Tiny Qumi Q8 projector has no problem delivering big-screen thrills

Pocket projectors – classic exemplars of the “wonderful in theory, rubbish in practice” subsection of tech gadgets. Am I right?

Until now, I’d say you’re pretty much on the money. While the idea of being able to cart around a tiny projector everywhere is undeniably alluring, the fact is that squeezing proper projector innards into a minuscule box is hard. So these products have often suffered from lacklustre performance. But…

I know what you’re going to say: “Except for this one.”

Well, potentially! While we haven’t seen the Qumi Q8 doing its thing, it certainly looks to be pretty well-equipped on paper for a pocket projector. Despite being just 620g in weight and only 43mm in depth, it can chuck out an image up to 120in in size, with a full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution.

In fact, according to makers Vivitek it’s the tiniest 1080p LED projector on the market. Most pocket projectors can’t muster a full HD resolution without becoming, well, a bit too bulky to still be called pocket projectors. So this is a big deal. About a small projector.

And what can I plug into the Q8?

With a couple of HDMI inputs, pretty much any source you like: console, laptop, Chromecast, anything. And while it’s probably primarily designed with education in mind rather than home cinema or gaming, there’s a USB port and a built-in “PC-Free Reader” for playing digital files too.

As far as performance goes, Vivitek quotes a brightness rating of 1000 lumens and a contrast ratio of 30,000:1, which are both decent numbers – and the Q8’s predecessor, the 720p resolution Q5, received plenty of praise for its entertainment performance. This really could function as a portable entertainment big screen – and hopefully we’ll be getting hold of one to review soon in order to find that out for realsies.

The Qumi Q8 is available in white or black this month for around £850, which includes a three-year warranty.