clunky at best, since the camera is situated directly behind you at all times. There is no strafing, so if you want to shoot an enemy around a corner, you have to walk out there, slowly turn, lock on to them, wait for the auto-aim to kick in, then fire. I say that the auto-aim is a necessity because it truly is. Your crosshairs remain in the same spot on the screen at all times. It is a rare occurrence indeed when an enemy is squarely in your sights. You can zoom in with your weapons, at which time you are free to aim, but I rarely recommend this. It takes a precious few seconds to pull it up, then even longer to actually move the crosshairs where you want them. Oh, and don’t worry about targeting a specific enemy. Even if there’s someone right in front of you, there’s no guarantee that it will be the one you’ll end up targeting.

You do have a variety of weapons to choose from, unfortunately these are restricted to a few predefined sets. You can stop at stations setup throughout the game and switch these out, and occasionally you are forced to do so. For instance, you need to equip the ‘Pilot’ loadout so that you can use the fusion cutter to repair a turret. (How cutting at a pile of rubble turns it into a fully-functional turret is beyond me, but that’s another matter entirely.) Thankfully you can switch loadouts as often as you like, so when you’re done, you can equip something useful.

The storyline had some potential, but overall the game felt clunky and uninspired. The controls were miserable and the gameplay too repetitive. If you’re looking for your next Star Wars fix, I wouldn’t suggest picking this one up.

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is currently available for the PSP and DS.

[ LucasArts ] VIA [ GamerFront ]

This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

When building a gaming computer, each component is important in its own way. Most people focus on their motherboard, CPU, RAM and video card. However, things like your case, hard drive and power supply also play a vital role in things. We’ve covered cases and hard drives, but haven’t really touched on power supplies. These are rather tricky to properly review without specialized equipment. We currently have an Ultra X4 850W Modular Power Supply, and I thought I’d share at least my initial thoughts with you.

Modular power supplies are nothing new, but they are something I would recommend to anyone building a new system (or just replacing their old PSU). I’m very picky about cable management, and having a lot of extra unneeded wires lying around drives me insane. Of course making the inside of your case look better is only one of the benefits, it also helps to maximize airflow thus keeping your components cooler.

The X4 has more cables than most people will ever have a need for. Here’s a breakdown of total connecters:

• 1x 24-Pin Motherboard Power Connector
• 1x 8-Pin Motherboard Power Connector
• 1x 4-Pin Motherboard Power Connector
• 9x 4-Pin Molex Power Connector
• 2x 4-Pin Floppy Power Connector
• 11x SATA Power Connector
• 6x 6-Pin PCI-E Power Connector
• 3x 8-Pin PCI-E Power Connector
• 2x Case Fan Power Connector

Other accessories include a silicone vibration dampener and a carrying case to store all of your unneeded cables. You’ll also find thumbscrews and Velcro ties to make the installation process that much easier.

In addition to providing your gaming rig with the power it needs, the X4 also promises to protect your other components. One of the easiest ways for your computer to get damaged is from a power surge. The X4 actually has integrated short circuit protection which will keep your parts safe in the event of a power surge or brownout. It can also sense dangerous temperatures and cut off power to prevent your computer from overheating. Lastly, the included lifetime warranty means that no matter what happens, you’re going to have an awesome power supply that works.

I’ll admit, this isn’t my most in-depth review, and we are currently working on a new method for testing power supplies in the future. I’ve been using this particular unit in our primary gaming rig for several weeks now, without any issues. With the built-in surge and thermal overload protection, I do feel a little better knowing that I’ve got one more line of defense when it comes to my PC’s safety. At $249 you are going to be able to find other 850W power supplies, but the peace of mind is worth the money.

[ Ultra Products ] VIA [ GamerFront ]

By Colin Ackerman

We’ve been fans of iGo’s power accessories for a while; with a system of interchangeable tips to charge as many gadgets as you own (almost) from any source iGo supports, you have to carry around far less self-tangling cableage keep all of your stuff juiced up and happy. iGo’s latest offering is a Netbook Charger, designed specifically for, uh, netbooks. It’s just like the power brick that came with your netbook, with few key exceptions: it can power any netbook you have a tip for, it includes a powered USB port, and it’s pretty. Read all about it, after the jump.

The powered USB port is especially handy, since the iGo charger can take the place of one (or many) other chargers for devices that are USB compatible. For everything else, you can get an adapter cable from iGo that plugs into the USB port and accepts iGo tips for $7. So basically, instead of carrying around chargers for your netbook, cell phone, GPS, digital camera, and weird tubey speaker thing, you just pack the Netbook Charger and a bunch of iGo tips.

iGo Laptop Charger, iGo Netbook Charger, standard netbook power adapter (MSI Wind)

I take my netbook everywhere. Whether I’m traveling on business, pleasure, pleasure, or pleasure, my computer comes with me. And so does my cell phone. This charger lets me charge both of these critical pieces of my life with a minimum of hassle and cableage, which is quite nice. It’s a little bit bigger than the power brick that came with my netbook, which is unfortunate, but it’s smaller than that plus the other chargers that I would ordinarily be carrying around. I also like the fact that the cord that plugs into the wall is two prong instead of three… It might not be the greatest idea, but it sure is convenient. A bonus is that the cord is detachable and replaceable since it features a standard connection, giving you the option of going super low profile:

The iGo Netbook Charger is a no-brainer if you need a replacement (or additional) power adapter for your netbook, if you travel a lot with a bunch of accessories, or if you commonly travel with multiple netbooks… I’m not sure why you’d do that, but I’m sure there are people out there. If you’re happy with your current power adapter, though, I’d hesitate to recommend buying one of these simply to take its place. The USB port is convenient, to be sure, but the iGo Netbook Charger is likely larger than the adapter that came with your netbook, and at $50 (which includes 2 free iGo adapter tips), it’s certainly not cheap. But sometimes the convenience is worth it, especially if you hate hate HATE cables as much as I do.

If you and your netbook find yourselves away from standard outlets a lot, iGo also offers a Netbook Anywhere Charger, which includes auto and airplane adapters for an extra $20.

[ iGo Netbook Charger ]

When you think about it, a video projector small enough to fit in your hand is one of those ‘best of both worlds’ ideas. You get the portability of a device like the iPhone, with the big-screen viewing experience of a projector. And while micro projectors have been promised for the past few years, it’s only recently that we’ve begun to see affordable models hitting the market. Now prior to this review, the only experiences I’ve had with micro projectors was at trade shows where the lighting conditions were never ideal, and needless to say I wasn’t exactly impressed.

But AAXA Technologies sent us over one of their P1 Pico Projectors which I had the opportunity to test out in the comfort (and controlled conditions) of my own home. I’ll admit that I walked away with a different opinion on the technology, and while it’s far from perfect at this point (you’ll have to settle for a few compromises) I’m sure one day micro and even embedded projectors will be as commonplace as digital cameras are in cellphones today. Hit the jump for my full review.

If you’ve been considering picking up a micro projector, the first thing you should understand is that in terms of resolution, brightness and even color saturation, they just can’t compete with even the cheapest of full-size video projectors available at your local electronics store. So if you’ve envisioned buying one of these as an affordable alternative for your board room or home theater, you can forget about it, you won’t be happy. However, if there are times where you really want something bigger than the 3.5 inch LCD screen on your PMP, and have accepted that these aren’t miniature versions of the Barco or Christie digital cinema projectors used at your local cineplex, I think you’ll be content.

The P1 Pico Projector uses AAXA’s proprietary LCOS chip (liquid crystal on silicon) which projects a “usable” (their word, not mine) 12 lumen image with a resolution of 640×480. The company claims the projector can produce an image up to 60 inches in size, and it most definitely can, but like with any projector, the closer you are to the screen, the better and brighter the image quality will be.

Weighing in at a mere 6 ounces the P1 Pico is definitely light and small, and I can’t say I ever had any problems carrying it around in my pants pocket. The built-in rechargeable battery is rated for about 45 to 60 minutes of use, and while I had similar results, it’s unfortunate that it won’t last through even a 90-minute ‘B’ movie on a single charge. An optional 7-hour battery is available for about $80, but since it’s designed for external use it kind of reduces the portability aspect of the P1 Pico. And that’s pretty much it’s biggest selling point.

Included with the P1 Pico is a basic manual, an AC adapter and a video break-out cable that accepts stereo audio and composite video connections, allowing you to hook up pretty much any device that has the proper audio & video outs.

I was also sent the optional Zune A/V cable, but since I’m currently Zune-less, I was unable to test it out. But AAXA Technologies also sells video adapter cables for the iPod, PSP and even a VGA adapter, and they’ve assured me a cable that will work with the latest generation iPhones and Touches is also in the works. But onto the projector itself.

In lieu of a sliding lens mechanism like the ones used on most P&S cameras these days, the P1 Pico has a rubber lens cap that’s tethered to the projector, ensuring it doesn’t go missing. When in use you can simply swing the cap around so it doesn’t get in the way, and the only real complaint I have is that the rubber material tends to collect bits of dust and other debris, which can be transferred to the lens when it’s covered.

Now one of the biggest problems with handheld projectors in my opinion, that most companies don’t seem to be addressing, is focus. Larger projectors are usually permanently mounted to the ceiling or a wall, and only have to be focused once after they’re installed. But handheld projectors are constantly moving, which of course requires constant focus adjustments. With the P1 Pico focusing is done via a small lever atop the lens that can be moved to the left or right, and while it works well enough, unless you leave the thing sitting on a desk, you’ll be riding this lever quite a lot.

Now something like the autofocus feature used in cameras comes to mind as a possible solution, but those usually rely on the optics of the camera itself to work, which a projector doesn’t have. So I’m not really sure what the ideal solution is, I just know that before these start getting embedded in every handheld device, the problem of constantly having to manually adjust the focus has to be addressed.

On one side of the P1 Pico you’ll find a connector you probably won’t find on most full-size projectors. It’s a mini-USB port and it’s used to upload content to the projector’s 1GB of built-in memory, which means you don’t actually need an external video source to use it. All you have to do is upload your photos, videos and even ebooks to the device and it will play them. I tested it with a 700+MB standard resolution divx video file which played without issue, though I suspect the P1 might not have the horsepower to handle HD content. But since it’s only got a resolution of 640×480, why even try?

But that 1GB of memory will probably disappear pretty fast, particularly if you’re stocking up on enough video content to get you through your next business trip, so on the other side of the P1 you’ll find a microSD slot which pretty much means your storage limits are only governed by how many microSD cards you’re willing to carry.

On the bottom of the P1 Pico you’ll find the AV jack where you connect the included breakout cable or one of the video adapters (sorry, no mini-HDMI), the power jack, the on/off switch (or should I say bat/off/dc switch) and the all-important headphone jack. Why do I refer to it as all-important you ask? Well unfortunately there’s a good reason. One of the best uses for a micro projector is to share content like photos or videos with a large group of people, instead of making them huddle around your portable device’s tiny display. And while the video part is no problem for the P1, the audio unfortunately is.

Now the P1 does have a built-in speaker, but even at full volume (you can see the volume dial next to the mini-USB port in the previous photo) it’s barely audible, even if you’re holding the projector in your hand. Part of the problem might be contributed to the P1’s constantly running fan, but I’ll be honest, it’s actually pleasantly quiet, and the speaker should be more than capable to compensate for that small bit of white noise, but it doesn’t. So even if you were sitting in your hotel room watching a movie, you’d still need to use a pair of headphones (or external speakers) if you wanted to hear what’s going on. It’s an unfortunate issue that I hope the company has already remedied with their recently announced P2 model.

Underneath the P1 you’ll find the battery hidden beneath a sliding panel. It is removable, so in theory you could buy and bring a couple of spare batteries along to eek out enough juice for a 2-hour movie, but having to carry extra stuff just doesn’t seem to be in the spirit of a micro projector if you ask me.

Finally, on the top of the P1 you’ll find a set of 5 control buttons arranged not unlike a TV remote that allow you to control playback functions during a video, song or slideshow, or navigate the on-screen menus.

I can’t say that the user interface is one of the P1’s strong points, but it’s totally usable when it comes to navigating content stored in the internal memory or on the microSD card, even if it is a bit sluggish at times. It can’t compete with the iPhone or Pre’s slick UIs, but it doesn’t really need to in my opinion. At times knowing what button to press to move up or down in a list or menu was kind of confusing, and almost seemed backwards, but you figure it out quickly enough. However, a little more polish for the user interface wouldn’t hurt the P1 either.

Of course the big question is how good, or at the least usable, is the P1’s video quality? Well with just 12 lumens behind it, it all depends on where you want to use it. In a well lit office with fluorescent lighting overhead, the video is barely visible, even with the projector positioned just inches from a wall. But in a living room with all the lights off in the evening, the quality is actually not bad. I mean it doesn’t have the contrast, brightness or color saturation of a full-size projector, but in a pinch I could happily watch a two-hour movie with the P1.

But instead of a movie I decided to watch the season 13 finale of Top Gear. The photos you see above were taken in a pitch-black room so I could get the best results possible, but they’re pretty indicative of what it’s like to watch a video with the P1. (The size of this projection was about 30-40 inches.) The image always tends to be a bit dark, but as long as the projector isn’t too far from the wall or screen the colors and contrast are half-decent, even if the image is a bit stretched because I couldn’t find any settings for adjusting the aspect ratio. I’d like to say the results are far from amazing, but when you consider that the projector is about the same size as an iPhone (and twice as thick) you do end up kind of impressed at what it’s capable of.

Conclusions:

I think the P1 Pico Projector can be summed up in one word; compromise. What it lacks in image quality when compared to a full-sized projector, it more than makes up for in portability. And if you’re thinking of buying one, you simply have to ask yourself if you’re willing to accept those compromises. If you can be happy with less than stellar image quality from a projector you can carry in your pocket but can only use in ideal conditions, then by all means pick one up. (Just remember that you’ll need to use headphones for anything involving audio.) But if contrast, image quality and color saturation are too important to you, you’ll probably want to stick with a briefcase sized model instead.

I’ll also point out that at the time of publishing this review, AAXA Technologies has already announced their P2 Pico Projector which improves on the P1 with a 33 lumen LED light source, a resolution of 800×600 and hopefully a considerably louder built-in speaker for $349.

Pros:
+ It’s a video projector that fits in your pocket and only weighs about 6 ounces.
+ Doesn’t need an external video source, videos can be played off its internal memory.
+ Now just $219.

Cons:
- Built-in speaker is too quiet, almost to the point of being inaudible.
- 60 minute battery life is somewhat limiting.
- 12 lumen light source means you’ll get better results with darker lighting conditions.
- No mini-HDMI connector.
- UI and controls could use a bit of polish.
- Constantly having to adjust the focus is a pain, but this is a problem plaguing all handheld projectors.

Links:

AAXA Technologies P1 Pico Projector – $219

If you have any questions about the P1 Pico Projector you’d like answered, please feel free to leave them in the comments, and I’ll try to respond to them as best I can.

By Chris Scott Barr

Being the geek that I am, I have computers scattered all through my house. It’s something that people tend to notice when they come over for the first time, not because they’re ugly and out of place, just that there seems to be a lot of them. A couple of them are used almost primarily for playing music, namely the ones in my kitchen or garage. Usually I’ll either have them playing music from my iTunes, or Pandora. If you’re not familiar with Pandora, I highly suggest checking it out. Essentially it’s free internet radio. You can create stations with the exact artists and genres that you want.

I little while ago I learned of the Livio Radio, which allows you to play music from your Pandora stations without a PC. I was given the opportunity to review one, so I could find out if this was really as awesome as it sounded. Hit the jump for my thoughts.

Features

The Livio isn’t exactly packed full of features, mostly because it doesn’t really need them. It picks one thing and sticks to it. It streams your Pandora stations either via Wi-Fi, or an ethernet cable (included). You can browse through your Pandora stations, and use the “Thumb-up” or “Thumb-down” buttons just like you would on your PC. A headphone jack is located on the front along with aux in and out on the rear.

First Look

This is probably one of the most simplistic radios I’ve seen in a while. They were going with the old adage “less is more.” On the front you’ll find a rather large speaker, an LCD screen, large knob, six buttons and a headphone jack. On the rear you’ll find the auxiliary in and out ports, an ethernet jack and a spot for the power cord. There’s really nothing else to be seen.

Setup

At no point do you ever connect the Livio Radio to your computer, which would make you think that setup could be a little difficult. In all honesty, it really isn’t. You do have to use your computer to go to the registration page, which will eventually program your Livio for you. You do have to spend a bit of time either turning the knob or poking buttons on the remote when you’re setting things like the WEP key for your wireless network. It can be a little annoying, but it’s over rather quickly. Once finished, you’ll have access to all of your Pandora stations, or you can make new ones if you’re new to the service.

Ease Of Use

Once you’ve setup the Livio, it is easy as pie to use. You just hit the power button, select the station that you want, and it starts playing your music. You can skip songs and use the thumb-up or thumb-down button when you so desire. Changing stations is also only a few clicks away.

Sound Quality

Having only a single speaker definitely has its drawbacks. The quality isn’t bad, but it isn’t going to blow you away either. If you’re just listening to it in the kitchen, or other smaller room you’ll enjoy it just fine. Thankfully they included an auxiliary output so that you can hook it up to a larger set of speakers when you need some extra power.

Other Thoughts

I noticed that if you left the device powered off for a while, it would occasionally lose the time. On more than one occasion I noticed that it was off by a few hours. It pulls its time from the internet, so simply turning it back on fixed the issue.

Verdict

Overall, I love the Livio Radio. It is a simple device that looks good in just about any room and pumps out my Pandora stations. I don’t need any fancy wires, and I don’t have to mess with using my iPhone to output music (Since all but one of my docks requires me to put it in Airplane Mode). The audio could be better, but you can always hook it into your home theater if you want. The $199 price is a bit steep, but if you’ve got the cash and love music, it’s worth it.

[ Livio ]