AAXA’s second-gen laser projector, the L1 v2 is now shipping from Amazon.com for $449. The L1 v2 is an update to the L1, with improved thermal and optical efficiency, and a cheaper price (but it’s slightly larger). The L1 v2 is a laser-driven LCoS pico projector that offers 800×600 resolution at 20 lumens and focus-free images. It has an on-board media player (supporting videos, images and office documents).
Buy It Now Link: Not Yet Available
Samsung today introduced the AMOLED Beam (SPH-W9600) to the Korean market. The successor to the Samsung Haptic Beam (SPH-W7900), the world’s first full-touch beam projector phone, the AMOLED Beam delivers an enhanced viewing experience and richer image projection.
Moving the mobile phone experience from personal use to social engagement, the AMOLED Beam allows users to project and share multi-media entertainment, games, video and pictures captured on the 5.0 megapixel camera. Business users can use the AMOLED Beam to swiftly and simply deliver professional presentations wherever and whenever required.
The AMOLED Beam provides an exciting mobile experience by projecting any content to a maximum screen size of 50 inches. The phone also boasts a display 1.5 times brighter than that of previous model, the Haptic Beam. Featuring a lightweight and compact design, the AMOLED Beam offers optimized features such as Microsoft Office and DivX codec support for convenient use, 3.3” WVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, and Terrestrial DMB.
Source: Samsung Electronics
Technology doesn’t get much cooler than this! It is just a concept, but what a concept.
Rong Yong has created a watch that utilises pico projector technology to project the time right onto your arm. This is similar to the Skinput technology we featured earlier in the year.
The cost of LEDs used as light sources in pico projectors is expected to drop by 10% in the second half of 2010, and Taiwan-based LED players expect to enter the supply chain for built-in pico projectors for handsets, according to market sources.
Currently, Osram is the main supplier for LEDs used in pico projectors, while Japan-based Nichia is focusing on laser light sources for pico projectors, the sources noted.
With patent licensing from Luminus Devices, Taiwan-based LED chipmaker Formosa Epitaxy (FOREPI) plans to move one production line for LEDs for stand-alone or built-in pico projectors, the company said. Amid higher ASPs and gross margins, LEDs used in pico projectors will help to increase profits in the second half of 2010, Formosa noted.
LED packaging house Lite-On Technology has entered the pico projector market using LCoS technology. Mass production of its pico projector products is expected to be delayed to the third quarter. Lite-On’s pico projector business extends from upstream LED packaging to module production, and the company is also co-developing designs with US-based vendors, the sources added.
Source: Digi Times
Buy it Now Link: Buy it at Amazon.com
The Aiptek PocketCinema V20 is a stylish pico projector with a gloss black top and chrome banding around the side.
This reveals space for an SDHC/SD/MMC flash memory card slot, mini USB port and a mini VGA socket. You can then hook up your Mac to provide a maximum image resolution of 640×480. Unfortunately, you can’t use the projector with an iPhone using the cables supplied. Additional resolutions aren’t supported by the Aiptek PocketCinema V20. It compensates for that by including 2GB of internal memory. Sound is produced by a single 0.5W speaker.
On the top of the Aiptek PocketCinema V20 are touch-sensitive controls for power, a four-way cursor and menu options, which pull up a graphical user interface. This enables you to find certain kinds of files stored in the memory, as well as giving you control over keypad sensitivity, language and so on.
Since there’s a complete absence of any kind of picture or keystone correction, you’re left with what the lens and 15 ANSI Lumens brightness can give you. The result is slightly brighter than the 3M MPro120, but again you have to balance image brightness against picture size with 2m being the maximum possible. Again, it’s a toss-up between showing your presentation to a crowd sitting in virtual darkness, or getting them to view a fairly tiny image.
The Aiptek PocketCinema V20 is capable of producing clear and bright images, as long as you keep the picture size small. However, our particular review unit had problems staying in focus – the simple act of taking a finger away from the focus wheel often knocked the projector out of whack, and if that didn’t do it the images on screen eventually lost focus on their own.
We raised this issue with Aiptek, which was surprised by our findings, so we probably just had a bad sample. However, it’s a good idea to check whether any unit you’re looking at has the same problem before you splash your cash.
Specifications
LCOS projector; 15 ANSI lumens; Image Size: 0.15-1.65m; Projection Distance: 0.21-2m; VGA (640×480); Native Aspect Ratio: 4:3; LED, JPEG photo playback, MP3 playback, built-in 2 GB flash; Manual Zoom/Focus; Mono Speaker(s); 0.5 Watt; Remote control; SDHC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, USB, audio line-in, mini-phone 3.5mm, VGA; Carrying case, tripod; USB cable, VGA cable, A/V cable; Power adaptor – external; ArcSoft MediaConverter; 23x55x125mm; 145g
A compact and lightweight pico projector with built-in memory, the Aiptek PocketCinema V20 has a flash memory card slot, mini USB or VGA connections, and benefits from low noise and a rechargeable battery. We did, however, find a focus issue with our unit. It produces a small image and there is no keystone or picture controls.
Source: PC Advisor UK
Microvision’s SHOWWX Redmond, WA company creates laser projector the size of an iPod.
Microvision announced today that it plans to demonstrate a 720p HD ready laser pico projector at The Society For Information Display annual conference, May 25 – 27, at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, Washington.
Read the whole article here
Buy It Now Link: Buy it at Amazon.com
TINY was the first word that came to mind when I took this USB projector out of its box.
If normal projectors are elephants, then the Aiptek T20 would be a mouse.
Smaller than my wallet is how compact this appliance is.
So you will think nothing of carting it to a friend’s house to, say, beam a holiday movie clip.
However, be prepared for limited functions.
Firstly, the projector’s 640 x 480 pixel resolution is the bare minimum.
PowerPoint slides and DVD movies will look all right but other things like photos will not.
You are better off viewing those slide shows on a notebook screen as even a 10-inch netbook will manage 1,024 x 600 pixels.
Also, there is no keystone correction for image alignment.
So any slight tilt of the projector will skew the projected image into a trapezoid shape instead of a rectangular one.
As you might have guessed, there is no autofocus either.
At 122g though, the projector has already shaved off a lot of weight.
The lightest ones that run on power from the usual wall socket are around 1kg.
The T20 runs on just USB power.
So the only cable you will need to take along is the bundled USB Y-cable.
One of the two USB plugs is for sending video data from the computer to the projector; the other is to boost its power for brighter projection.
Trust me, you will need the latter USB port as this projector is not terribly bright.
The room needs to be almost pitch dark before you can see images clearly.
Hence, the largest recommended projection size is around the size of a 42-inch LCD TV.
Also, the device gets quite warm after about 20 minutes of use.
Software installation was a bit of a hassle.
You need to switch the projector to Auto Run mode before you install, then switch to Projection mode after restarting your notebook.
It is a good thing that the drivers are loaded into the projector itself.
This means you can plug it into a Windows-based PC without needing any additional setup.
A mini-tripod is bundled with the projector so that it will be stable when resting on tables.
Without the tripod, the smooth finish of the projector makes it prone to sliding.
Final say
Though not as full-featured as larger projectors, this gadget is incredibly portable.
Source: Electronics Info Line
A new chipset promises to make way for the world’s thinnest, smallest, yet still remarkably vivid projectors. Texas Instruments introduced the nHD—the smallest of the company’s family of already tiny DLP Pico engines—at the GSMA Mobile World Congress last month.
First available in projectors in 1994, Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology is now found in half of all new projectors worldwide due to its incredible clarity and high contrast. Invented by Texas Instruments (TI), DLP technology is basically an optical semiconductor comprised of a standard memory cell embedded on a rectangular array of a million hinged, microscopic mirrors. These mirrors reflect colored light to make pictures.
The New nHD DLP Pico Chipset is only slightly larger than a grain of rice but it still allows for high-clarity projector technology in tiny mobile devices. (Courtesy of Texas Instruments)
In a DLP front projection system, for example, red, green, and blue light are shone alternately onto the mirrors. These colored lights switch on and off in response to a video or graphic signal being fed into the underlying memory chip. The mirrors can switch at a rate of up to 5,000 times per second and the light they reflect is directed through a lens and onto the screen, creating an image.
Like other DLP chips, the nHD also features millions of microscopic mirrors. But this new chip allows projector technology to be embedded into even smaller devices in a wide range of product categories with even better contrast and color.
“We believe this new nHD chipset sets new industry-leading benchmarks in pico projection—enabling products with the highest efficiency and brightness from the industry’s thinnest, smallest physical footprint,” said Frank Moizio, manager, DLP Emerging Markets business in a press release. “It achieves all of this with stunning picture quality. We believe nHD will provide even more opportunities for manufacturers to innovate with DLP.”
The nHD incorporates a new low-power Pico DPP2601/2607 ASIC/Processor, making for an optical module more than 20 percent thinner and 50 percent smaller than anything available today.
Several global manufacturers have already begun development on the nHD chipset, using its size, brightness, and resolution advantages to design embedded mobile phones, cameras, and products in other mobile device categories. The addition of this new chipset, along with the success of DLP’s WVGA and HVGA chips for embedded applications, gives manufacturers diverse design options that allow them the flexibility to include projectors in a wide breadth of devices.
Earlier this year, TI DLP Products showcased more than a dozen new projection devices from leading manufacturers, representing a variety of product categories. Manufacturers such as Samsung, Optoma, LG, and HP showcased new pico projection products in categories such as embedded mobile phones, gaming projectors, embedded media players, notebook accessories, standalone projectors, and projector attachments for mobile phones.
With manufacturers reacting to consumer demand for DLP Pico projectors in ever-smaller electronic devices, the new nHD chip provides an ideal projection solution, given its tiny form factor and the stunning, clear images it can produce.
Source: onenewspage.com
Buy It Now Link: Not yet available
Samsung has been coy about the release of its H03 pico projector. This item was first spotted on the diminutive device back in CES 2010.
Even though this was in January, the company didn’t disclose the name – instead just let us hold it and look at it in awe.
At its European conference earlier this week, we finally found out that it’s called the Samsung H03 pico projector and it also comes in black.
The Samsung Ho3 (SP-H03) offers up 30 ANSI lumens of brightness and is equipped with a USB port and a microSD card slot.
The bulb inside the projector will last a whopping 30,000 hours and you will be able to use the H03 for two hours before you have to charge it up.
Perfect then for those who want to show off a variety of documents but don’t want to lug around a laptop and a projector.
You won’t need the laptop if you are showing off Office documents, as the Samsung H03 projector has this software built inside. It will also project any PDFs you have as well.
The H03 pico fits directly in your hand and ways a mere 200 grams.
Other connections on the device include PC/Composite and whole there is some internal storage, we reckon you will want to use the microSD if you are thinking of storing movies on the device.
The release date for the Samsung H03 is not yet clear but as it was shown off in Europe, at least we know it will be coming to the UK market – hopefully sometime this spring.
The H03 reviews so far have been great.
Source: Tech Radar