 I've always dreamed of owning a projector, but the idea of losing my TV is kind of scary. But now with pocket projectors and their quality image, their small size and portability, maybe it's time for me to actually buy one. I live in a cramped New York City apartment and I don't want to dedicate thousands of dollars to a massive home theater setup. But with a pocket projector, I could put it anywhere in my house and adjust the image size so it would make it big or small. I could also bring it anywhere with me, so I could even take it up to my roof. Okay so if you don't know, Pico projectors are smaller and more affordable than what you usually think of as a home theater projector. A good one should have decent battery life or at least enough to last a two hour movie, quality image, and acceptable sound so you don't have to use external speakers. Also you should be able to play content off your phone or laptop without much hassle. I tested the five best projectors under $600 and the winner I found to be the Anker Nebula Capsule for $350. Unlike all the other projectors, the capsule runs Android so it has apps built in including YouTube and Netflix. And you can connect to your home wifi or your phone hotspot if you're outside. It also supports AirPlay, yes AirPlay, so I mirrored content from my phone on the projector. I'm actually connected to a home media server so I was able to watch content from my phone on the projector. It also supports Android devices because it supports Miracast. It has an HDMI port as well so if you want to connect to your laptop, Chromecast, or a Fire Stick you can do that too. The capsule projects at an 854x480 resolution with a 16x9 aspect ratio. It supposedly reaches up to 100 lumens of brightness but it really didn't seem that bright and definitely looks best in a dark room. Anker says its battery should last up to 4 hours. I'm not sure if it'll go that long but I can say I watched Captain America Civil War which is 2 and a half hours long and it handled it just fine. I wish it charged over USB-C like some of its competition but the micro USB does the job. Other than its Android apps, I also appreciated the capsule's speakers. They were by far the best of any of the projectors. That soda can shape works well to spread the sound around a room. Anker even advertises the projector as a Bluetooth speaker and I can see why. It handles music and movie soundtracks well regardless of where it's placed. That shape also helps with the projector's actual placement because you might not need an extra platform to raise it up unlike other projectors that lie flat. You can control playback in the projector in general through its remote, although you have to be within a narrow range for it to actually register commands. It also has a companion iOS and Android app, but I had trouble pairing my phone and the projector. The other obvious downside to my pick are its fans, which are kind of loud but not the loudest. My dream projector would be silent of course, but I haven't found one that is. The capsule is the best overall projector, but if you value image quality you might prefer the more expensive LG PH550. At $550, the LG is $200 more than the capsule but offers 720p HD resolution that looks great. You can also make lots of image adjustments including brightness, color, and contrast. It can supposedly project at 550 lumens and I clearly saw a brightness difference between it and the rest of the competition, but its speakers are horrendous and it's bulky, making it the least portable of all the projectors. You also need to bring your laptop or phone with you to supply the content you want to watch. There's an HDMI port so you can connect a streaming box, but that will limit your ability to take this projector outdoors. I tested a few other projectors as well. I loved the slim shape of the Sony MPCD and the picture quality was crisp and nice to look at. This would be my other runner up. Its primary downside is its speakers. The Mini Projector M175 is sold in Apple stores and has a cool angling feature so you can aim it at walls without a stand. However, an HDMI cable weighs it down and makes it difficult to use. The AXA P6 was disqualified almost immediately because of its bulky form and loud fans. I flew to Chicago with all of these projectors in my carry-on, which wasn't exactly a pleasant experience but did prove that they're truly portable. The TSA agents who obviously wanted to examine them were shocked at how small they were, and it's true, they're super tiny and that's really impressive. The Pico Projector field is still developing, but Anker has built the most complete device for a casual on-the-go user. So go ahead and live your wire-free life and watch a backyard movie. Thanks for watching. If you use any of these projectors in your day-to-day life, let me know in the comments. I'm curious about how it's going. Also, if you liked this video, you'll probably like Verge Science, so go check it out at youtube.com slash Verge Science.
 I've always dreamed of owning a projector, but the idea of losing my TV is kind of scary.
 But now with pocket projectors and their quality image, their small size and portability, maybe
 it's time for me to actually buy one.
 I live in a cramped New York City apartment and I don't want to dedicate thousands of
 dollars to a massive home theater setup.
 But with a pocket projector, I could put it anywhere in my house and adjust the image
 size so it would make it big or small.
 I could also bring it anywhere with me, so I could even take it up to my roof.
 Okay so if you don't know, Pico projectors are smaller and more affordable than what
 you usually think of as a home theater projector.
 A good one should have decent battery life or at least enough to last a two hour movie,
 quality image, and acceptable sound so you don't have to use external speakers.
 Also you should be able to play content off your phone or laptop without much hassle.
 I tested the five best projectors under $600 and the winner I found to be the Anker Nebula
 Capsule for $350.
 Unlike all the other projectors, the capsule runs Android so it has apps built in including
 YouTube and Netflix.
 And you can connect to your home wifi or your phone hotspot if you're outside.
 It also supports AirPlay, yes AirPlay, so I mirrored content from my phone on the projector.
 I'm actually connected to a home media server so I was able to watch content from my phone
 on the projector.
 It also supports Android devices because it supports Miracast.
 It has an HDMI port as well so if you want to connect to your laptop, Chromecast, or
 a Fire Stick you can do that too.
 The capsule projects at an 854x480 resolution with a 16x9 aspect ratio.
 It supposedly reaches up to 100 lumens of brightness but it really didn't seem that
 bright and definitely looks best in a dark room.
 Anker says its battery should last up to 4 hours.
 I'm not sure if it'll go that long but I can say I watched Captain America Civil
 War which is 2 and a half hours long and it handled it just fine.
 I wish it charged over USB-C like some of its competition but the micro USB does the
 job.
 Other than its Android apps, I also appreciated the capsule's speakers.
 They were by far the best of any of the projectors.
 That soda can shape works well to spread the sound around a room.
 Anker even advertises the projector as a Bluetooth speaker and I can see why.
 It handles music and movie soundtracks well regardless of where it's placed.
 That shape also helps with the projector's actual placement because you might not need
 an extra platform to raise it up unlike other projectors that lie flat.
 You can control playback in the projector in general through its remote, although you
 have to be within a narrow range for it to actually register commands.
 It also has a companion iOS and Android app, but I had trouble pairing my phone and the
 projector.
 The other obvious downside to my pick are its fans, which are kind of loud but not the
 loudest.
 My dream projector would be silent of course, but I haven't found one that is.
 The capsule is the best overall projector, but if you value image quality you might prefer
 the more expensive LG PH550.
 At $550, the LG is $200 more than the capsule but offers 720p HD resolution that looks great.
 You can also make lots of image adjustments including brightness, color, and contrast.
 It can supposedly project at 550 lumens and I clearly saw a brightness difference between
 it and the rest of the competition, but its speakers are horrendous and it's bulky, making
 it the least portable of all the projectors.
 You also need to bring your laptop or phone with you to supply the content you want to
 watch.
 There's an HDMI port so you can connect a streaming box, but that will limit your ability
 to take this projector outdoors.
 I tested a few other projectors as well.
 I loved the slim shape of the Sony MPCD and the picture quality was crisp and nice to
 look at.
 This would be my other runner up.
 Its primary downside is its speakers.
 The Mini Projector M175 is sold in Apple stores and has a cool angling feature so you can
 aim it at walls without a stand.
 However, an HDMI cable weighs it down and makes it difficult to use.
 The AXA P6 was disqualified almost immediately because of its bulky form and loud fans.
 I flew to Chicago with all of these projectors in my carry-on, which wasn't exactly a pleasant
 experience but did prove that they're truly portable.
 The TSA agents who obviously wanted to examine them were shocked at how small they were,
 and it's true, they're super tiny and that's really impressive.
 The Pico Projector field is still developing, but Anker has built the most complete device
 for a casual on-the-go user.
 So go ahead and live your wire-free life and watch a backyard movie.
 Thanks for watching.
 If you use any of these projectors in your day-to-day life, let me know in the comments.
 I'm curious about how it's going.
 Also, if you liked this video, you'll probably like Verge Science, so go check it out at
 youtube.com slash Verge Science.