Polaview XGA 350

Although it's probably a little too big and too heavy to be considered a true ultra-portable projector, the Polaview XGA 350 comes close enough without ditching the kind of image control and special visual features that you normally only expect on larger models.

The unit's lens is mounted slightly off centre with standard manual zoom and focus rings. A front button releases a central foot underneath to raise the projected image, and two rear corner feet unscrew for levelling the unit.

All ports are located on a single side panel towards the rear. At first glance it appears that you can connect two computer sources, but actually one of the two VGA ports is an out/thru connector for attaching a monitor. There's no stereo mini-jack for hooking up to your notebook's audio-out port, although it's no great loss considering the XGA 350 only contains a single 1W speaker. You do have stereo input via RCA jacks, however, typically accompanying a composite video source. S-Video is also supported as standard. Oddly, the moulded plug on the power cable supplied in the box was angled downwards, rubbing on the desktop and preventing the projector from resting flat.

The remote control handset is comfortable to hold, with buttons for accessing particular on-screen menus and projector functions directly. If you connect the projector to your notebook with a USB cable, the handset can take over your mouse actions using a multidirectional rocker button. Unfortunately, mouse control from the handset is imprecise. In fact, all the buttons need to be pressed down quite hard in order to obtain a response from the on-screen menus. The button for toggling mouse mode on and off glows when switched on, so you can spot it immediately in the dark, and the inclusion of a laser pointer comes in handy.

In terms of performance, the XGA 350 excels with its clear image and some clever presentation features. A bright 1,100 Lumens-rated bulb aids clarity, but you also have a number of digital image controls to optimise further. As well as being able to change the colour temperature on a sliding scale, the XGA 350 is one of the few projectors around with a digital sharpness control which works independently of optical focusing by the lens. This can help significantly when there's too much stray light falling onto the projection screen.

Even the keystone adjustment is a digital effect, although this produced a slightly fuzzy impression in fine detail and text which, though not serious, could be off-putting in certain circumstances. I tested the projector at resolutions lower and higher than 1,024 « 768, although raising the resolution too high produces an image that's too fuzzy to be of any use.

The most striking of the special presentation features is 'P in P' mode, which allows you to show live video input as a small inset frame within a computer projection or vice versa. You can choose where the inset frame appears on-screen too. A similar feature is available which works purely with one input, allowing you to zoom electronically into a portion of the screen while retaining a reference thumbnail of the entire screen as an inset frame.

Since you'd normally only expect these kinds of effects and such a level of control in a larger conference projector, rather than crammed into a 3.2kg device, you'd think the XGA 350 would command a high price. But Polaroid has placed a great value price, although the company doesn't offer an on-site swap-out warranty as standard, like its competitors.

Author: Alistair Dabbs