By Andrew Liszewski
Sure it’s cool to have TV and movies streaming to your phone or PDA but since most of that content starts out as an HD-size image you’re really missing out on a lot with that 320×240 pixel screen. Even surfing the web on a mobile device requires a bit of compromise to squeeze everything onto those relatively tiny displays.
While increasing the resolution is an obvious first step you can only take that approach so far before you reach the limits of what the human eye can see. So another clever approach is to increase the size of the screen via a built-in projector. Microvision is apparently developing the PicoP or Pico Projector that is small enough to be embedded into a cellphone or similarly sized device. The PicoP will be able to project a laptop screen-sized full color image onto any surface and will remain in focus at any distance which is important given these are destined for handheld devices.
I have no idea what the resolution, color-depth or contrast level of these embedded projectors will be but at least Microvision has announced they’ll be officially unveiled at CES which hopefully means we’ll see actual working prototypes.
[ Microvision Pico Projector ] VIA [ Uber-Review ]
I thought we saw this before? its cool, all the same.
By The Way, could you guys cover new mobile phones slightly better? i saw a credit card thin samsung today, that i hade never seen before.
Hah, I have a feeling the image isn’t as clear as it is in the picture. Not to mention you can’t move your hand while holding it.
Oh by the way I got my Messenger Bag today!! Very nice, though the Brain Cell (or soft cell) laptop case didn’t come with it. I’m *assuming* it’ll be in a separate package. I took some pictures of the stuff just in case anyone is interested: http://www.no-sweat.info/winnings
Have a good one!
I saw this before too. I wonder the real practical use of this as opposed to a S-video and VGA out connection on a cell. There’s monitors/tv’s almost everywhere. The need for a flat white surface in a dark room makes it just too hard to come up with situations in which i would use this.
No, you didn’t see this before. You state you see limited use due to need for a flat white surface tells you wasn’t paying attention. The projector can be used on any surface including curved. With this you won’t need monitors everywhere.
Unfortunately, it looks like they won’t be packaging it as a stand-along projector. I see a lot of value in that configuration, as there are many times at work I’m in a meeting with several people, and it would be far more convenient to project my laptop screen on the table in front of them, instead of trying to get them to huddle over more shoulder, or having to rotate my laptop towards them, which prevents me from then actually using the laptop.