Haier previews Android-powered short-throw projector

Haier short-throw projector
Haier short-throw projector

Chinese consumer electronics giant Haier was demoing a nifty little short-throw projector at IFA 2014, one that project the moving picture on a mirror that's then projected back on the target screen.

The device, which has yet to be named and will be available in the first quarter of next year, uses Texas Instruments DLP and LED technology which should improve the bulb's lifespan by a factor of 10.

The projector is 3D compatible, offers a brightness of 2000cd/m^2, a contrast ratio of 5000:1 and offers a full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels) with Haier hinting that a 4K projector might be available at some point.

Android in a projector

During the quick demonstration in a well lit room, the projector was within a few centimetres of the wall it was projecting on; Haier says that placing the projector just 5cm from the wall produces a 60-inch picture. Increase that to 1m and the final diagonal reaches a whopping 150-inch.

Interestingly, the device is smart-enabled. It can be used as a standalone computer since it packs a dual-core ARM-based Rockchip RK3066 processor with a quad-core Mali GPU, Android 4.2, 1GB of RAM, two 8W speakers and 16GB onboard storage.

Connectivity and expansion capabilities include a microSD card, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, HDMI, VGA and DVI inputs. You can also control the projector via an app and it will support Miracast.

Check out our extensive coverage of IFA here.

Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.