Cinema in your pocket

There are a few gadgets that make you fall in love with them instantly, irrespective of size, shape or colour. The new iBall Andi 4a Projector is one such product. Yes, it has a negative side, but the Andy 4a isn't your ordinary phone. You can use it to screen home videos, watch movies, post holiday pictures, share business plans, and lots more, on a big white screen. The best part - it fits in your pocket. Take a look at its report card:

What we liked
The projector: iBall promises clear projection up to a maximum of 10 ft by 8 ft, but we went higher, and were satisfied with the performance. The 35lumens LED light source can project 800x600 resolution image, and is decent. The pixels, however, break a bit when you go to maximum, and you can't control the contrast and brightness. But, you can't expect a better quality from it. Besides, it's easier to shift from the projector to the screen as it gets a separate touch button on the control pad. Hold it for a few seconds and you are ready to go.

Screen and touch: Andi gets a decent 4-inch IPS screen with 233 ppi resolution; it isn't massive, but works just fine. The touch is good too.

Camera: Andi 4a, comes with a decent 8MP rear camera with LED flash, although it's not the best but again, gets the job done. The front camera, however struggles in low light conditions.

What we didn't like:
Storage and processor: Andi 4a, is not the most powerful Android phone in the market, as the dual core 1GHZ Cortex A9 processor is not the best, but it gets most jobs done. But the real source of worry could be the 512 MB RAM, and 4GB internal storage (of which just 2GB is available for the user) - all these are too less for a multimedia phone, and may act as a major deterrent to attract consumers.

Battery, OS and speakers: Andi 4a runs on the rather old Android Jelly Bean 4.1, and the 1500 mAh battery is weak, but it gives two hours of projection and seven hours of talk time in 2G, which can be improved, but it's not the worst in the market. However, we believe they could have offered a more powerful speakerphone, as it's too feeble even in quiet environments. It doesn't make for an ideal companion as a projector phone.

Final verdict
If you look at Andi 4a as just a phone, it doesn't impress. Add the projector, and it opens a new dimension of usage. It might not be the best Android phone, and has shortcomings, but if you'd like to carry the magic of cinema with you, grab it.

At All major electronic stores
Price '17,999 u00a0

Quick specs
Processor: 1 Ghz Cortex A9
RAM: 512 MB
Storage: 4 Gb (2GB available)
OS: Jelly Bean 4.1
Screen: 4-inch IPS, 233 ppi
Camera System: Windows 8
Graphic Processor: None