Tiny projectors seem to be popping up everywhere, filling press releases with amazing promise. However, it's still not too often that you actually get to see the things in action, so we were glad to see Samsung displaying not one but
two prototypes of their upcoming MBP200 pico projector running for all to see. The Digital Experience room was rather well lit, not ideal conditions for a wee projector, but it threw a respectably bright image on a screen about three feet away, shown above. Not much bigger than a cell phone, the MBP200 sports an integrated 480 x 320 projector plus a 2.2-inch, 320 x 240 LCD for when you feel like being a little more private. It plays videos, music, and even office productivity files directly from a microSD slot, meaning, in theory, you can do your entire presentation with one device. It all sounds and looks fantastic, the only thing missing being some semblance of an anticipated price or release date more specific than "this year."
posted Jan 8th 2009 7:01AM
looks like the crazy stuff they had on GITS....now its just missing a port to plug into my cyberbrain :)
i love you samsung
WTF is that in the picture? A Ghost!?! It's pretty freaky looking.
It reminds me a a childhood horror movie.
That thing on the picture looks like an E.T. ghost...
Looks like the ghost of a Teletubbie. Pretty Freaky...
Actually, that looks a lot like Po from Kung Fu Panda.
I can't wait to get my hands on one of these :)
Makes me wonder if they will get very hot...
this is just awesome. there's loads for developers to do when phones can project images :D
I have to admit that I am confused by the purpose of these devices. I understand what they can do, but I do not get the market that is clammoring for these. Are there really that many people that have video on their mobile devices (likely phones) that have a need to blow those videos up on demand?
Can someone help me understand the use cases that makes these devices important?
The way I see it, there only a few uses:
1. Business Presentations - I would certainly prefer _not_ to resort to showing video/PPT in this manor
2. Personal Video - How many people run around with video so compelling that they say "you have to see this now - and larger"
I am not really knocking the devices - I actually think that they are really cool, and if I was travelling as much I might consider one if I didn't travel with a laptop. I would love to hear why people would pay for one though.
I totally agree with you. I'd only pick this up if the price came way down < $150 as there's no practical use for these devices except for novelty reasons.
Ok, I just came up with a scenario where I'd like to have a mini-beamer embedded within my mobile device.
I'm in car (not driving myself), train, ship, airplane, whatever the only thing that matters, it's gonna take several hours and I'm bored to death.
But fear no boredom, I've got this nifty itsybitsy tiny beamer with me and a nice film (or whatever) which I can watch, bigger, brighter, better than on my tiny 3 inch mobile device screen... Well, I COULD read a book, but that's SO lowtech...
I'd like to be able to navigate all the functions on my phone (web, video, maps, etc.) in a higher resolution than my onboard display allows for and still be readable. Sometimes, you really do need larger screen real estate in order to increase productivity. Imagine not having to have to "mangle" webpages to fit the window of your tiny screen. You can view things full-size, the way they were meant to be. That, in and of itself, is worthy of my time and MONEY!
I am watching a segment about this right now on CES '09 and I think that it is more for business people who need to do presentations. It is conveniant because they can easily put it in thier briefcase. I am going to get it for my husband who can use it in his military carreer. Aslo, it will be conveniant when we want to share photos all at once with a group of people. This prevents having to pass the device around for everyone to see. This way they can all see it at once.
I honestly can't think of one single practical use for this technology. A projector is useless without a surface to project it on, and if there's a surface to project on there's most likely already a projector pointing at it.
Unless this is intended for that once in a lifetime chance where you're in front of a giant blank white wall in a dark room and you just HAVE to show somebody a YouTube video of a dog riding a skateboard, I just don't understand what they're trying to accomplish.
I just thought of a cool use for these pico projectors. Imagine some AR game that used QR codes posted in public places that, when scanned, a streaming video of that linked content would by overlayed on that surface. The content might not even be static. The QR code could just be a trigger that would be adaptive depending on your current involvement in the game. Heck, this need not even be gaming related. Anything linked with an online profile in The Cloud could become a basis for an augmented reality experience. And just think what this will mean in 2011 when this display engine gets embedded in mobile color eyewear. This is powerful stuff, people!
Are they trying something with the "MBP" in the name?
Actually I think the possibilities are fantastic. The great development here is the future potiental for applications for micro projectors. For example I can see this revolutionising the laptop, where a laptop is currently quite a large cumbersome device to be dragging around town. This could be transformed perhaps into a tiny computing device, with a fold open keyboard, an intergrated micro projector, and a pull-up 17" cloth mini projector screen. That should lop a few pounds off the shoulder anchor!
Or ideal for impromptu mini business presentations, pop out the little projector, and hey presto!
I can see the future for this micro technology, and its going to be really big!
I have seen these mini projectors for sale on geeks.com for around 6 months horrid quality
Yeesh, technology marches on. Add a mic and a wi-fi internet connection to this thing, and you've basically got Kim Possible's Kimmunicator!
If the image is decent I'll definitely buy one of those as soon as I can properly check it out.
The Show, phone cum beamer is even more intriguing but I doubt that a smartphone could pack a decent beamer,a good camera/videocam,plus a-GPS and all the other features I have come to expect in a smartphone. If it really manages to do that I may even become a Samsung fanboy (do this specie exists yet?)
I love the idea and I will probably buy one...not sure what to use it for...mmm..let me think!
The missing component is making the projected surface "touchable". If it was, then you would effectively have an iPhone with a huge screen. In the best design, it would be an "ultra short throw" projector that would project a 15" screen on the table top in front of me and I could use two fingers to interact with it, type on it, etc.
See this video of what TAT and GestureTek are cooking up for an example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAJ1SxHCqVc
The demo shows a fairly limited application of syncing two schedules, but the opportunity is there for dual touch projected screens that give iPhone functionality. Then the question would be "what wouldn't you use it for?"...