Tiny projectors that would allow smartphones to project their displays onto any available flat surface will be a universal feature in five years, according to an electronics executive quoted by Reuters.

The news agency reports that Matt Nichols, director of communications at Microvision (which manufactures so-called "pico projectors"), said that "my feeling is that ultimately the phone is the largest opportunity." Nichols told Reuters that the devices could explode in popularity after their introduction, in a manner similar to that of cell phone cameras.

The Consumer Electronics Show saw numerous prototype devices featuring pico projectors, Reuters said, from Microvision and other manufacturers, including Texas Instruments and Samsung. Texas Instruments’ pico business manager told the news agency that "everybody is just completely jazzed" about the devices.

Device maker Syndiant recently showed off a penny-sized pico projector capable of displaying images in up to 1024 x 600-pixel resolution, taking it closer to full HD capacity than any pico projector yet. Most pico projectors top out at or below 800 x 600-pixel resolution.

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This entry was posted by Mobility Management News Desk on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 7:25 pm and is filed under Managing Mobile Devices News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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