If you thought you’d seen it all in Nokia’s Vision of 2015 video, book a flight to Tokyo and stop by Fujitsu’s offices there. They haven’t seen to have got the memo that modular, wirelessly-connected mobile phones with integrated pico-projectors are meant to be the stuff of futurology, not fact, and as such have produced a working version of their F-04B cellphone. Akihabara have been for a play, and claim it’s a brilliant multifunctional device.
We’re so used to seeing pico-projectors integrated into futuristic concepts that have little chance of shipping, that to hear about a product actually headed to shelves is quite unusual. BeamBox’s MiLi Evolution iPhone Projector looks like the sort of thing some industrial designer would use to try to make his name, but the combination iPhone/iPod touch case, projector and charging cradle is actually expected to go up for preorder at the end of November.
The wisdom of designing gadgets that look like spiders when so many people find the many-legged bugs creepy is arguably lacking, but that hasn’t stopped Ericsson. The company’s latest concept is the so-called Ericsson Spider Computer, a tripod design that will incorporate a full PC, pico-projector, laser keyboard and integrated 3G, and offer the people of 2020 an easily transported computing setup.
Video demo after the cut
No, not a pico-projector with a porthole, but DigiLife’s DDV-JF1, the first point-and-shoot pocket camcorder to also integrate a mini projector. Similar in concept to the Nikon Coolpix S1000pj, only concentrating on moving pictures rather than stills, the DDV-JF1 can record up to 1280 x 720 30fps video in H.264 format to SD cards (up to 32GB supported), then display it via the pico-projector hardware at the end.
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Optoma's PK-100 pico-projector may not be, at $196.99, exactly a small-change purchase, but the entry-level model does at least bring the ownership hurdle a little lower. Announced at the start of the month, and now up for sale on Amazon, the PK-100 promises up to a 60-inch image (albeit at a maximum 480 x 320 resolution) and 11 lumens brightness.
Pico-projectors have managed to grudgingly convince quite a few people – ourselves included – that there’s a time and place for a tiny, portable cinema; our big issue is still the relatively high prices they command. Optoma have stepped up their game on that front, however, with the launch of the PK-100, an entry-level model promising 480 x 320 resolution, 11 lumens brightness and a maximum image size of 66-inches.
We’ve reviewed our fair share of pico-projectors here at SlashGear, and while they’ve often had impressive aspects to their performance, there’s been nothing that pushed them out of “expensive toy” and into “must-have accessory”. 3M are hoping that their latest model does just that: the 3M MPro120 is the company’s second-generation attempt at the pico platform, using a new LCoS imager and four times the battery life. Can it earn a permanent place in our bag? Read on for the full SlashGear review.
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Nikon's pico-projector packing Coolpix S1000pj digital camera has finally arrived for sale in the US, priced at $429.95. Expected to begin shipping later this week, the S1000pj manages to squeeze not only a 12.1-megapixel camera with 2.7-inch LCD and 5x optical zoom, but a 10 lumen pico-projector capable of creating up to 40-inch images into a compact chassis.
Epoq are back with their next pico-projector, and since it’s growing harder to differentiate between these compact, LED-based handhelds they’ve decided to stuff Windows CE 5.0 inside. Having a full OS – plus the trackpad on top of the projector – means the Epoq Multimedia EPP-CEP1 can run native Word, PowerPoint, Excel and PDF viewers for standalone presentations, together with Windows Media Player for broader video filetype support.
ViewSonic have outed a couple of new projector systems, the PJD2121 pico-projector and the WPG-350 presentation gateway. The former is a 720p/1080i capable mini-projector which can throw a 60-inch image, while the latter hooks up to any projector or display with a VGA port and funnels presentations (up to 1024 x 768) or 1080p video via WiFi b/g/n from a nearby laptop or PC.
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