Projectors

MicroVision announced today that they are closing their online store - which is already down - with suggestions where to buy their products via resellers (such as Amazon.com in the United States). According to Microvision, this was decided because of "high demand for MicroVision products across the globe and their ability to leverage strategic distribution networks in over 120 countries worldwide".

A few weeks ago we reported about the Century Monolith - a new iPhone 4 case, battery and projector. This cool device is now shipping for $229.99 (under the Brookstone brand). The DLP projector features 640x360 resolution and 15 lumens, and the 1900mAh battery lasts for about 3 hours.

Acer's DLP USB pico-projector, the C110 is now shipping in the US (for $199). The C110 is a USB projector - which gets both power and data from the USB port (it needs a laptop to connect to). It's a WVGA (854x480) DLP projector that weights 175 grams and measures just 110x85x25 mm. It can project images from 12" to 100". It's been shipping in the UK for £162 ($260) for a few months now.

Here's a nice Chinese video report about ASTRI's pico projector technologies and products:

The MiLi Power Projector 2 is now shipping for $393. The MilLi 2 s an update to the original MiLi Projector - this device is a pico-projector and also an iPhone/iPod/iPad charger and docking station. The light engine is the same as in the original (640x480, 10 lumens) but the new projector is slimmer by almost 50%, has a bigger battery (nearly 2.5 hours) and it's much more quiet (the company says it's 'perfectly silent').

Microvision announced that RIM will offer the Show WX+ HDMI pico projector in their official global accessory site, shopblackberry.com. This will be the first pico projector offered by RIM. You can buy the projector now over at Amazon.com for $369, we do not know what RIM will charge in their own store yet.

The ShowWX+ HDMI is the same laser pico projector as the ShowWX+, only with an added HDMI input . Beside the HDMI it offers WVGX resolution (848x480), 15 lumens, 5000:1 contrast ratio, iPod/iPhone connectivity and of course focus-free image.

MicroVision announced a $4 million order for the PicoP engine from Korea's ESPlus Company. $500,000 worth of PicoP modules were already shipped in 3Q 2011 and the rest will be shipped till the end of 2011.

Microvision says that EPlus uses their engine in their recently released media-player projector, the Seeser. This is a bit confusing as the official Seeser specifications claim the resolution is 800x600 - while the PicoP resolution is 848x480. It seems likely that the specification is wrong, and hopefully this will be sorted out soon.