Last month AAXA Technologies introduced a new picoprojector into the US market. There are lots of picoprojectors out there, but this is only the second laser-based picoprojector available, after the Microvision ShowWX. On the other hand, this is the first laser-based unit with a built-in media player and the Microvision projector isn’t actually available yet in the US.

Matt Brennesholtz
Insight Media Analyst

The AAXA L1 projector differs from the Microvision projector in that it uses a SVGA color sequential LCoS panel instead of the MEMS scanner used in the Microvision ShowWX. One implication of this is the lasers used in the AAXA projector can be relatively simple because they only need to be modulated at the color field rate, typically on the order of 360Hz - 540Hz. In the scanned MEMS design from Microvision, the lasers need to be modulated at the pixel rate, or a minimum of 25MHz for a WVGA projector such as the ShowWX. In reality, because of non-linearities in the MEMS raster scan, retrace time and other factors, higher modulation frequencies are needed, up to about 50MHz.

Some green laser designs, including the low-cost design used in most green laser pointers, can only be modulated at 2KHz -5KHz maximum. More complex and expensive green laser designs from Corning and Osram are needed in the Microvision projector. Availability of a direct emission green laser diode, such as the one demonstrated at CES by Kaai, will ease this problem when they become commercially available. Laser cost is a problem for everyone, and this shows in the $500 and $599 prices for the Microvision and AAXA projectors respectively.

AAXA claims their L1 picoprojector is the "World’s Smallest 20 lumen Pico Projector." At 170g (6.0 ounces) and with outside dimensions of 107mm x 53mm x 20mm for a total of 116cc, (4.2" x 2.1" x 0.8", 7.1 cubic inches), it is quite small. These weights and dimensions include the internal battery. The projector consumes 7.5W and the 2300 mAh li-ion rechargeable battery is said to be good for 90 minutes of operation. Like the Microvision unit, the AAXA projector does not need to be refocused when the projector/screen distance is changed.

The AAXA L1 includes most of the features one would expect in a picoprojector with a media player, including VGA and composite video inputs, a USB port, a speaker and file readers for a variety of audio, video and computer files, including Microsoft Office documents and PDF. One surprising omission is internal memory–you need to put your files in through a USB thumb drive, which is visible in the image.

Insight Media expects to talk to AAXA’s director of marketing, Max Hu, in the next couple of days, so you can expect to see an expanded version of this article with additional details in the upcoming issue of Mobile Display Report, due out March 15th.