Monthly Archives: January 2010

Asia Optical to ship out 8-million pocket projector units for handsets in 2011

According to chairman Robert Lai, Asia Optical is set to send out 8-million pocket projector units for handsets in 2010 – an exponential number from 2010’s mere 100,000 units.

Together with Microvision, Asia Optical has launched Microvision’s SHOWWX pico projector and expects to send Microvision 200,000 – 250,000 pico projector modules.

According to Digitimes, “Lai cited Gartner data saying that global built-in pico projector shipments are expected to reach eight million units in 2010, 20 million units in 2011, 34 million units in 2012, 54 million units in 2013, 77 million units in 2014 and 116 million units in 2015.”

HP to be releasing Pico Projector integrated laptops

HP plans to market two mobile PC solutions this year – the tablet and a notebook with an integrated pico projector.

monty wong

According to DigiTimes, Monty Wong, VP of HP in Taiwan, mentioned that HP also plans place the pico projector where the webcam is normally located.

The pico projector notebooks will mainly be produced by Quanta Computer and will launch after HP launches a few standalone pico projectors on to the market.

The idea isn’t new, however, and delays in production have been due to cooling solutions. We should be seeing news from HP soon.

Favi RIOLED-V Netbook/Media Player/Projector

Favi claims their ROILED-V as a hybrid media player that incorporates the convenience of a netbook, a media player, and a projector that fits in to your pocket. Running on a Linux OS, the ROILED-V takes multiple web applications including: Youtube, Flickr, Picasa, Yahoo news and weather, email, a web browser, and more. It has built-in Wi-Fi and connects via USB and A/V outputs. It includes onboard memory and an SD Card reader as well as a remote.

favi-RIOLED-V pico projector

According to PCMag, the ROILED-V is set to ship in February or March at a price yet to be announced.

MSI Projector PC

CES 2010 – Las Vegas, Nevada – MSI unveils its concept prototype – the MSI Projector PC.

msi-projector-02-hands

According to Engadget, the MSI Projector PC blasts HD video at about the quality of a micro projector. They also mention that the brightness is notably a step above the pico projector levels.

Essentially, the MSI Projector PC is a micro projector with a PC and DVD drive built in to it. The plan is to pair it with their wireless mouse and keyboard for living room use. The advantages are merely novelty as one can easily plug in a laptop or PC to most pico and micro projectors as it is. MSI conveniently bundles up the idea in to one small package.

msi-projector-01-hands

msi-projector-01-hands

Samsung’s new pico projector

Samsung has just released a mobile phone with a built in pico projector which has been at the head of the Samsung news tree. Mysteriously, they also released a pico projector unit that boasts 30 lumens which hasn’t gotten much coverage in light of their projector phone. 30 lumens isn’t bad considering 3M has just released a new projector that still only offers 15 lumens. On the other hand, there has been pico technology developed by AaxaTech that has boasted 33 lumens and has been on the market since summer 2009.

samsung-led-pico3

Found at CES by TechRadar, the unnamed LED pico projector offers VGA resolution and a package that will match your Mac products.

While many of us are still in the dark as to the complete specifications on the unit, it looks as if it has onboard speakers and touch sensitive buttons. We haven’t been able to find a picture with connectivity and compatibility yet, but as far as pico projector technology goes, it probably offers the standard.

samsung-led-pico7

samsung-led-pico

Microvision to develop micro projector based shooter video game

It has been news for awhile, but Microvision is releasing a micro projector based first person shooter video game controller.

micro vision showwx video game

The guys at CrunchGear had a first hand test of the Microvision product and seem to be very excited about it for a few different factors.

The first factor they mention is that the projector is based off of Microvision’s SHOWWX pico projector. The projector is modified to create an 848×480 image that always stays in focus. They reiterate that it is always in focus. Further, the pico projector is mounted on to a plastic gun to create the controller. The gun itself is equipped with motion detectors that let you go as far left, right, up or down as you want to go.

The most impressing thing, they mention, is that there is no lag between movement of the gun and video recognition of movement. Impressive new technology!

3M launches an enhanced Pico Projector – the MPro150 at CES 2010

3m mpro150 pico projector

CES 2010 – Las Vegas – 3M launches an enhanced version of their pico projector dubbed the MPro150. This is the first pocket projector that 3M has released which incorporates 1-gig of built-in memory as well as a removable micro SD card.

The MPro150 uses LED powered LCoS technology and projects images at VGA resolution with 15-lumens of brightness. 3M has also placed an on-board suite of applications on to the MPro150 to use for both business and recreation. The GUI includes a status bar and the ability to manage files.

3M’s new pico also integrates two half-watt stereo speakers on to the unit as well as an audio jack to take external speakers or headphones. Other connections include: mini USB port, VGA, component and composite connector. Included in the package are: the MPro150, lithium polymer battery, micro SD card, computer cable, video cable, RCA adapter, USB cable, AC power adapter, tripod, guide, and protective sleeve. Other accessories are optional.

The estimated street price, by PCMag, is $395