Projectors

A few hours ago we reported about Philips' upcoming PicoPix projectors, and now we have some more info. The projectors all have a 800x600 resolution and a 300:1 contrast ratio, with 20-30 lumens (depends on the model). The PPX-1020 does not have a battery and needs to draw power from a computer (via USB). The PPX-1230 adds a battery, and the PPX-1430 has an internal media player via a SD card slot.

PPX-1020

The projectors will be available in October 2010. The PPX-1020 will cost 199 euroes, the 1230 269 euroes and the 1430 299 euroes.

Update: we now have more information including price and release dates!

Philips uploaded photos of 3 new pico-projectors to their Flickr account - but with very little information. These are Philips' first pico-projectors, actually.

PicoPix PPX-1430

The projectors are named PicoPix PPX-1020, PPX-1230 and PPX-1430. They are all rather small. From the photos it seems that the 1230 and 1430 include an internal media-player (there are controls on the top) while the 1030 doesn't. There's also a focus wheel, so these aren't laser based...

Toshiba introduced two pico-projectors today, the P100 and M200. These are Toshiba's first ever pico-projectors. The M200 is a LED based pico-projector offering 640x480 resolution at 14 lumens. It's got 2Gb of internal memory and a micro SD slot (and supports office documents, movies and photos). It has VGA, TV and composite inputs. The P100 is pretty much the same just without the internal media player (no memory or micro-SD slot) and no composite input, either.

Toshiba says that the both projectors will be available towards the end of 2010 in Europe, no pricing info yet.

Blogger Les Gray has got a Show-WX pico projector, and has come up with some nice things he can do with it. Some of these can be used with any pico-projector, but a focus-free laser projector is the best...

Some of his ideas: project a graphic message below you when you ride your bike, shadow-puppet environment, heads-up display for cars, home-made planetarium and more...

Microvision's Show WX, the world's first laser-beam-steering pico-projector, is now shipping in the UK for £499 ($776 US). The US price is $549. The Show-WX offers 10 lumens and a high 848x480 resolution. Because it's based on laser, the image is always in focus! 

Microvision ShowWX

Buy the Show WX now for £499.

Update: In-Stat has issued a correction to their PR: they say that by 2014, there will be 20 million devicew with pico-projectors, not 2.3 billion (!) as they said in the original PR. That makes more sense...

In-Stat has released a new report (Pico Projectors: One Reason Bigger Isn't Better), in which they forecast that by 2014 there will be 20 million devices with embedded pico projector modules. Mobile phones will account to over 90% of that.

"Although the integration of 'pico' projectors will occur across the entire CE device spectrum, the biggest push will come from the mobile handset segment," says Frank Dickson, VP Mobile Internet Research. "The reality is that the mobile handset market is measured in billions, creating massive opportunities for component manufactures. For pico projectors, what makes it even more attractive is that the market is hypercompetitive, with manufacturers always aggressively looking to add new features to create differentiation."

Check out this nice demo: using Datatron's Watchout software and up to 3 Show-WX projectors, a single seamless projected image was created, about 10 feet long by 3 feet tall. They also took 2 projectors, and a standard lampshade to create an interesting seamless video image.

The Show-WX is a laser pico-projector offering focus-free 848x480 image at 10 lumens. It's shipping now for $549.