Let’s face it, who doesn’t want movies on the go. Most of us usually pack an external hard disk drive or a pen drive filled with movies or TV shows that we’ve been meaning to catch up with, whenever we are out for a holiday or when we have the liberty of time on long weekends. We end up watching the media content on our laptop computers, tablets or smartphones.

Some of us manage to source a big screen, to enjoy the videos at the size they’re meant to be watched on. But more often than not, this doesn’t happen. So a compact projector then completes the scene, to provide a full-fledged movie experience. Just entering the market are Acer’s travel series projectors, the K135 and the K335. While the K135 is tiny, 500 lumens beamer, the marginally bigger K335 throws 1,000 lumens through an LED lamp, and we decided to test the latter for you.

Design and build

The K335, though slotted as a travel projector, is actually not one of the pico projectors that have entered the market of late. On the contrary, it’s a regular projector with very compact dimensions. The K335 projector is only slightly bigger than a hardbound book, and is just as thick. The unit weighs in at just 1.3 kilos, which is quite light by projector standards. Acer throws in a handy sling bag to go along with it, and to the unsuspecting eye, the entire sling bag may come cross as just a college goer’s pack.

While the compact form factor does make the K335 a very desirable gadget, there are some basic design flaws. For instance, there’s no option for manual zoom to adjust the canvas size. Also, the elevation control is very cumbersome. You don’t have those one-push extenders to increase elevation – instead, you have to unscrew the stabilisers at the front to gain elevation. This takes the fun out of a small projector, which should be very easy to set up.

The rear panel is decently equipped, with every possible video input option that you can think of, such as HDMI (MHL ready), USB, SDMC, VGA and component. You also get options of audio-in and audio-out, though we’d recommend using your own speakers.

Specs and performance

For a tiny projector, the K335 packs in quite a bit of features. One of the most impressive ones is that it supports Mobile High Definition Link (MHL), DLNA as well as MiraCast, extending the projector’s compatibility beyond consoles, PCs and Macs to mobile devices as well.

We used a Sony Xperia Z and a BlackBerry Z 10 to mirror videos and photos, using compatible cables (not supplied by the manufacturer). The projector also charges the devices during the usage. The projector also has the ability to access MS Office and PDF files directly via a USB stick, making it ideal for presentations on the go as well. For using DLNA, you’d need to buy the optional adapter separately.

Because the K335 uses LED technology, it skips the warm-up time taken by projectors that utilise the traditional lamp technology. It’s also very easy to set up once it’s hooked up. You just need to plug in the desired device, and select it from the source list. We do wish that Acer had supplied two HDMI ports instead of just one, because it becomes easy to switch quickly between a PC or a console or a PC and an MHL supporting device with two ports. That is, in the absence of the wireless adapter.

The K335 can throw an image of 30-inches (diagonal) from a minimum distance of just under a metre (about 4 feet), and the screen size can go up to a full 100 inches. The Acer K335 has a 1,280x800 pixels WXGA native resolution, and together with a rated brightness of 1,000 lumens, and a healthy 10,000:1 rated contrast ratio, the picture quality is quite amazing. The images are sharp, rich in colour and the lights need not be turned out completely to get a good image. The resolution can go up to 1920x1080 pixels, which we needed to while watching a Blu-ray copy of ‘The Adjustment Bureau’. The K335 also offers a variety of wall colour support as well, and we found that to be a very useful feature.

Verdict

The Acer K335 travel projector is definitely one gadget that you need to own if you love taking your movie experience with you wherever you go. The picture quality is by no means compromised because of the compact form factor, which makes it ultra portable. You’ll probably have to get your own accessories, such MHL cables, a tripod (because we figured a small tripod is easier to get the correct height settings) and maybe a small but powerful set of wireless speakers. And 3D glasses, because though the projector is 3D ready, Acer doesn’t throw in the glasses. As far as the experience is concerned, we think it’s a good one, for its price.

Rs 69,500 onwards

Love – Compatible with almost everything, brilliant picture quality

Hate – Lacks some basic adjustment settings, 3D glasses not supplied

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