HP plans to market two mobile PC solutions this year – the tablet and a notebook with an integrated pico projector.
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 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.
According to PCMag, the ROILED-V is set to ship in February or March at a price yet to be announced.
CES 2010 – Las Vegas, Nevada – MSI unveils its concept prototype – the MSI Projector PC.
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.
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.
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.
It has been news for awhile, but Microvision is releasing a micro projector based first person shooter video game controller.
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!
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.
Modern Phantoms, a live art and live visuals company, displayed “Living Wallpapers” at the Souk@SAT – Take 7 between December 11-13. They showed off 6 Living Wallpaper designs at the convention that were powered by Aaxa P2 Pico Projectors.
What are they? Living Wallpapers are artistically designed and animated patterns that are created with the intention of projecting decorative images on to walls using a digital projector. The idea is to create an artistic display that is dynamic in both form and location; these Living Wallpapers have the ability to change both in design and room.
“Specially designed to be used for décor, they are vivid and visible with moderate indoor lighting conditions or daylight, unlike most projections. Living Wallpapers are available individually or bundled with a projector. The AAXA Pico 2 is a tiny, bright and super simple projector to use with Living Wallpapers”
They will be launching new designs for these products throughout 2010.
We recently reviewed the Jakks Eyeclops projector from Jakks Pacific. The Eyeclops is advertised as a 4 D-cell powered LED / LCOS mini projector priced at $99 from Toys-R-Us. According to Entertainment Earth the hand held Eyeclops provides 8-lumens and a 320 x 240 resolution.
Features include: manual focus, composite video input, and a stand allowing battery power.
Our thoughts:
Our first impression of the Eyeclops is that it makes an affordable toy for the kids to play with. At the price tag of $99, you won’t feel overwhelmed with emotion when your kid decides to bury it in the backyard.
Having tested other handheld projectors in the same class, we found it hard to believe that the Eyeclops’ actually produced 8-lumens of power – we tested the output just to make sure.
Our tests revealed that the actual lumen output of the unit faired closer to the 2-lumen range – much lower than what we had expected prior to getting our hands on one.
Aside from the low light output in a room without other light sources, we also noticed a distortion in color. The Eyeclops seems to overcompensate its color output resulting in a rainbow-effect. Again, we can’t expect too much from a handheld projector based under $100.
Video:
If you don’t mind the less-than-average video quality and are looking for something neat to give the kids, you can find out more info at: Eyeclops.com
Jakks Eyeclops Projector and AAXA P1 Micro ProjectorEyeclops Projector and AAXA Micro Projector - AAXA Projector is on top, Jakks on bottomEyeclops in use - ~30
WowWee enters the micro projector market with not one but three different micro projectors. They’re called the Cinemin Stick, Cinemin Swivel and Cinemin Station.
From WowWee:
Taking projection out of boardrooms and movie theaters and into the palm of your hand is WowWee’s Cinemin™ suite of ultra-portable multimedia micro projectors, powered by Texas Instruments’ DLP Technology for ultra clear picture quality. Utilizing the same technology commonly found in high-definition TVs, classroom projectors and large-scale cinema houses, the Cinemin projectors have been designed to work with popular mobile devices, such as Apple’s iPod and iPhone. With WowWee’s Cinemin™ suite of projectors, a café becomes a boardroom, a camping tent becomes a theater, and Grandma’s curtains become a life-size digital picture frame. The line features three products: The Cinemin Swivel™ pico projector, an affordable lightweight micro projector that is roughly the size of a candy bar and features an impressive 3-hour battery life for movie watching, full volume control, and a unique adjustable 90-degree hinge for ceiling projection. The Cinemin Stick™ pico projector is a compact micro projector with internal memory and an expandable SD card memory slot that puts your favorite web videos, digicam snapshots, ambient animations, and more on display. The Cinemin Station™ pico projector is an alarm clock-sized convenient media center and iPod docking station for big pictures with big audio.
Judging from Engadget’s latest post regarding 3M Mpro 120 micro projector the writers at engadget are less then impressed with 3M’s new Mpro 120 projector. ENGADGETS POST
While not substantially improving in resolution (640×480) or brightness (12 lumens) Engadget did miss one key new feature of 3M’s new pico projector – the new optical engine. As a departure from the Mpro110’s optical engine the new 3M Mpro120 uses a new sequential LED which features separate colors for red, green, and blue. This means better color quality and contrast as opposed to a single white LED. Perhaps not a huge difference in image quality, but a difference nevertheless.
