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back to article Ray of hope for smartphone projectors

A components manufacturer claims to have made the industry's smallest aspherical glass lens which has potential to kit-out smartphones with built-in projectors. Of course, the idea is nothing new. Projectors have been implemented in phones before, but never really took off with the additional bulk being among the issues. The …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Are there any other necessities besides a lens?

    E.g. a light source, something to put the image on, something to provide power and cooling...

    If anyone cared that much, why wouldn't they just use an ordinary projector (pocket ones are allegedly available already) and a phone with an HDMI output, also already available?

    Flame, 'cos this'll be one hot phone.

    1 1
    1. Ilgaz
      Reply Icon

      Carrying single device

      You may also get a no name or cheap digital camera with a real lens for $100 which beats anything in picture quality, even the N8 from Nokia.

      The issue is, you will have to carry and maintain a second physical object.

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    2. Jerome 0
      Reply Icon

      Why?

      Because setting all that up would be a huge pain in the ass.

      1 0
  2. Tom_

    photograph

    The photo suggests they're planning stereoscopic projection.*

    *OK, not really.

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  3. Mike 68
    Thumb Down

    Oh great

    So now as well as listening to other people's music on horrible speakers, now we get the video too

    5 0
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    sixty quid sample price

    Interesting toy, but perhaps a bit on the pricey side. I mean, sixty two-odd quid gets you a sample lens, no electronics yet. Even in bulk that's going to push the price of the phone a bit. Still and all, were I a phone designer I'd order right out just to see if the things can be made to do anything useful. A 1cm thick phone with full-size projection keyboard AND a projection screen? I've been wanting to make one of those for ages, but the chinese R&D shops kept ignoring me. Oh well, someone else can pick up on this, as the tech is getting closer to viable. Just make sure the specs are open enough for a third-party open source operating system, hmkay.

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  5. JB
    Happy

    Sharing

    "...on the ceiling of a bus" - sharing the experience with other passengers, just like those bloody schoolkids who share their tinny music on their phones already! That's all we need!

    Seriously, though, this is a great idea, having projector in a phone. And hopefully it will bring down the cost of 'real' projectors, so I can finaly afford that backyard movie experience!

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  6. SmallYellowFuzzyDuck, how pweety!
    Facepalm

    Title goes here

    Also useful as spectacle lenses for very very small people!

    Oh great, so as well as listening to teenagers on the bus playing very tinny sounding rap music on their phones we will now all get to suffer the group experience of the music video as well.

    Projectors on phones, will never take off unless you are an annoying teenager...

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  7. mark 63 Silver badge

    lightsource

    I'd have thought the light source would be more of a problem than the lens.

    What sort of projection are we , er , projecting?

    like a 1 foot square image from a foot away? or like a boardroom projector?

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    It would get too hot.....

    particularly if you were projecting on the roof of the bus. What would the OAPs think.

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    I think some people are missing the point

    if you can fit a projector in a phone, people will buy it, just because it has a projector, just so long as it doesn't compromise the size of the phone...

    I dont think it will be looking at projecting a massive screen... ideal, probably no more than a 30cm x 20cm, just big enough to project a video for personal viewing on some sort of mini foldaway projection screen.. (its my idea, I thought of it first) so while you have time to kill, you can watch the same movie you were going to watch on your phones tiny screen on a less tiny screen.

    the salesmen will go mad over them, just so they can show off to the other salesmen at the motorway services, "look how good a salesman I am that I can afford this silly priced phone"

    my spare battery is in here somewhere !!

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  10. Dick Emery
    Coat

    Lasers? High output CREE LED's?

    "Yes m'lord. My client was blinded by the light of a video of one Manfred Mann."

    Coat. Get.

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  11. M Gale
    Thumb Up

    One step closer to the Seabird?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG3tLxEQEdg

    Pleasepleaseplease

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  12. The Grump
    Alert

    Projected porn

    Imagine the reactions when someone accidently selects "Bondage Beauties 3" for display on the ceiling of that bus ! Of course, NOBODY keeps porn on their cell phones, LOL !

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    potential to kit-out smartphones with built-in projectors

    I'd think that any phone today that has enough battery to power a projector can probably contain today's full blown lenses!

    - Hey, I've got a phone with projector integrated.

    - Wow, is the battery powerful enough?

    - Sure! And I can recharge it in my car!

    - Oh, with a USB adapter?

    - No no, I just wire it under the bonnet in place of the one there, it's got compatible pins.

    1 0
  14. Jerome 0
    Boffin

    Just a thought

    To save all this trouble, couldn't you just watch the movie on your phone's screen, but hold it closer to your face?

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