Netbooks to get projector technology

Embedded mobile projectors will soon find their way into the consumer electronics market, according to BenQ and Texas Instruments.

The development of Texas Instrument's Pico projection technology means that devices such as mobile phones will have in-built projectors before long, ready for on-the-go presentations and the like.

But it seems that it's not just in the phone world where this technology will be used, but in other gadgets as well.

Pico projection

At a BenQ launch event in London yesterday, TechRadar spoke to the VP of DLP Front Projection Products for Texas Instruments – the company behind DLP chips – Lars Yoder, and Business Development Director at BenQ Europe, Bo Cramer, about what the future holds, and they were both quite excited about where projector technology is going.

"There are a lot of emerging markets we are looking at at the moment," said TI's Yoder. "If you can imagine projectors in digital cameras, cell phones and laptops, that's where Pico projection technology is going to go.

"Projectors could also be used in hotels in the lobbies, in Emergency Exit signs… there are many possibilities."

Netbook projections

The variety of products that could use projector technology was also something Cramer enthused about, but he was more specific about where we might see Pico projection, specifically in BenQ products: "We have got a version of the netbook coming out [the Joybook Lite U101] and I can see in the future that a projector could be a great application for this format."

And when are we likely to see this technology in the mainstream market? "Several years" was the answer.

Considering BenQ has a working, albeit, in-development phone that uses Pico technology at the moment, several years may well be a cautious estimate.