February 5th, 2009 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Analysis & Editorial | No Comments »
At MGB, we are always happy to see new initiatives that improve the mobile gaming experience. One of those new initiatives is based on pico projectors. Specialist Gert Meyer has wrote up a story on how they best fit into this market.
Over the past 10 years we have seen and experienced how cameras, radio's, computers, digital video recorders, music players, game consoles and TV technology were embedded into mobile phones. All these technologies have been popular, but could not replace a real gaming or TV experience. This was how the idea of a mobile phone projector (pico projector) was born.
3M, Texas Instruments, Microvision and others have started developing projectors to be embedded into your mobile phone to give you the big screen experience. At CES 2009 we already saw one of the first projector phones on the Samsung Show:
Though this feature is nice, the form factor shows several obstacles to provide a solid mobile gaming or TV experience;
1. When turning your phone horizontally to play games, the embedded projector might project into your hand.
2. Gamers would be limited to 2 hours of playing time before needing to recharge their phone battery. It could even be less than 2 hours if they made use of other features on their phone as well. (The requirement for mobile phone manufacturers to embed projectors is currently 2 hours battery life)
3. Limited hand movement. Your projected gaming image will shake as the hands move while playing games.
4. Ineffective use of motion sensing capabilities (Wii remote control) when playing games with an embedded projector.
5. When on the move or travelling (train, bus, driving to work, walking etc.) using embedded projectors to play games will be ineffective because:
5.1 Light will dim the quality of projected image .
5.2 Finding a suitable surface to project on is rare (need a flat, white surface not to distort projected image to much).
5.3 It will be nearly impossible to prevent the public to pass through the view.
The way to solve this, is to work with detachable pico projectors. Through the images below, I will try to explain my vision;
Detached projectors will have all the features and capabilities of embedded projectors and more. Your home and office will be the most likely places where you will play mobile games and use projection for more than 5 minutes at a time.
Benefits of detached projectors when playing games:
1. Use your phone as game controller and your detached projector with plugged in power cord to project the screen.
2. The possibility to play games, type SMS's or E-mails using the horizontal viewing feature on a phone and be able to use two hands for playing without obstructing the view.
3. Play games longer via the detached projector with a plugged in power cord, when at home or at the office.
4. Full use of motion sensing capabilities when using the phone as a game controller.
Additional features with detached projectors:
5. Watch Mobile TV with sound on detached projector with embedded speakers and simultaneously make a call with your phone (it's just like a pocket sized home cinema set).
6. Use your phone as remote control when watching Mobile TV on the detached projector.
7. Dual screen viewing for multitasking for example watch Mobile TV on the detached projector and simultaneously write an e-mail on the phone's screen.
8. Project from any reachable surface.
Conclusion
Some people care about quality, but first and foremost it's about features. The whole world is a culture of spec sheets. When consumers go to electronic stores or the internet to buy a mobile phone, they frequently line up the specifications side by side to compare them before deciding which to buy. Detached projectors will have all the features of embedded projectors and more.
From a marketing point of view, detachable projector features will be extremely popular with all mobile phone users and might speed up the popularity of Mobile Games and Mobile TV.
My name is Gert Meyer, trendwatcher and inventor of detachable pico projectors. My company also holds several patents on detachable projectors on various consumer electronics besides phones (i.e. Camera's and Media Players). If you like to contact me, you can reach me at gert@trufruit.co.za.
