Showing off some photos or videos shot on your iPhone with a group of friends is usually kind of a pain since not many of us like to pass our iPhones around. If only there was an iPhone projector!
Well, with a few household items, you can make your own iPhone/iPod projector within minutes.
On paper, pico projectors seem like the perfect smartphone accessory. Even handsets with 4-inch displays prove to be a bit small when sharing media with multiple people, so a miniature portable projector makes sense.
But who wants to lug around an extra device? Isn't that a major reason people own smartphones — so they don't have to carry around multiple gadgets? Popular retailer Brookstone looks to solve this dilemma with its new Pocket Projector...
Apple recently caused a commotion in the tech world (I know, shocking) by registering ApplePico.com. MacRumors pointed out the Cupertino company on the domain's WHOIS listing earlier this month, which naturally raised some eyebrows.
Needless to say, speculation that Apple is working on pico projectors has started to heat up again. Previous patent applications from the iPhone-makers have pointed to projector research, but none of them have been more revealing than this one...
We've had our share of rumors and hopes about a mini projector to work with your iPhone or iPod Touch but it seems that something is officially on its way. Engadget reports that Texas Instruments' DLP Pico Projector will launch on December 1st for sale in Apple Stores in Japan. The miniature projector allows you to display a 60-inch 480x320 video image from up to 8.5 feet away.
David Pogue of the NY Times reviewed the device and seems to love it:
You’d have to be a jaded gizmophile indeed not to be impressed the first time you turn on this tiny, shiny black box. In the center of the short end, there’s a very bright light-emitting-diode lamp. Inside, there’s a miniaturized Texas Instruments digital-light-processing (D.L.P.) chip, similar in principle to the ones that drive some full-size HDTV sets. Together, they produce an astonishingly bright, clear, vivid video or still image. That’s right -- from a projector you’ve pulled from your jeans pocket.
The DLP Pico Projector will be priced at about $500 in Japan and there is no word of when this long-awaited device will be available in the US.