Texas Instruments Shows Off Cell Phone Projector Prototype
Although it's not yet ready for production, it's great to see that in-device projectors are still being put together in the labs. And even shown off from time to time, like this one that Engadget coaxed out of Texas Instruments last night. That its projected image looks sort of crummy isn't the big deal (and they say they have an LED-based model in the lab that is even brighter) but that the prototypes are easily the size of a normal phone.
Of course, battery life will be an issue, especially for a feature that has few critical applications, but won't it be neat to be able to watch movies from your phone on a decent sized screen or show off your photo galleries without getting in a huddle?
Hands-on with Texas Instruments' cellphone projector [Engadget]
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"few critical applications" ?
I've worked in the "mobile entertainment" industry, and let me tell you, the possibilities for these cell-phone-based projectors are vast!
For one thing, cell phone games have always been extremely limited, due in part to the lack of processing power, but also due to the size of the screens.
The iPhone is gradually changing this for the better, but the size of the screen remains small, and since you need to take up part of the screen for the controls, you're back to a somewhat small screen again.
Mobile video would also get a big boost from an integrated projector.
My view is, before cameraphones started coming out, most people didn't see the point, but now a lot of people couldn't even imagine getting a cell phone that doesn't have at least a 1MP camera.
sounds like a Cory Doctorow tech
It's this potential feature that would make me think there IS in fact a reason to have mobile Office applications - and no need to haul a projector to customer sites...
Joel's "few critical applications" point is absolutely right, in spite of posts 1 & 3. The only kind of game that I can think of that would benefit from this is something along the lines of Locoroco, provided the phone has an accelerometer, for everything else the display's going to be jumping all over the place every time you press a key. And the same applies to business applications: nothing says unprofessional quite like a Powerpoint presentation that lurches 30 degrees to the left every time you click for the next slide.
Miniature projectors are a great idea, but I'd be much happier to have one as a wireless accessory that stays put.
Am I the only one whose first thought upon seeing this was "Great, it's like the red-dot-laser-pointers, only 100x as annoying?" I guess I'm just a crusty old grump...at the tender age of 33. (Or am I 34? Damn it, I feel like I'm 80!)