Recent patent applications filed by Apple show suggestions that many of their devices–such as MacBooks, iPhones, and iPads–will soon integrate pico projectors. This will make Apple products all the more attractive for people giving presentations or seeking portable theater setups. Details on the patents can be read at PatentlyApple.
The Optoma PK301 Pico Pocket Projector
Optoma’s PK301 Pico pocket projector provides projection power anywhere. Featuring up to 50 ANSI lumens and native widescreen WVGA resolution, the palm-sized PK301 enables you to easily share videos, photos and graphics at home or on the road. Enjoy unlimited content playback at your fingertips with the microSD card slot, HDMI and VGA connectivity. Compact and robustly-featured, the PK301 sets a new standard for mobile projecting.
The PK301 can be preordered from Amazon here
If it’s any further indication that portaprojectors are going big, Syndiant, one of the several leading manufacturers of pico projector technology, have just secured an additional $4.4 million in venture funding from Texas Emerging Technology Fund. They’ve now received $15.1 million in its “B round” of funding, for a total of $23.9 million. The company was founded in 2004 by former Texas Instruments engineers.
Projector phones are taking off a lot faster in Asia than elsewhere, but the increasing frequency releases suggest that they may soon be seen around the world.
The latest, from Samsung is the AMOLED Beam, soon to be released in Korea. This phone a large 3.3″ WVGA touch panel, there’s also a 5MP camera, T-DMB TV support, and an improved DLP projector, compared to the original Haptic Beam
The Aaxa L1 is among the first portaprojectors to feature improved image quality using a laser-based projection technology. This new technology is allegedly a cure for pixelation problems, and eliminates the need for focusing.
From a CNET writeup:
Aaxa Technologies, which makes a line of Pico projectors, is about to release what it calls “the world’s first laser pico projector with an internal media player and storage.”
So far we haven’t been terribly impressed with the first few batches of Pico projectors, but some laser-based models appear to be more promising–though expensive. The Aaxa L1 has a $599 price tag and a ship date of February 12. Pico projectors that use LED-based light sources tend to range in price from about $250 to $350.
Aaxa says the L1 uses its PCOS technology, which combines a three-color laser light source, proprietary despeckling technology, and an LCoS image to deliver a 20-lumen output at 800×600 resolution without “the pixilation problems found in some laser projectors.” Like other laser Pico projectors, this model offers “focus-free operation” so you can easily move the projector around to project an image at whatever size you want (the company claims it can produce color-rich images up to 50″ in dark environments–we’ll believe it when we see it).
The Samsung Beam, one of the first of a new generation of all-in-one pocket projector cell phones, has a brief write-up in PC Magazine. We look forward to seeing this device in the second quarter of 2010.
Compared to the LG Expo:
That means the Beam is a lot slimmer. The projector lens is right on the top edge of the phone, with no unsightly bump. (There’s still a manual focus lever on the side of the phone.) That means the Beam is brighter, generating 10 lumens as opposed to 6 on the Expo, according to TI OMAP product management director Robert Tolbert. And the displayed image is higher-definition – 800-by-480 as opposed to 320-by-480.
But:
The Beam’s projector struggled with the awful lighting conditions at the trade show, and some of its projected images looked washed out. That’s just life with a pico-projector. But I was impressed by its thinness and the brightness of its screen. Unlike the Expo, which mounts its projector in a huge, detachable hump, this is really a go-anywhere projector that doesn’t make you sacrifice convenience for the ability to play TV shows on a nearby wall. Also, Android 2.1 is just a more current and forward-thinking OS than the Windows Mobile 6.5 on the LG Expo, and the new TouchWiz 3.0 user interface overlay looked a lot more finished than the hideous quasi-beta version on the Samsung Behold II.
Portaprojectors have gotten a high profile writeup in David Pogue’s latest column in the New York times. He highlights the technology as it begins to come of age, and features two devices, the Aaxa L1 (which he likes), and the LG Expo (which he doesn’t).
New technology follows a certain cycle. When a new category bursts out — the VCR, the MP3 player, the netbook — the first models are crude, expensive and underpowered. Several months later, me-too companies rush in, bringing the prices down and the refinement up. A few years later, the VCR, MP3 player or netbook reaches its final form, with only minor refinements in the years to come.
Last year, the world raised its collective eyebrows while witnessing the debut of the pico projector: a tiny, cellphone-size device that can project your photos, videos or PowerPoint deck on a screen or a wall. A small wall, to be sure — the biggest image is four or five feet diagonal, and only in a dark room.
Even so, the possibilities are tantalizing. On a plane flight, you’re not doomed to watch your movie on some three-inch iPod screen; you can use the seat back or even the ceiling as your screen. On a campout, you can review the day’s photos on your tent wall. In the elevator, you can do an impromptu PowerPoint pitch for the big financier. At home in bed, you can turn off the lights, point the thing straight up and enjoy a huge, bright image on the ceiling.
Both of these new pico products — the LG Expo and the Aaxa — are right on schedule. They’re advances in a device evolution that’s just getting under way. But one thing’s for sure: pico projectors have a very bright, high-resolution future.
Portaprojectors allow you to set up a theater whereever you go, but without a suitable projection surface, your images will be dim, distorted, or otherwise difficult to view. When a smooth white wall isn’t available, a portable projection screen can come quite in handy. These instructions tell you how to make a screen quickly and inexpensively. Check out the comments section as well for addtional tips on how to improve your DIY pico-projector screen.
It’s a bit disappointing to correct this previous rumor, but it turns out that Apple’s new tablet computer, the Apple iPad, includes no pico projector. Rest assured that a number of third party projector accessory devices will allow you to use the iPad as a mobile theater/presentation factory.
We will find out officially on Wednesday when Apple holds their press event, but the latest rumor claims that the new Apple Tablet device will include a pico-projector. How’s that for an exciting possibility?
From iCurumba:
This sleek slate tablet will be powered by an Intel Atom processor and have 34nm Intel NAND flash memory embedded on the motherboard. It will offer high definition audio, video and a projector.
Version 1.0 will be available in Q2 with the Intel Atom N470 processor at 1.83 GHz, the Intel NM10 Express chipset, 2 Gigs of DDR2 memory and the embedded 80 gigabyte Intel SATA SSD.
Version 1.1 should be out by late Q4 with Intel’s Cedarview 32nm Atom processor, a DDR3 RAM memory controller and graphics core capable of HD Media. 2 gigs of DDR3 memory will give a burst to speed and graphics capabilities and the SATA SSD should grow to 120 gigs of NAND flash memory.
