Projectors in Cell Phones

salm · Post by **salm** » 2007-08-15 03:56am

Hi,
Not sure if this belongs into this forum but since modern cell phones are basically mini computers i´ll just put it here.
I was wondering if there are cell phones with embedded projectors. I googled a while but wasn´t able to find much other than articles from 2005 saying that the first ones would hit the market in 2006. So nothing really reliable.
Does anyone know if this kind of technology is already being produced or about when something like this will hit the market?
I´m really looking forward to this because it will give you a whole bunch of new possibilities like showing presentations without a big hassle, taking gaming and movies to the public and last but not least the pedestrian areas in cities will be covered in porn and gore all day long.

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2007-08-15 04:31am

You're also going to have to switch off the lights all the time, mind you. Even current pocket projectors the size of a say, Tom Clancy book, are hard to see with the lights on at say, 32"-46" sizes. Cell phone projects are quite different but I haven't seen the needed technology out there either.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2007-08-15 04:40am

[quote="Ypoku. Even current pocket projectors the size of a say, Tom Clancy book, are hard to see with the lights on at say, 32"-46" sizes. Cell phone projects are quite differnons"]You're also going to have to switch off the lights all the time, mind yoent but I haven't seen the needed technology out there either.[/quote]

Yeah, i´m talking about reasonable, actually practical ones that have a decent image quality, a decent brightness and a decent range.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2007-08-15 03:12pm

I don't think you'd be able to get anything of decent size; I can imagine 320x240 and rather dim at best.

Give it a few years; projectors with monitor-level resolution still are huge and cost a lot and have expensive bulbs.

Sriad · Post by **Sriad** » 2007-08-15 05:01pm

Yes, any reasonably good projector is

-Expensive (Bulb, lens, and LCD image panel)
-Big (certainly 5+ times as voluminous as most cell phones being marketed right now)
-and Hot (and a power hog, and who wants a cell phone with cooling fans?)

I don't follow cell phone developments particularly closely, but it's a function that I wouldn't expect to see on cell phones any time soon.

AK-047 · Post by **AK-047** » 2007-08-15 05:28pm

I didn't think that they could make a practical projector fit in a cell phone, with all the heat and the power. If it could be done, I'd think the iPhone would have it.

ThatGuyFromThatPlace · Post by **ThatGuyFromThatPlace** » 2007-08-15 07:44pm

TI recently demoed a suitabl sized DLP projector and I believe sold rights to using the technology in cell-phones to Siemens earlier this month (or last)

I also recall that a smaller company developed similar technology and sold it to either LG or Samsung, but a quick search doesn't pick anything up.

I'd expect decent cell-phone projectors to be available in 1-2 years where they'll trickle down to fitting right alongside cameras as features you can't buy a phone without another 1-2 years later.

A projector would be one of the few features beyond basic call functionality I actually want in a phone.