LCoS

Nikon has released a nice video ad advertisement for their upcoming Coolpix S1100pj projector camera. The S1100pj's LCoS pico-projector supports 640x480 resolution at 14 lumens and can be connected to an external computer (via USB) to act as a normal projector. The S1100pj costs $350, and will be released in September. You can pre-order it now from Amazon.com.

Beside the projector, the S110pj has 5x optical zoom, a 14.1mp sensor and a 3" touch LCD.

3M has just reduced the price of their flagship 3M MPro-150 pico-projector to $285 (down from $346). The MPro-150 uses an LCoS light engine that offers 15 lumens and 640x480 resolution. It has 1Gb of internal memory and a removable micro SD card (it comes with a 2Gb SD card). The MPro-150 supports Office documents, PDFs and Audio/Video files. We reviewed the MPro-150 a few months ago, and we think it's great. We wonder whether this price drop signals a new pico-projector from 3M...

3M Mpro-150

Buy the 3M MPro-150 now for $285.

AAXA has lowered the price of their P2 pico-projector, and now it costs $299 over at Amazon.com (down from $319). The P2 offers 800x600 resolution at 33 lumens, 1GB of memory on board, microSD slot, VGA connector and stereo speakers.

Buy the P2 now for $299.

Young Optics say that global shipments of pico-projectors reached 437,791 in the first half of 2010. 46% of these were LCoS based mobile phones offered by Chinese white-box vendors (this is somewhat surprising, isn't it?), and 10% were DLP-based handset models. Total 2010 stand-alone pico-projector shipments are estimated at 900,000. In 2011, these will grow to over 2 million units.

Prices for pico projector modules are expected to drop to US$50 by the end of 2010, which is still higher than clients' expectations, Young Optics said, adding that module prices are expected to drop below US$30 in 2012.

The company says that the market for projector cameras will grow significantly in 2011, judging from orders from clients. The market of pico projectors for handsets will pick up in 2012.

AAXA has announced a new micro projector: the M1 Limited Edition. It has the same features of the M1, but with a higher brightness (75 lumens, vs 66 in the original M1). They also say that the color quality and saturation have been enhanced. The M1 LE still has 800x600 resolution, 1Gb of internal memory, SD card slot and A/V and VGA connectors. It does not have a battery.

AAXA M1 Plus

The M1 is now shipping for $350, and the M1 LE will cost the same. AAXA has a special offer now: if you pre-order it now, it'll cost $299. It will ship within a week (July 28th).

4D Dynamics has released a new pico-projector based consumer 3D scanner called PicoScan. The scanner is a Canon 1000D DSLR bundled with a pico-projector and 3D scanning software (based on the Mephisto scan engine). The idea is that you can take photos around an object and the software turns it into a 3D model. The projector is used for radiometric calibration. We're not sure, but the projector seems to be either an AAXA P2 or an Adapt 305.

The PicoScan is available now for $1999.

Syndiant's CTO is a big believer in HD pico projectors - he says that Syndiant are already working on these, and expect to sample a module later this year. These will go into volume production in 2011. Karl also posted some more information about the 6-way pico projector shootout they were showing at SID. Here's a nice photo showing a closeup of their LCoS technology projectors vs DLP and Laser-Beam-Steering:

Read his full post here. Disclosure: Syndiant is a sponsor of PicoProjector-Info.