Syndiant

Karl Guttag posted an interesting article in which he answers several questions people asked - regarding lasers, Syndiant's technology and business, how Microvision's technology and LBS lasers in general compare to Syndiant's LCoS solutions, and more. Well worth a read!

Here's a nice interview with Syndiant's VP sales & marketing - Keith Lewis. The interview is from the "Grow Your Business" channel - by Microsoft ERP, so most of the talk is about Syndiant's supply chain and how they manage it, but it is still interesting:

Syndiant announced their new 720p LCoS pico-projector module. The SYL2271 provides 1280x720 resolution with a .37" display diagonal that can fit into a package that is just 7.75mm high. The LCoS panel itself is made by Fujitsu and is the world's first 130 nm LCoS panel. Syndiant says that already several companies are developing light engines based on this new chip.

Together with the SYL2271, Syndiant (in collaboration with Toshiba) also developed the SYA1231 controller that includes an ARM processor that can be used to implement custom features to differentiate the product and enhance the user experience.

Karl Guttag was the co-founder and CTO of Syndiant, and he has now left the company. Karl says he's still a firm believer in LCoS, we do not know why he left exactly - "So please don’t take my leaving Syndiant as any sign that pico projectors or LCOS is not going to happen, because I’m still a big believer in LCOS based pico projectors and particularly the future of laser illuminated LCOS pico projectors."

Karl also started a new blog - which will focus on pico projectors and also include his views on technology, start-ups, micro displays and other issues. This will be an interesting one to watch. Karl was always happy to help us here at PicoProjector-Info with news, updates and interviews (we conducted three interviews with Karl: on July 2009, May 2010, and December 2010).

Karl has proved to be a good friend and colleague - so I can only wish him good luck in his new ventures!

We just got word that 3M'2 new CP-45 projector camcorder is using Syndiant's SYL2043 LCoS module. This is not a surprise as we already know that the MP160 and MP180 projector use Syndiant's technology.

3M's CP45 is 3M's 2nd generation projector camcorder (an upgrade to the CP40) that offers HD (720p) videos, 5mp still camera, LED flash and 2GB of memory (and a microSD slot). It also has a small 2.4" LCD. The projector offers SVGA (800x600) resolution at 20 lumens. It includes A/V and composite inputs. The CP45 costs $299 in the US and £299.99 in the UK and Europe.

We just found this on Amazon.com - a new upcoming pico projector - the FAVI W3. The W3 is a pico projector that runs Windows OS (not sure which version) and includes an integrated touchpad mouse. It's got 2GB of internal memory (and a microSD slot) and a built-in media player (supports images, videos and office documents). It's also got Wi-Fi and a web browser (Explorer).

The projector itself offers 1024x600 resolution (we do not know how bright it is) - and we think it uses Syndiant's SYL2061 LCoS module which is the only one on the market that offers this resolution (as far as we know). The SYL2061 was announced in September 2009 and this will be the first projector to use it. Back in 2010 Foryou said they will release a projector that will use the SYL2061 but they didn't actually started to produce it (as far as we know).

Philips PicoPix PPX1020 just got a dismal review from ITpro. This tiny USB projector features 800x600 resolution and 20 lumens, and is now shipping for about £190. The reviewers say that the projector has the worst rainbow effect they've ever seen on any projector which is highly irritating, especially when coupled with the slow refresh rates (due to the slow bandwidth of the USB connection apparently). They also say that the projector simply can't keep the entire image in focus.

Colors and over-saturated and the backlight is uneven and the projector forces you to switch your computer resolution to 800x600, and To sum it up, the reviewer say that it is simply not a projector for viewing videos, and even though it is cheap, they simply cannot recommend it...