Weighing in at just 142 grams the latest pico projector to fly out of japan is the Thanko’s (What a great company name!) MiniJEC1. While we think all of these microprojector producers should take a leaf out of some of their better named rivals naming conventions book the thanko MiniJEC1 does look nicely different in terms of design.

With an almost cube like quality the Thanko Mini JEC 1 pico projector still fits snugly in even the average size gadgeteers hand and while the 200:1 contrast ratio is pretty low the resolution matchs the current micro projector highest resolutions at 640×480 (its vga.) The throw however is our greatest concern with this nicely designed pico, its rumoured a 14 inch screen takes a distance of 60cm to produce, however this might not matter depending on the user and what its mostly projecting onto.

So while this new pico projector is nothing that new in terms of technology it does have a more substancial design appeal, if they can improve on the lense and contrast ratio thanko maybe onto an early winner.