Admittedly, 3M's MP180 isn't the first, the brightest or the smallest pico projector. But it's the only one with integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. That means it can do all sorts of fun stuff the others can't.
For instance, Bluetooth lets you wirelessly share files to/from the projector, such as a presentation from your computer or a photo from your smart phone. With larger files, it's probably a better idea to transfer them using a microSD card or the included USB cable. (Or just skip the transferring and project images using the included AV or VGA cables, or from its formidable 4 GB of internal memory.)
After an easy Wi-Fi set up, you can project the Internet live — although that comes with two caveats: First, its browser is unfortunately Internet Explorer 6, which chokes playing videos from sites such as YouTube and Hulu. Second, inputting text along the way is a little tedious. You either have to peck at itsy-bitsy keys on the device's screen; or even more cumbersome, use that screen as a trackpad to mouse around a projected keyboard. Both are functional, but take patience and practice.
While some parts of the interface are a little tricky, overall it's still very cool having the above-described wireless capabilities on a device with 2-hour battery life that can produce images up to 80 inches and 32 lumens, along with decent enough audio to wow the folks around the conference room table. It handles multiple resolutions and supports PDFs, MS Office files and stored multimedia in an intuitive file system. The device comes complete with international charger adapters, a tripod, soft protective pouch and all the cables already mentioned.
Credit: 3M
