Outside of Samsung's
W7900 Show and a few
nondescript prototypes, the projector phone sector has been
largely stagnant. Thankfully, it seems at least one no-name company is looking to make a name for itself by developing yet another entrant. The LitPhone, designed and showcased by China's own SCT Optronics, is a GSM handset that sports CMMB TV tuning, a touchscreen and a built-in projector with an undisclosed native resolution. Furthermore, the company also demonstrated its USB-powered PCLit mobile projector at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair, which debuted alongside Join Technology's JP77 and WE3 Technology's WE8626. Have a glance at the whole bundle down in the read link -- just don't get those hopes too high about a US release date anytime soon.
posted Apr 19th 2009 5:41PM
I am probably going to get crap for saying this but am I the only one that does not see a point to pico projectors in phones? You have to be in the dark, the color rendering is awful compared to a LCD screen. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Adding on to Luke's points........to get good enough resolution it would have to be mighty close the wall....and would probably end up being the same size as the phone's screen anyway.
Completely agree with Callum and Luke.
It would just end up being a tacky feature that few people would use, not to mention absolutely eating battery life and making the phone thicker.
They will get better in time
Well i think it's targeted towards a niche market. People who need to give presentations very frequently will love it (e.g. Door-to-door marketers)
they will get better in time.. remember the initial cameras in phones? and cameras in phones are never equivalent to standby digital cameras even now to compare LCD's or full blown projectors to these..
i for one strongly believe that pico projectors have a good future.. imagine watching a move in the flight projected over the front seat than watching in on the tiny landscaped mode of iPhone..
Size is one thing, but the more analytical watchers also need resolution, colors, brightness. and battery life. Think about the technical difficultes of getting to all the above to a satisfactory degree - a really bright, low power consumption lamp beyond what current LEDs can provide. Also, projectors won't replace a good screen in areas where there's no white space or wouldn't be polite to project things.
What are bunch dusty luddites doingon engadget?
I WANT a picoprojector on my phone (and even not on my phone) if I could get one, of course the firsts would suck just like the first mobile phones sucked, and then the first cameras in (and out) phones, and the first GPS, and the first gadget blogs too (probably).
If history is any indication the next generation will be better and cheaper too, and the one after even better and even cheaper and the next one a must of any smartphone aspiring to get sold.
The cool thing with picobeamers is also that you can use any white page of paper as a screen, which( if contrast and resolution are just OK ) will beat any OLED screen , not for all, but at least for a few apps.
Time 2 or 3 years you gonna get HD picos, wanna bet?
I can do that with the light from my camera phone...see the rabbit kids?
What does it project? If one were to believe the picture, it is projecting the ghosts of movies past. I am sure in 5 years when this tech is matured it will be really cool, but then we'll have to deal with people projecting whatever they want to see on any blank wall or floor they can!
Yep.
When it's good enough to use, it's going to be a public pain in the arse far worse than kids with laser pointers.
But that picture shows just how wonderful the tech is at the moment, ie, not very wonderful at all.
I can see Brian Regan doing a comedy bit where he's using his phone for a Powerpoint presentation and needs to answer a call at the same time.
PJs = pyjamas
Is that a projector in your pocket or are you happy to see me?
No, it's an untested phone with a POS projector the size of the actual screen on the phone, about 3" - just for the visual.
I have something else in my pocket that will project something over ten feet.
Pocket PJs? So is it jammies for your pockets, or jammies with pockets?
By the time these projectors get good enough to use, we'll have wireless hd video streaming over our phones to monitors. Seems useless
What I really need is an $200 HDMI cable that 'really' transmits the exact ones and naughts that a freakin lump of steal could achieve, 1's are 1's, 0's are 0's.
I quote:
"Monster Speed Rated HDMI Cables offer the widest selection of performance" what fuckin performance, its fuckin ones and zeroes!!!!
"at the widest range of prices" yes I kid you not some of their prices are so 'wide' they defy belief. I implore the Engadget community, after all, is knowledgeable to get on this and do all they can to end it. Its just wrong!
"24k gold contacts for maximum signal transfer" its either on the screen..or it's not save over the air digital txs.
creme de la creme "ultra-high density quad-layer shielding" are you fucking serious??
I expect a full and coherent show of support for this post by fellow Engadgeteers.
wow, i was so swayed by your comments, im going to go buy some monster cables right now!
I just want a decent pico projector- I don't want it in a phone
http://www.picolits.com/
the quality of the projector is not that bad in the video from their web page, prob because of the flash from the camera??
heyy! i am thinking...mobile gaming is getting better every year, and the projector is gonna get better. it would be fun to project the games on some wall and play them on a "big screen" rather than the tiny mobile screen! that would be cool