Just yesterday we were in a situation in office where a projector would have added so much value to whatever we were doing. But despite the giant leaps this particular technology has made, there is still a lot amiss when it comes to convenience and practicality. This is why over the past many years a new segment of Pico projectors has been making big strides. Pico projectors are really handy and portable enough to come inside any backpack. We just tested the Portronics Progenie.
Portronics Progenie review
The Portronics Progenie is a 100 Lumens, 854x480p resolution projector about the size of a small watch box. It can throw images up to 80 inches in size, but is just 200 grams in weight. The Portronics Progenie comes with a remote, a small tripod to prop it up and the ability to play from HMDI, USB and a card reader. It has an inbuilt speaker as well as an auxiliary out option.
Portronics Progenie price in India: Rs 29,999
Portronics Progenie: What is good?
Well, we will have to start with the size for that is clearly what makes this a unique product. No, this is not the first projector that is this small, but this is certainly among the few pico projectors that can pack in so many features. Just the choice of sources was good enough for me to be interested the Progenie.
The image quality is good, though I would have liked it to be Full HD. There is a focus dial on the side to easily get the clarity you need. It worked well, though I did not have a screen to project on. The 100 Lumens is good enough to overpower an off-white wall and make content the king. Thankfully, you do not have to play around with keystone adjustments to get the image shape right and just keeping the projector in the right place helps.
Controlling the projector is easy and there is remote which can do most of the stuff. There are some controls on the side of the box too. But this is among the most uncomplicated projectors I have seen. It is as easy as select source, find file and start playing when it is from the USB or SD card and a simple plug-and-play from HDMI. There are easy settings for picture quality too, but don’t expect too much here. Also, this projector has a fan inside that keeps it relatively cool even after a longish movie screening.
Portronics Progenie: What is not that good?
The projector couldn’t recognise the media files I tried to play via a USB drive. So you will need to be a bit choosy about the kind of formats you save your files in.
I know it is a bit of wishful thinking and doesn’t really work with projectors, but some amount of battery backup for a device like this will come in really handy for those who will buy this device.
Portronics Progenie: Should you buy?
If you are someone who is always on the move and needs to keep presenting stuff to a larger audience, the Portronics Progenie might be a good device to have in your bag. While this is good for homes too, I am not sure people who want to watch movies on a larger canvas would like to invest is a Pico projector as a larger, more powerful device makes more sense for them. However, I feel the Progenie is a bit expensive at Rs 29,999 and you should have a really good reason to pay a premium for the portability.
