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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?"
It needs to be a holographic projector, or don't bother.
Birth is the leading cause of death.
Somehow I don't think that a "pico-projector" is one trillionth the size of a regular projector. Asshole marketers.
How about a wireless projecter, the size of a deck of cards, with built-in wireless USB and/or bluetooth? Then you can use it with nearly anything, the way wi-fi projectors work now.
Besides, if you're playing a video with your phone, what if you want to then take a phone call?
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
No, I wouldn't use one in my phone - but I would ABSOLUTELY use one in my laptop.
It'd be great to be able to project onto a wall for a spur-of-the-moment code discussion, etc. It seems like every time I'm in a meeting & want to share an idea or code snippet, etc. with the group, it happens to be in an area without a projector. If we could have a picoprojector on the backside of my laptop's LCD, you could project from there whenever you need...
agreed. A projector on a phone is like the male nipple.
Sent from your iPad.
I don't really care what device I use as a projector. What matters to me is whether the projection is bright enough for my audience to see the projected images clearly. If I can do that from my phone, great (one less piece of equipment to lug around).
The other question I would ask is whether using my phone as a projector would drain the battery, precluding me using the phone as a phone. A phone with a flat battery is not much use.
linquendum tondere
It's sure to get a little use.
A projector wouldn't make Pico any more pleasant to use on a cellphone. Plus, you'd get all the DRM activists complaining that they hate Pico and that Apple won't let them projected emacs and vi on their iPhones.
For phones with cameras (i.e. all of them) it would be nice to be able to do a slide show of the pics without having to transferring them to a computer.
"Maybe this world is another planet's hell"
Aldous Huxley
a product of intelligent design?
sort of like putting a recreation and reproduction facility right next to a waste water treatment facility?
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Don't projectors of reasonable "cell phone" size generally max out at 11"x17" on a light-colored wall in a dim room? And despite seldom having any use for my phone's camera, I have in the past thought "Gee, it would be really nice if I had a camera right now" (still do sometimes, as I have yet to have a cell phone with a camera that's usable in low light) I've never found myself thinking "Gee, it would be really awesome if I could project an image the size of a smallish poster from my phone!".
It'd be great to be able to project onto a wall for a spur-of-the-moment code discussion, etc. It seems like every time I'm in a meeting & want to share an idea or code snippet, etc. with the group
My my, don't you have a bushy tail.
Deleted
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
anyone who grew up before the 80's can tell you how fascinating slide-shows are.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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.)
It'd be great to be able to project onto a wall for a spur-of-the-moment code discussion, etc. It seems like every time I'm in a meeting & want to share an idea or code snippet, etc. with the group, it happens to be in an area without a projector. If we could have a picoprojector on the backside of my laptop's LCD, you could project from there whenever you need...
Before long, you'd be invited to damn few meetings. You might be on to something there...
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
It all depends on what Steve Jobs likes.
Wait, enjoyable with ice cubes and syrup? I'm confused.
.. is, by in large, they're shite.
I suspect the pico-projector will suffer the same fate. Not good enough to be anything more than an executive toy.
I'd rather have some kind of standard video port (probably via a dongle for size reasons), so that I can connect my phone to a computer screen or TV or projector (pico or not) as I feel the need. And a pico projector on the side, which I may use with my phone or with my netbook, but I don't think I'll use that a lot.
There could be some specialty phones with an integrated pico projector, but that doesn't sound like a basic feature to me.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
It's kind of difficult to pretend to be working during meetings while actually watching internet porn on my phone if I'm watching it by projecting it life-size on a wall.
No connection to the product, but this fake geek unboxing for the LG Expo ( projector phone ) was kind of amusing.
"Actually, I think the logic for a projector is... an easy way to display the photos you have taken on your phone to people"
Why the frick would I want to subject my friends, family and coworkers to a slide-show of my vacation pics?! If that's what you do it explains your nagging doubts as to why you don't have any friends.
Why anyone would want a projector built into his or her phone (other than a nimrod who subjects friends, family and coworkers to slide-shows of his vacation pics) would be to watch movies and shows on a big screen nearly anywhere indoors. That'd be awesome!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
And people thought sexting was bad with just those cell phone LCDs.
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
I use a cell phone for 3 purposes.
1. Talking
2. Texting when I can't talk (like brief and infrequent messages to my wife while at work)
3. Sudoku while I'm on the toilet
I have no need nor desire to have a camera, web browser, or projector on my phone. No thank you.
It IS a videophone, is a word processor, is a spreadsheet, is also a map and a satnav, and is a super small computing device designed for visual display of information.
Fuck, I can even run multi user ssh sessions, DB servers and web sites on it. Y'know I reckon I could run mult user X desktops on the thing as well.
http://maemo.nokia.com/n900/
Where have you been for the last 5 years?
Projector too? Hell yeah!
Deleted
Before we worry about projectors, how about we get forward facing cameras on our phone for video Skype. It is already a pretty common feature on Japanese phones.
You wouldn't. But think about your crazy aunt that takes all the horrible pictures of her nieces and nephews... she's the target demographic.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
Well, it certainly gave me a few moments of suspense there. "Mmm... goatse or not? and am I feeling brave enough to find out?"
Yes. Until my battery runs dead.
Have gnu, will travel.
From what I've seen they're low-res, dim and no better than a nice big touch screen for showing content.
Syrup would make it sticky. And a sticky phone projector may give off the wrong impression. Especially if one just walked out of the bathroom at work.
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.
Agreed. A camera is an input device. A projector would be an output device. It's like comparing a keyboard with speakers....
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
My phone is an iPhone, you insensitive clod!
Perhaps because relative size comparisons, while less precise, are faster to recognize than decoding a set of dimensions.
I'm with you. A little excitement goes a long way.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
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
Everyone I know has a camera of some sort, and most use the camera in their phones from time to time when they don't have a real camera with them. With the exception of people who do presentations or commercial training I know ONE person who owns a projector.
So I don't think there is a big demand for super dim, hard to hold steady, low res, battery killing projectors that you can carry in your pocket. The cell phone is turning into the digital swiss army knife. The mini projector might belong on a super specialized model (kinda like the golfer's swiss army knife that has the divot tool and the cleat cleaner).
the very small projectors I have seen are almost uselessly dim. "Hey could you cover up your glow-in-the-dark watch face it's ruining everyone's night vision and we can't see the projector image!"
-- QED
This phone already exists. At least, the following web page suggests very strongly that it exists, but YMMV...
http://www.pomegranatephone.com/
Paul Gillingwater
MBA, CISSP, CISM
If you meant all of the Star Trek franchise, you're forgetting all those Holodeck episodes. Now, making a story for TV was often a stretch, but it makes a lot of sense that crew would spend a lot of time in the Holodeck between locations.
Lose essential liberties to get temporary safety = get only hassles and security theater.
Could be in the middle of the path to get to SixthSense technology to phones. But if it even works to get a bigger screen for the phone (i.e. to see a movie in a wall instead of in a tiny phone screen) could have some sense.
I didn't say I wanted that. I rarely even use the camera. I said that I thought that was the logic.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Shhuudder!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Fuck, I can even run multi user ssh sessions, DB servers and web sites on it
Maddox, is that you?
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=iphone
a product of intelligent design?
sort of like putting a recreation and reproduction facility right next to a waste water treatment facility?
It's not just next to, you're swimming in it. On occasion, the pumps in the water park turn off and start spewing sewage instead. Of course, there is supposed to be some warning beforehand, but that doesn't stop the swimmers (swimmer?) from getting uncomfortable with the idea of swimming there. But hey, certain other people have a roller coaster that sometimes doubles as a food synthesis plant. And don't even get me started on the "playground" built in a cave inside the landfill.
I sometimes ask revealing, often ignorant-seeming questions. Maybe they're harder to answer than you think.
I would've expected this from kdawson, but not from timothy.
Really, you wouldn't expect it of timothy? I would expect it of any of them.
Anything can be found funny, from a certain point of view.
So, if we were to translate what you're saying out of the 90's, you want a pico projector in your iPhone/Droid/Nexus One/Palm Pre?
I sometimes ask revealing, often ignorant-seeming questions. Maybe they're harder to answer than you think.
My phone is only a phone and I like it that way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ATTtelephone-large.jpg
"Liechtenstein is the world's largest producer of sausage casings, potassium storage units, and false teeth."
I think the notion of a built in project is great. However I really cannot understand why they're designing them so bloody thick just to accommodate the projector chip. The ones that the TI guy was showing off were fairly wide but actually quite thin. I think it would make far more sense to simply have the projector chip lay flat just like the camera chip but have the ability to "pop-up" and be adjustable to different angles. That way not only do you enable the phone to remain nice and thin, but you also have the ability to lay the phone on an ordinary surface without propping it up at an angle for people to see the picture.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
Why can't people use standard units of measurements like millimeters, or even inches?
Perhaps because regardless of minor variations- which I haven't really noticed- the vast majority of playing cards are close enough to the same size and any normal person would understand the approximate scale that the authors meant.
I mean, seriously, most people would know they didn't mean cards this size or require precise measurements unless they were some way along the autistic spectrum of literalness.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Where have you been for the last 5 years?
I've been in the United States, where the wireless carriers with decent coverage don't give a discount for bringing your own handset.
I'm waiting for these SVGA resolution, focus free projectors before I jump on the bandwagon.
Program Intellivision!
(posting to revert wrong mod)
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
Why are all the links in this article to bit.ly shortened versions? I want to know what site I'm going to.
Obviously the killer app for mobile handset projectors is direct projection onto the user's retina, perhaps aided by adaptive calibration using cams and ultrasound to detect ocular motions/sacaddes,slow pursuits and to respond to them both in real time and in anticipation. I expect eventually this will be on a bunch of phones for 2-3 years but many will disregard it as pointless and most will ignore it or simply be utterly oblivious to it until Apple releases a phone using this technology and dropping a massive marketing budget spamming all media, whereupon everything will be filled with stories of Apple's miraculous game changer that is utterly unlike anything that has gone before.
Da Blog
I suppose it's no worse than showing people a demo on a laptop screen, but that's also suboptimal for more than two people.
Basically, if you want brightness, you're going to need to plug the projector into a reasonable power source; I don't know if USB's enough (probably not) or if that means the wall socket.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I think that a portable projector with a cam facing the same way could be exploited to make one of these multitouch units made at http://www.nuigroup.com/ that rock. Mount it on a tripod and all you would need would be a touch surface. Very portable multitouch interface you could use with or without your desktop to power it.
Wait, what were we talking about again?
Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
A keyboard, how quaint.
Sounds to me like a gaming platform. Project the game screeen, use the camera and accelerometer to control the game. Imagine a game like doom where the motion of the cellphone controls where you look.
Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by infra-red, How I hate the night.
My phone is an iPhone, you insensitive clod!
Ah, you good little consumer. Shame you can't do anything productive with it.
Deleted
is a battery that actually lasts more then 2 hours running all the extra crap they put on phones now.
Be seeing you...
There too useful not to. From showing a group something on the device, to needing a bigger view of a map, to new types of games, and boardroom meetings.
I even imagine using it to share information by having on device see whats on the other is projecting creating a new type of AR.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The exact same thing was said about putting cameras in phones 12 years ago
"The cell phone is turning into the digital swiss army knife."
I hope you realize that's a compliment? At least anyone who uses a swiss army knife regularly would think so.
Put more gadget into the phone. I want to get to the point where ALL I have to carry is a secure device the size of my G1.
Some of the new "pico/Micro" projectors I have seen are surprising bright.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
My point wasn't that the swiss-army-cellphone is a bad idea, but that the projector was something like the divot replacer on certain golf oriented swiss-army knives. It is a tool with limited and specialized appeal. A camera is a great idea and has wide appeal, just like an internet browser, mapping software, or music player.
-- QED