My business would boom. Even if it only projected for 30 min, that's more then enough time to design a sales presentation, or a portfolio presentation, or show someone your website on a wall... man it would be crazy cool.
Imagine being able to present information anywhere, on any surface.
Lots of you have no imagination and are only thinking that it would suck to play movies on... but there are endless possibilities for something like this.
This is exactly the type of feature that would bring designers back to the Mac and show that Apple still cares about the publishing industry.
The reason most corporate conference rooms converted from projector screens to wide screen TVs is because the projector images were all distorted, weak, required the lights to be dimmed, hard to focus, sound was bad since it came from the laptop, etc, etc. All of those disadvantages would be multiplied with a small handheld device.
HDMI out or more ubiquitous AirPlay are much more desirable for an iDevice since the quality is infinitely better and is a software only solution.
The reason most corporate conference rooms converted from projector screens to wide screen TVs is because the projector images were all distorted, weak, required the lights to be dimmed, hard to focus, sound was bad since it came from the laptop, etc, etc. All of those disadvantages would be multiplied with a small handheld device.
HDMI out or more ubiquitous AirPlay are much more desirable for an iDevice since the quality is infinitely better and is a software only solution.
I thought they had made some inroads with laser projection? I will admit that I have read up on pick projectors, but have not played with an actual unit.
Still, if they could ever get one into an iPhone that was great quality, it would be a cool feature. However, the iPad has some of the benefits of a projector; having a portable display to show off content.
The confidence with which some posters have dismissed the picoprojector speculation on technical grounds is amazing. Amazing because it would seem that no one has bothered to do their research before posting these dismissive conclusions.
I take it no one has held a Microvision ShowWX (or ShowWX+) laser scanning MEMS picoprojector in hand. Otherwise, you'd understand that the device is a modern marvel that has already surmounted the technical questions raised here.
The device is the size of an iPhone but is mostly battery. The actual projector inside (i.e. what would go into a cellphone) has the following cahracteristics:
size (presently 5.6 cc at height 7 mm)
heat: minimal
power (2.5W i.e. 2 hrs run time)
brightness: 15 lumens (enough for an 10 foot image at night; smaller in ambient light; note: lumens are measured on a logarithmic scale and human eyes perceive laser light as brighter than non-laser sources)
focus (always in focus due to laser light)
resolution (854 X 480)
Cost is the present limiting factor but that is about to change.
All of these (excluding focus) will be drastically improved in the coming months and year as the company transitions from frequency doubled (SHG) synthetic green lasers (read expensive, complex, larger) to tiny native (direct diode) green lasers (DGL) like the red and blue lasers already employed. DGL cost is expected to be 10-20% of SHG cost.
Power consumption will drop by half, resolution (already demonstrated) will be 720p; brightness will continue to rise and size will decrease (to 3 cc likely by 2012)
The low resolution/hot bricks produced by the competition should not be the standard used to assess this rumour.
Btw, Microvision' MEMS mirror laser scanner not only projects, it can read as well. It's scans light in both directions (going out and coming in), thereby providing a user interface in the image itself (i.e. a virtual touch screen). This will be demoed at CES in Jan 2011.
Live, over the air TV on you iPhone? Apple has 'control issues'. And they want to sell you media. So.. over the air, free content is probably not going to happen. [also -- do people actually WATCH broadcast TV anymore?]
Pico Projector in the smart phone or iPad. I see this as idiotic. If this ever catches on, I want to own the franchise on motion sickness pills. Touch interface + projector = follow the bouncing powerpoint slide....
I can also imagine laser pico projectors combined with a camera to map 3d objects (project a grid across an object, take a picture and compute the topology)
The point is that putting in a pico projector simply to project a picture of the screen is gimicky and something Apple shouldn't do, but providing it as a feature developers can utilize would open up tons of possibilities.
Comments
Pico projector would absolutely RULE!!!!
My business would boom. Even if it only projected for 30 min, that's more then enough time to design a sales presentation, or a portfolio presentation, or show someone your website on a wall... man it would be crazy cool.
Imagine being able to present information anywhere, on any surface.
Lots of you have no imagination and are only thinking that it would suck to play movies on... but there are endless possibilities for something like this.
This is exactly the type of feature that would bring designers back to the Mac and show that Apple still cares about the publishing industry.
The reason most corporate conference rooms converted from projector screens to wide screen TVs is because the projector images were all distorted, weak, required the lights to be dimmed, hard to focus, sound was bad since it came from the laptop, etc, etc. All of those disadvantages would be multiplied with a small handheld device.
HDMI out or more ubiquitous AirPlay are much more desirable for an iDevice since the quality is infinitely better and is a software only solution.
The reason most corporate conference rooms converted from projector screens to wide screen TVs is because the projector images were all distorted, weak, required the lights to be dimmed, hard to focus, sound was bad since it came from the laptop, etc, etc. All of those disadvantages would be multiplied with a small handheld device.
HDMI out or more ubiquitous AirPlay are much more desirable for an iDevice since the quality is infinitely better and is a software only solution.
I thought they had made some inroads with laser projection? I will admit that I have read up on pick projectors, but have not played with an actual unit.
Still, if they could ever get one into an iPhone that was great quality, it would be a cool feature. However, the iPad has some of the benefits of a projector; having a portable display to show off content.
Agree that no pico any time soon.
I take it no one has held a Microvision ShowWX (or ShowWX+) laser scanning MEMS picoprojector in hand. Otherwise, you'd understand that the device is a modern marvel that has already surmounted the technical questions raised here.
The device is the size of an iPhone but is mostly battery. The actual projector inside (i.e. what would go into a cellphone) has the following cahracteristics:
size (presently 5.6 cc at height 7 mm)
heat: minimal
power (2.5W i.e. 2 hrs run time)
brightness: 15 lumens (enough for an 10 foot image at night; smaller in ambient light; note: lumens are measured on a logarithmic scale and human eyes perceive laser light as brighter than non-laser sources)
focus (always in focus due to laser light)
resolution (854 X 480)
Cost is the present limiting factor but that is about to change.
All of these (excluding focus) will be drastically improved in the coming months and year as the company transitions from frequency doubled (SHG) synthetic green lasers (read expensive, complex, larger) to tiny native (direct diode) green lasers (DGL) like the red and blue lasers already employed. DGL cost is expected to be 10-20% of SHG cost.
Power consumption will drop by half, resolution (already demonstrated) will be 720p; brightness will continue to rise and size will decrease (to 3 cc likely by 2012)
The low resolution/hot bricks produced by the competition should not be the standard used to assess this rumour.
Btw, Microvision' MEMS mirror laser scanner not only projects, it can read as well. It's scans light in both directions (going out and coming in), thereby providing a user interface in the image itself (i.e. a virtual touch screen). This will be demoed at CES in Jan 2011.
Pico Projector in the smart phone or iPad. I see this as idiotic. If this ever catches on, I want to own the franchise on motion sickness pills. Touch interface + projector = follow the bouncing powerpoint slide....
http://forums.appleinsider.com/images/smilies/lol.gif
It will be a 3D pico projector. You will set it on your coffee table an an image of a girl in a white dress will pop up saying "Help me, Obi Wan..."
Now this would be a cool feature.
I can also imagine laser pico projectors combined with a camera to map 3d objects (project a grid across an object, take a picture and compute the topology)
The point is that putting in a pico projector simply to project a picture of the screen is gimicky and something Apple shouldn't do, but providing it as a feature developers can utilize would open up tons of possibilities.