Motorola and Mircovision make PicoP Cell Phone Projectors

Obviously we live an amazing age where we can download movies and television shows onto our cellular phone. However, the limitation is that we have to experience something that was meant to be for a big screen on a very, tiny little screen. However, what if you were able to project that image so it is larger, on something as close as the nearest blank wall?

This is the idea behind a cell phone movie projector, a concept that has made some great strides this year. Motorola has recently teamed up with Microvision in order to create the PicoP, a miniature projector that has a Digital Light Processing chip made by Texas Instruments (TI). TI recently demonstrated this DLP at a recent wireless show earlier this year. The one that TI displayed at this show measured about 1.5 inches long, and has a miniaturized version of the same technology that is in projection TV sets.

Microvision and Motorola believe that the widescreen image that they produce will be better than DVD quality, at a resolution of 854x480 pixels. The image will be at a 15-inch diagonal, so that’s about the size of a laptop. I have no idea if the picture here is an actual projection or a computer simulation of what the actual picture would look like.

Hopefully, Motorola and Microvision have discovered a way to make this PicoP focus clearly, because the idea of holding it continuously in my hand for extended periods of time already makes my muscles sore.

It is also not known when these cell phone/projectors will be available, nor how much they would cost. It is believed that adapting a mini-projector to a cell phone would be as easy as the obligatory camera that comes with even the cheapest of cellular phones these days. I’m also not certain about the sound quality, so I am assuming that any sound would be as good as what comes through the wearer’s headphones.

How will this new technology change mobile entertainment as we know it? Well, I’m guessing that having a mini-movie projector probably won’t help if you want to watch it on a bus. Unless the bus happens to have a good section of white wall that it will let you use. That, or maybe the driver will let you lie down on the floor so you can project on the ceiling. That might work for mini-van passengers.

I also don’t know if this would work on an airplane, because don’t they ask you to turn your cell phones off? Still, assuming they let you use the projector, you could project your own in-flight movie on the seat in front of you (provided it’s in the fully upright position).

Don’t even get me started on people who would use this product to project pornographic images. Yet if Motorola gets this working and gets the FCC green light, this will become an issue.

I can foresee another problem. If I really want to watch a show, I generally find the time to watch it uninterrupted. However, watching a projected video on a cell phone is just asking for interruptions. You know that the phone part is going to inevitably ring during the best part.