Do-it-yourselfer turns old Sony smartphone into 4k projector

A DIYer has showcased a project on YouTube, using a 2015 Sony Xperia Z5 Premium to make a 4k projector. The Z5 Premium has a 4k LCD. Of course, to make it work as a projector, the phone had to be taken apart.

To make the phone work as a projector, he had to replace the battery with a permanent power supply, in order to connect the phone’s USB port to a dock for remote control with mouse and keyboard. Due to the support of USB-on-the-go, it is also possible to add USB sticks to play videos from.

The phone sits upright in the projector’s housing, while the screen itself rests. The backlight of the screen has been turned off and removed to allow light to pass through. Because the screen does not let all light through, the projector is not as bright as it could be.

The project also uses a 100W LED as the light source and some plastic lenses that are common for this type of project. A mirror on the top props up the image and allows the projector to project the light horizontally.

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium was one of the first and only phones with 4K LCD. Sony still makes phones with 4k resolution, but that now concerns OLED screens that also have a 21:9 ratio and therefore do not have a resolution of 3840×2160 pixels, but of 3840×1644 pixels.