We've been excited about the past year's development in ultra-portable "pico" projectors, letting you throw together impromptu presentations or share video with several friends at once. It seems like a lot of them, though, have been lacking one or more important features, whether that's a VGA input or a decent resolution. Nextar's entry into the mix, the LCOS-based Z10, has a solid 640 x 480 resolution and, though it does lack a VGA input for connection to laptops, might make up for it with integrated media playback support.

The Z10 reads still images and video files from microSD cards, supporting the latest MPEG flavors as well as WMV9/VC1 video. You can even use the projector as a music player with its built-in speaker and audio file support. While it will show still BMP, JPEG, and GIF frames, it would've been extremely useful to include support for PowerPoint files as well. The projector, together with the matching 20-inch portable screen, weighs under 2.5 lbs. for convenient transport. Like all pico projectors, brightness is a big issue, so you may need to use the Z10 in a darkened room to make the most of it. While it might not replace a larger projector for business presentations, it looks like it could fit that video-sharing bill just fine. The $300 Z10 and its $40 screen will be available this spring, after a preview at the CES.

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