Category Archives: Micro Projector

Update on micro projector technology

PhoneSuit Brings Android to Lightplay Mobile Projector

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PhoneSuit Brings Android to Lightplay Mobile Projector

 

Android, recently have began to trying to come up with more technology doesn’t just have to be smartphones and tablets which connects to TVs and cameras. PhoneSuit looks to bring the power of Google’s mobile OS to a compact and portable projector. The Lightplay, the new Android device, is almost like a pico projector and an Android tablet combined. Instead of the touch screen that the tablet has to offer, the images are projected onto the walls, and motion sensors remote control handles navigation duties.

The projector produces images at 1024 x 600 pixel resolution and claims at 50 ANSI lumens rating, which is relatively low compared to dedicated projectors. Although, the specs aren’t as great, it is extremely small at 4.9×2.9×1.4 inches and weighs 8.11 ounces at a price of $499. Its small portable size makes it easy to carry around while the bigger projector is more difficult.

 

The lightplay mobile projector also looks very similar to the P3 released by AAXA in January. They are using an Android platform over the closed platform the P3 uses. Not only do these products look alike, they have similar features as well. It produces images at 1024 x 600 pixel resolution and claims at 50 ANSI lumens as well. Its size is 4.6×2.6×1.4, which is identical, and it’s all for the price of $269. AAXA’s product is almost exactly similar to Android’s Lightplay Mobile Projector, but at a lower cost, which comes the conclusing. Is the Android name worth the extra cost over the P3 from AAXA?

 

It does seem like most portable/mobile companies are slowly adapting to the new technological advances and pico-like devices seems like the new age technology!

Check it out on the link below!

 

 

AAXA P3 Pico Projector

 

What’s in store for mobile projectors?

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As time progresses technology improves. The definition of ‘mobile’ is becoming more recurring as time passes on. First the ‘mobile’ phone, then ‘mobile’ laptops, ‘mobile’ Mp3 players, and so on. Finally it is on the point of reaching the ‘mobile’ age of projectors. After many years and decades, as technology improves, Samsung did something really interesting with their consumer electronics products by adding to a pico projector feature to it.

 

The Android Authority, Darcy LaCouvee talked to one of the Business Manager of DLP Pico Projection, Frank J. Moizio, about mobile projection technology and the future that it holds. The interview is an eye-opener, definitely surprises us how advanced the compact projection technology has involved from its early stages. Such device can be used for gaming, business purposes, and entertainment. The revamped Samsung Galaxy Beam which came out earlier this year is definitely a device that needs to watch for.

YouTube link for interview: Samsung Galaxy Beam Interview on Youtube

 

Sanwa’s iPhone projector gets an Update!

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Japanese Electronics manufacturer, Sanwa has revamped the PRJ011 iPhone charging sleeve-cum-pico-projector. The new PRJ016 packs a 1,850mAh battery that can recharge your handset up to 80 percent and also power the projection mode if you want to enjoy a movie, or a spreadsheet, blown onto your wall. The 35 lumens DLP device has three times the brightness of its predecessor, can project for 120 minutes on a full tank and has a maximum display size of 60-inches, focusing from a distance of up to six feet. It’s available in Japan starting today, with pricing set at ¥23,800 ($305). More and more are we seeing traction on the iPhone sleeve.

Buckingham Palace Projector sets New Guinness World Record

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London, England – London UK based projection artist Ross Ashton of The Projection Studio had his ‘Face Britain’ video projection work onto the front of Buckingham Palace officially confirmed as a Guinness World Record for the ‘most artists working on the same art installation’.

The work – using Buckingham Palace as the canvas – employed an array of projectors which was assembled around the Royal palace to project video artwork featuring 32 animated mosaic portraits of the Queen onto the unique projector screen. The work’s main participants were Ross Ashton of The Projection Studio, The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts and involved the artwork of more than 200,000 children.

All these portraits have been carefully scrutinised by Guinness World Records and certified as individual artworks.

For the show, the component images all ‘flew’ together to make the individual portraits of The Queen, which were based on a template image supplied by Royal photographer, Arthur Edwards

Says Ashton, “Obviously I’m extremely proud of this land-mark achievement. It was a big challenge and a lot of fun working on the project, with an incredible response from children and young people nationwide who really engaged with the concept. It was hugely inspiring to deliver a work based on all their original contributions.”

Children aged 4 – 16 were invited to produce their own self-portraits by Face Britain encompassing all levels of skill and in any medium, including drawing, photography, textiles, painting and graphics.

Ashton worked closely with CT’s Scott Burgess to design the projection system and CT supplied all the hardware for the installation, including the 24 Barco and Panasonic projectors, complete with weatherised hides and crew.

The show ran for three evenings at the end of April and attracted massive public interest. For more projection art- check out our post on the Speed of Light!

 

Smartphone Growth Driving Pico Projector Demand

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Just today I watched a movie off my phone, browsed the web, and shared some pictures off my tiny little phone. Unfortunately it was a bit cramped, and I am thankful at these times for my pico projector. It’s easy to carry, it’s easy to set up, and all the inputs needed to share media are easy to get to. Smartphones are definitely the brain behind the projectors currently with all their technology to receive and send information.

According to GBI Research, the global demand for smartphone technology will help steer the growth of the pico projector market. This seems to be the general consensus within the industry as more and more projectors come made for iPhone or dock with other kinds of phones. The truth is that it just makes sense for these products to help drive each others sales as they compliment each other for the obvious reasons of screens being limited to their design. Take a look at the Galaxy Note, an effort to increase the overall surface area of the screen has forced the phone to take an almost opposite turn for overall usefulness.

The report also goes to point that the current market value for 2011 was $0.49 Billion and is expected to increase to $8.12 billion by 2016. This a growth rate, yearly, of 75% which is not a small margin.

 

The Theory: Smallest Car Chase ever with Microvision Pico Projector

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Speed of Light / aka / The World’s Tiniest Police Chase from The Theory on Vimeo.

 

Interesting video I saw just a couple days ago. There were shots fired, cars blowing up, and an escaped convict who manages to score himself a Ford GT. The most impressive part? This video was filmed entirely using a pico projector, the Microvision Showwx+. Surprisingly you wouldn’t think that in the lighting these guys were filming at you would actually see anything but the picture is very clear and very sharp.

The Theory has put together a new video on their Vimeo channel. A small and experimental video take of a car chase unfolding ontop of a desk, through a hallway, and into a storage area. Definitely a must see little film, even the little ones might want to peek. The best part is that you can get a very nice handle on what the pico projector market is really going to be doing soon enough…holograms maybe?

The most impressive part is that the Microvision still looks pretty good after all this time. Most definitely a great piece to show off the laser technology inside the pico projector. You can see the strengths of laser in this video, not only is it a vibrant detailed picture, but no focusing needed. That is probably the coolest thing about the laser technology.

And the lasers, those are cool too.

Pocket Pico Projector Round-up: iPod Docks

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There’s been an outcrop of new pico projectors with docking abilities. It makes you wonder though where the market is for these kinds of products. Pico Projectors tend to be targeted towards business users who are either implementing the product into their presentations or into their business (think I.T. applications). This new emerging market is the casual consumer who might be looking for a way to extend his phones limited phone space.

-Pop-Video-pico-projector

First the $100 ‘PoP’ Pico Projector at 10 lumens and a pretty low price tag you can’t really go wrong if this is the kind of technology you’re trying to get a hold of.The lumen rating is on the low side but it’s not entirely bad. It fits generation 3G all the way to the 4S and projects a qHD native resolution of 960×540, the same resolution the Iphone pushes out. Rechargable and cheap, PoP seems like a good product to look into on the lower end.

On the pricer side of things; the Brookstone Pico Projector retails at a steep $229.00 price tag offers the same amount of lumens but offers to charge your phone while it’s docked. This could serve as a nice addition to someone looking to just expand their feature set a bit without killing the battery for projection and it still manages to outlast the PoP Pico Projector by 30 minutes for a grand total of 2 and a half hours of continous run/charge time.

Both these units unfortunately don’t have a very high count in the lumen range (Approximately between 10-15 respectively). This does leave room for more advanced projectors. Aiptek recently showcased new pico projectors made for the Iphone/Android market and to top it off their new MobileCinema line is boasting an alleged 35 lumens on an DLP engine that if it claims to hit 35, could very well attract a ton of new buyers.

ACER C120 – Laptop Companion Only?

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Acer hit the ground running with the Ultrabooks. Unfortunately for that market the Ultrabooks are just not making as much of a buzz as some people were hoping(looking at you intel) but in an effort to either pull users in with ultra portability, or to make up for the terrible backlit LED on the Acer S3, Acer has put out the brand new Acer C120. A very affordable($269) 100-lumen pico projector. Now we’re the Micro Projector experts and we can tell you that the projectors in this lumen range are usually upwards of $300.  So you are getting a very significant amount of power for the price.

Not everything is gold though. One USB 3.0 input only. Now I understand that cutting costs sometimes involves cutting features but I mean really where is your projector going to come in handy when you can only use it with another 3.0 enabled device. So if they were realllly trying to target the Ultrabook community with Ultra portability, they would have made the S3 USB 3.0 enabled, unfortunately that is not the case.

Surprisingly enough the only other competitor in this market is the surprisingly new AAXA P4 Wi-Fi that surprisingly has too disappeared. With 100 lumen light engine and multiple inputs/outputs for most modern day video-out capable devices, it’s a shame you don’t hear much from this competitor only released 2 weeks ago.

 

You can read more about the Acer C120 at it’s home Acer.com

AAXA Let’s Out New 720p HDMI Enabled P4

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Currently out on the market there are a couple HDMI enabled pico projectors. Between the AAXA P3 and the Optoma 320 there isn’t much left in the sub-$300 over 50 lumen category. Enter the AAXA P4 – X, a refreshed 720p HDMI enabled projector at 80 lumens.

Originally we had taken a look at the P4 before and thought that while it was a very adequate projector with an even better pricing model, it did indeed lack the definition and digital output that so many people are looking for. The new P4 – X is a revised P4 with a couple new bells and whistles and we couldn’t be more excited to get our hands on it. It comes with the usual inputs that the P4 packed which was VGA, Composite, USB with the addition of the new mini-HDMI port. Unfortunately this version seems geared to people looking to expand their media sharing abilities as the P4 – X loses it’s productivity package embedded into the system as well as the Windows CE operating system. Of course these options are more geared towards the business minded user looking to update and present Microsoft Office files.

The P4 is truly a portable projector as it sits as the thinnest projector that fits comfortably in a pocket and even better in a laptop bag or purse. At 5.6” long, 2.7” wide, and 1.2” tall you can be assured this tiny projector can definitely fit into most bags so can always carry a cinema experience ready to roll out.

Definitely a step forward in attracting the media friendly user, although the exclusion of Windows CE might turn off business oriented users, the lower price point and HDMI with a high resolution has me thinking about Angry Birds SPACE on a 60” screen.

 

AAXA P4 – X Available for pre-order direct from AAXA

Pepper’s Ghost – An Old Trick with Some New Technology

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In the 1860’s, John Henry Peppper showed how illusions could be made to appear and disappear using a plate glass  and a mirror with and some fancy lighting. In lieu of the having a real person standing around with the image of them mirrored, pico and micro projectors can be used instead. These small and inexpensive projectors are typically hundreds to thousands of dollars cheaper than the big bulky projectors found in your university classroom. However, the pico projectors these days have almost same set of features and inputs as the bigger ones do so you can connect to your iPhone and project your scary video as a hologram illusion to scare your roommates or use it as a neat trick at your next party. This idea was brought back to life by Tupacs hologram this weekend at the Coachella Music Festival.

Here are a couple of examples of Pepper’s Ghost in action.