Hot Mobile Topics for 2009 No. 1 – Micro Projectors
11:18 am November 21, 2008
The concept of incorporating a tiny projector into a mobile device has been around for a while, back in 2000 Psion unveiled the Halo, a concept 3G phone/headgear. Aside from the obvious interface issues, Psion futurists claimed that it would boast voice recognition (which was frankly a little unimaginative, thought recognition would have been funkier - come on futurists!), it was commendable in terms of its innovative form factor but unlikely to see much use outside of the Sci Fi convention circuit.
Fast forward 8 years and the Psioneers’ dreams are beginning to become a reality. The past 12 months have seen a raft (for those outside of PR that means two) of announcements of mini projectors that plug into laptops from the likes of Microvision and 3M and recently we saw the first announcement of a phone with a built in projector from little-known Chinese handset manufacturer China King. To describe the handset as bulky would be somewhat of an understatement and no doubt a rucksack sized battery is required to run it, but it shows the potential.
However, the big question is whether consumers will actually want to project their phone screens for all to see, despite the potential for geeks to meet models in bars, the lack of an application which people would use regularly and the no-doubt significant battery drain will probably limit the attraction in most phones. However attached to a communicator style device the projector could really make sense, finally offering a practical use for those office document viewers. Either way expect to see projector phone demos aplenty come February in Barcelona.
4 Responses to “Hot Mobile Topics for 2009 No. 1 – Micro Projectors”
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Nick February 25th, 2009 at 9:18 am
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[...] Projectors: Despite my previous predictions, I’ll admit the show wasn’t awash with handsets boasting the in-built variety. However [...]
Temono » Boring Barcelona? February 26th, 2009 at 10:45 am -
Its gonna be so sweet when they get to market!!! http://www.microprojector5.co.uk
David @ Micro Projectors March 7th, 2009 at 1:48 pm -
Well people are crazy about videos on there mobiles these days so viola! instance t.v add visual to your music thats being bluetoothed to the tele start a raze with you phone large memory loads of music and the micro projector, im sure we’ll find a use even if its small, could be nifty for those video calls, no need to stare at a small screen, or even web browsing, now to have it point in the right direction and not messing up the chi
Buyongo October 9th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Well according to Gabriel Brown at Heavy Reading you guessed correctly - https://twitter.com/Gabeuk/status/1218764191. Disappointingly didn’t see any other phone-projector launches at the show though.