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Considering Cheaper Pico-Projectors As Standard Equipment On Cell Phones
An anonymous reader writes "Will pico-projectors become standard equipment on mobile phones, the same way that digital cameras have become? The jury is still out on user acceptance — after all, only four mobile phones use pico-projectors today — but if they get small and cheap enough, mobile phone makers are going to install them. There are four vendors today — Microvision, National Semiconductor, 3M and Texas Instruments — but only TI has design wins in cell phones already on the market. And at the recent Mobile World Congress, TI showed a smaller digital light processor (DLP) chip that fits inside even the slimmest mobile phones, and which it claims is cheap enough to become standard equipment. A lot of us never use the camera in our phones now — would you use a pico-projector if it was built into your phone?"
I would absolutely use a small projector on my phone. It would be great for sharing info, and would help with augmented reality apps. It also allows you to get outside of the limitations of a tiny screen. You could even use it as a replacement for a screen, and make the phone the shape of a pen that folds out with a screen that the interface gets projected onto. This is the next step, I think.
One never knows when one might need a rotten tomato... - King's Quest IV: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
They are two completely different technologies with completely different purposes filling completely different needs.
You mean sort of like telephones and cameras?
Actually, I think the logic for a projector in your cellphone is what another poster mentioned earlier, an easy way to display the photos you have taken on your phone to people.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
No. Next question please...
More seriously though, I'm sure that this would be very useful for a handful of people. It might even be good for the phone makers as a short-term marketing gimmick. I bet a lot of people might initally buy such a phone for the "wow" factor before realizing the limitations.
The problem is this: Where/when could you use such a device in an effective way? You'd need a screen and/or a blank wall, as well as something close enough to that wall to set your phone on, unless you and your comrades enjoy watching a very wobbly video.
On the other hand, combined with an accelerometer, a compass, and/or a camera, someone might be able to make a fairly novel application. For example, a game where moving the phone would scroll the projected image, like moving the sights of a gun. (Clearly the game would have to be a little more creative than that, but you get the general idea.)
No, I wouldn't use one in my phone - but I would ABSOLUTELY use one in my PDA.
1.) I'm going to the lab and a co-worker stops me to ask about a hardware issue. There is no Way I can read a schematic on a PDA. But, if I could project it onto a surface, I wouldn't have to go upstairs to my main PC to open the schematic
2.) I'm sitting on an airplane wanting to watch a movie. Pulling out a laptop is pretty freaking annoying, but this could project it onto the seat in front of me.
3.) Games. Finally I can play a video game on my phone.
4.) You have a plumbing issue. You take a picture of the part, take it to the store, project it so the person behind the counter can see it, and they give you the right item.
5.) You are meeting some new friends. "Oh! I have a dog! Here is their picture"... and you look at it on a tiny screen and go "What kind of dog Is that?" Or, take out a projector and actually show a decent picture of your dog/family/car/house/injury/vacation/logo/design
There are MANY reasons that I would want this on my PDA. Oh, and it would be great if my PDA acted like a cell phone.
No, kidding. I don't want to be on the phone with someone who cannot stop watching their video for two minutes anyway. Honestly, the fact that the projector and the phone are integrated would work out well. In the same way that a phone and an MP3 play work out well. When a call comes in, I don't have to pause the music. It pauses for me. Then when I hang up, the music starts back up. This is a good thing, not a problem. Slightly off topic, but also cool is that a program on my Android phone will pause movies on my XBMC box when a call comes in. So, if I have a movie playing while I work, and someone from the office calls me, I don't have to fiddle with the remote to get the video to pause before I answer.
I know Star Trek has fallen from popular attention, but these cell phone things are becoming more and more like the kind of gear we collectively envision "Future People" walking around with.
It's interesting, though, that our imaginary selves are interested in exploration, and their portable technology was tuned to that, (probing and measuring the environment), whereas our devices seem to be more about insulating people from reality. (Headphones and music and videos and games, etc.)
In Star Trek they were too busy having adventures to spend much time in Fantasy Lad.
The question of one's state of bondage can be determined by a quick assessment of one's collection of iPhone apps.
-FL
Chris Parks, a designer at Eastman Kodak's Image Sensor Solutions, invented the term "marketing physics" to describe ridiculous claims and other violations of physical laws and common sense made by marketing types. The pico-projector name falls in this category.
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
At lunch maybe you think of something relevant online to the conversation to show people. Maybe it is a [citation needed] situation, maybe some pianist on youtube that you think is awesome. Whipping out a laptop is rarely ok, but a cellphone could work. The cellphone needs to be able to balance standing easily and aim the projector downwards (with some correction to fix the skewing) to allow to you show things on the table. Or to be able to point it at a wall if you want to do so. This would be a powerful use.
The other option is cellphones turning into netbooks. A projector combined with a camera or ladar type system gives you a screen and a full size keyboard on your desk, in something that fits in a pocket! That is truly powerful. You only need a 12x10cm 'screen' not poster sized for that to have vast uses. I'm sure given time I could think of more uses for a phone projector but I imagine time will tell better than I ever could.