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laptop projectors ) . The projected image is only 640 by 480 pixels . The battery lasts for only an hour with the projector on . But you know what ? Absolutely nobody cares . The image brightness and clarity are perfectly adequate — especially in a dark room , on a white surface , and when the camera is fairly close . Everyone who sees this stunt is captivated by the possibilities . Whenever you want to show off the pictures or videos on your camera , there’s no need to transfer them to a computer or hunt for the TV cable ; just aim the camera , set it on its little stand if you like , and maybe whip out the included remote control . You can take pictures on a camping trip , far from computers or TV sets , and conduct on - the - spot slide shows . Take pictures at a party and immediately show them off . Load up a memory card with PowerPoint slides and carry your sales pitch in your pocket . It’s fantastic . This miracle comes at a price , though . An equivalent camera without the projector costs about half as much . Furthermore , while the Nikon isn’t nearly as big as it appears in photos ( it’s roughly the same size as most pocket cameras ) , it is just as homely . Both of these cameras represent huge high - tech leaps , for sure . Both have mighty zooms ( 5X or 4.6X ) , smile and blink detection , superb close - up modes ( 0.6 inches away ) , excellent facial recognition and so on . Unfortunately , neither of them takes particularly good pictures . That could be considered a drawback in a camera . As in most CoolPix and Samsung pocket cams , these models have tiny sensors , so blur is a problem in low light or when your subjects are moving . Shutter lag is a huge problem , so sports photography is nearly out of the question . ( On the Samsung , the shutter sometimes doesn’t snap until a full second after you’ve pressed the button . ) The Samsung’s shots also fall consistently short of crisp sharpness . Still , there are an awful lot of goodies to distract you from the photo quality . Let’s hope that the wow - inducing ingenuity on display here makes its way , eventually , to cameras that take wow - inducing photos . E - mail : pogue @ nytimes . com