Wowwee doesn’t just do a line in clever, if somewhat bizarrely named, robots. Nope, the people behind the Joebot are also at it with pico projectors. First spied earlier this year, the Wowwee Cinemin Swivel is at last up for grabs, letting you slap movies from your iPhone or iPod onto a wall. But is this guerilla cinema gadget up to the task? Read our full Wowwee Cinemin Swivel review now for the complete lowdown.
Unlike other pico projectors, the Wowwee Cinemin Swivel isn’t reliant on a dinky tripod in order to get the picture perfect. See, it’s all in the name. The front section swivels up to 90 degrees, meaning you can beam pics onto the ceiling if you so wish. It’s a neat trick, but does throw up some rather infuriating quirks.
Because as much as those little tripods might annoy on competitors like the Aiptek V10+, they do a job effectively. You need to be very precise about where you place the Wowwee Cinemin Swivel in order to get a decent pic every time. And we couldn’t help but feel it was more of a gimmick than a clever add-on.
Read our BenQ Joybee GP1 review now
That’s not to say that the Wowwee Cinemin Swivel isn’t a capable pico projector. It’s got Made for iPod and Works with iPhone badges, which means an adapter for both Apple’s jukebox and blower comes bundled in the box. Just shove it in and you’re away in less than ten seconds. It certainly beats using the myriad connectors that some models come with.
The picture from the Wowwee Cinemin Swivel is clear and crisp and can be stretched to 60-inches. That might sound big, but considering the new Adapt 305 rocks a 100-inch picture and has 45 lumens compared to the Wowwee’s paltry eight, it’s actually rather average by comparison. We watched Hot Fuzz and the action scenes were detailed and vivid, although you will need to ensure there’s very little ambient light in order to get the best out of it. Sound quality is shockingly bad, so we’d advise sticking to flicks that are as noisy as hell, or hooking up an external audio source.
Sadly, the battery life is poor. At two hours it’s hardly enough to watch a full movie before you have to juice it up. And getting the Wowwee Cinemin Swivel back to full power takes a crazy 180 minutes.
The Wowwee Cinemin Swivel is cool to look at. But for the price, you can get a pico projector with better image quality, a brighter picture and that much-needed tripod.
