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What happens when you combine a 4.3 x 4.2 x 2 inch projector with a wealth of streaming content services? You get the handheld, portable Streaming Projector by 3M and Roku. The two companies have teamed up to offer the best of each of their worlds in one compact package. While overall it's a useful device, it does have a couple of kinks that need to be worked out.
The 3M Streaming Projector is a neat idea, especially in a world overrun by set-top boxes. Pocket projectors have been around for a while now, so this isn't an entirely new concept. But rather than having to connect the projector to an external device—like a smartphone or computer, the included Roku streaming stick provides the content. The projector also features dual-band Wi-Fi, so it has the same functionality as a Roku box, though its output is blown up all over the wall.
Design
The projector is rated at 60 lumens.
The 3M Streaming Projector is easy to cart around. It's small enough stick in a laptop bag or a purse to bring over to a friend's house. The device features two volume buttons, as well as buttons to power on the device, sift through settings, and check on things like battery power and brightness. On one side of the projector, there's a plug for the power supply, as well as an audio out to plug in headphones or an external speaker system. On the other side, there's a wheel to adjust the focus of the picture to ensure that movies and slide shows aren't blurry. The Streaming Projector can be mounted on a tripod via a ventral screw-hole, should there be a lack of tables high enough to properly display the picture on a blank wall.
The 3M streaming projector features a row of buttons, though none are as useful as the remote control.
The side of the projector has an audio out jack, as well as the plug for the power adapter.
The purple Roku Streaming Stick snaps nicely into its own removable plastic casing. It also plugs in to HDMI-capable television and works as a
standalone
Roku, though you'll need to purchase the Streaming Stick Gaming Remote for it to work. Said remote doesn't appear to be available separately yet. (3M's
FAQ
states that other Roku remotes will
not
work with the Streaming Stick, though the hardware can be controlled with the regular iOS and Android apps.) If you decide that you don't want to stream any movies or television shows, you can pull out the Streaming Stick and use the HDMI slot to connect anything else that's MHL- or HDMI-equipped, including your smartphone or tablet if you have the right adapter. Unfortunately we didn't have any devices to test this out ourselves.
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The projector features an HDMI/MHL port...
...Or you can snap in the Roku streaming stick to start watching movies and television available through services like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Instant Video.
There is also a minuscule remote control that comes with the 3M Streaming Projector, but there is no way to attach it to the device so that they travel as a pair. Although you can control the volume and access the settings from the projector itself, you won't be able do much else without the remote nearby.
The remote is the only way to connect the projector to Wi-Fi or scroll through content.
Performance
The 3M Streaming Projector utilizes DLP projection, but it's severely limited by its 800 x 480 WVGA resolution. The further the projector is placed from the projection surface, the more washed out the picture. The bulb is small—about 60 lumens—so it doesn't put out as much light as most consumer projectors, which is why it produces such a soft-looking video. The projector looks great in very low-light rooms given the right type of wall, but if you've got knockdown drywall texture and big windows letting in lots of light, this projector doesn't stand a chance.
Even with the projector on a blank white wall, the blacks were hardly black.
The projector under a skylight is even worse—the picture looks so faded, we could barely make out Zooey Deschanel.
With every television show we watched in daytime light, only full brightness displayed picture quality close to what we were hoping for. Anything lower than that was hard to distinguish, unless we were in a darker room. The downside of all of this is that maximum brightness on the projector meant maximum power usage, which greatly affected the thing's battery life (we'll get to that in just a second).That meant that "eco" mode, which sets the picture at a lower brightness to help preserve battery life, isn't especially useful.
The projector has adjustable settings for things like brightness, contrast, picture rotation, and. You can also select the input source.
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The settings menu is simple to use, but it took us awhile before we could figure out what each option did.
The device does come with its own built-in speakers, though they'll only work well if you're in a quiet room without any ambient noise, since they don't get much louder than a smartphone at maximum volume. You can connect the projector to external speakers, though it really does begin to invalidate the "portable" part of the projector's name.
Battery life
The battery life is particularly dismal for a device that's meant to entertain. In "regular mode" (and with the brightness set all the way up), the projector only got through an hour of
Saturday Night Live
before it had chewed through two-thirds of its battery. Twenty minutes later, the projector shut down because the battery had been completely exhausted. It performed just as poorly in "eco" mode; after an hour of
Parenthood
and 10 minutes of
The Office
, the projector just couldn't take it anymore.
Worse, there was a horrible whirring sound as the fan attempted to keep the device cool. When we picked it up, it was uncomfortably hot. We imagine that with the fan constantly spinning to cool down the hardware, the battery really took the brunt of it all. Next time around, 3M should consider a better cooling system. A device this small that gets that hot is worrisome.
Not bad but not great
A price of $299 may seem steep for a device this small that also requires users to subscribe to third-party services to get at its intended functionality, but it's cheaper than some of the better pico projectors—and it comes with a Roku Streaming Stick that can be used separately (with caveats).
The 3M Streaming Projector is a really neat gadget for users who valuable portability and who aren't too bothered by its poor battery life. It can be brought along as a handy self-contained movie player to keep the kids preoccupied at family gatherings, or to add some background noise to a social gathering. Just remember to keep the charger nearby.
The Good:
Features dual-band Wi-Fi for movie watching without any hiccups
Audio out jack allows you to hook up an external speaker system
Roku streaming stick can be removed and used with another HDMI-equipped TV
Projector also hooks up to other HDMI- or MHL-equipped devices
The Bad:
Picture resolution is only WVGA
The further the projector, the more faded the picture
Loud whirring of the fan can get annoying
Hardly any functionality without the remote nearby
The Ugly:
Battery life doesn't even last through a whole feature-length film
