Hands-on with the mobile phone projector

 

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By Dave Stevenson in Berlin

Posted on 31 Aug 2007 at 18:05

PC Pro has been given an exclusive demonstration of what Texas Instruments hopes is the future of watching TV on the move.

TI's pico-DLP technology is a tiny DLP projector - light source, lens and processing unit - that's small enough to fit into the shell of a mobile phone.

The demo unit, which looks like but doesn't work as a phone, is surprisingly effective. We watched snippets from Finding Nemo, and were impressed by the tiny projector's throw distance and brightness. In a dim room, against a white wall, the image had good clarity and brightness. There's clearly some heavy-duty cooling, though, as the device whooshed its way through the presentation.

So who's going to buy one? TI believes a bigger screen is essential for the success of mobile TV. "You have a small screen and what you want is a big screen," says TI's communications supervisor Christian Thevot, citing football coverage as an example. "It's a need for a lot of people."

PC Pro wasn't allowed to photograph the prototype, and Thevot is keen to stress its early-build nature. He won't say, for instance, what the light source is, although he goes as far as to say it wasn't a standard bulb. In all likelihood it's an LED, as found on pocket projectors such as the Samsung DLP300.

Thevot also refuses to give specifics on pricing or battery life, although he admits the current version isn't ready for commercial production. "Right now we are showing what we can do. Of course, it will improve," he adds.

Click here for full coverage from the IFA 2007 show

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