Smart Beam Wireless Projector

The Smart Beam is smaller than a standard Rubik’s Cube, at 2.2 inches on a side, and it weighs only 6.9 ounces. The exterior is a very dark brown on three sides, a dark bronze on two sides, and it has a black pad on the base that’s meant to keep it from sliding around. The front is defined by a lens that works in concert with the intrinsic nature of laser light to give the projector an extremely large depth of field. The result is an image that’s in focus from about 10 inches in front of the projector, by my measurements, to infinity. In short, there’s no need for a focus control.

The only connectors are the micro-HDMI port on the left side of the projector and a micro USB input, strictly for power, on the right side. A button nestled on the top, in the rear-left corner, lets you turn the projector on and off, as well as set it to connect via DLNA or Miracast, with the HDMI port supported with either setting.

You can use the Smart Beam with AC power via the supplied USB cable and power adapter, which also charges the built-in lithium-polymer battery. You can plug the cable into any handy USB port for power; or, once the battery is charged, you can run it from the battery. According to United Object—the UO in UO Smart Beam Laser Projector—the battery life is about two hours on a full charge.

Also included with the projector is a cable for connecting via MHL to a compatible phone or tablet, plus an adapter for Samsung phones that need an 11-pin connector. If you want to use a different wired connection, check at time of purchase whether the vendor you’re buying it from includes an HDMI-to-micro-HDMI cable (for connecting to a PC or video source) or an Apple Lightening Digital AV adaptor (for iThings). If not, you may want to buy one along with the projector.