A Micro Vision of Tomorrow

It seems as if we are perpetually chasing an idea of what the future will be.  Art, film and literature have all taken a stab at predicting what we might be doing tomorrow. Sometimes the scenarios are a little flakey, but for the most part, these authors inspire the designer, engineers and scientists of tomorrow. In effect, they’re writing what the future will look like. But technology has begun to move faster. We’re in this hyper-accelerated state in which technology is advancing almost as fast as we can dream it up.

Hi, My Name Is Pico

Looking at a device the size of a cell phone projecting a screen 50-inch or larger is enough to give anyone future shock. Unlike the bulky, loud projectors of old, these new tiny “pico” projectors are completely silent and small enough to fit in your shirt pocket. So what are the advantages of such small projectors?  Wouldn’t we be better off just skipping projectors all together and concentrating on newer technologies like OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode)?

Part of looking into the future is predicting what future generations will be challenged with. It’s not enough to simply say that we’ll need more screens that take up less space. We need to consider portability, environmental impact, and durability. When you take all these into consideration the pico becomes more and more appealing.  These tiny projectors offer the unique possibility of taking screens with us wherever we go under more strenuous circumstances.

Pico’s ascension into the limelight has been overshadowed by other technologies such as OLED. OLED is the newest offering from the major electronics producers. They are expected to take over the television market because of their huge visual advantages over plasma and LCDs, But does this take fringe technology such as picos out of the picture?

Pico vs OLED

One of the drawbacks of big screen LCD and plasma screens is the waste we’ll eventually see in our landfills.  Although there are regulations to prevent dumping our old tech into landfills, it still happens. OLED televisions, the new standard in hi-def televisions, are boasting an Earth friendlier screen—free of mercury and light on material use. What’s more, OLED can support a 240mhz refresh rate—that translates to super fast frame rates for sports and action movies.  Paired with the OLED’s outstanding clarity (1,000,000:1 contrast ratios!) and its far richer color gamut, it’s easy to see why OLED has quickly become the Cinderella of the digital image world.

So why shouldn’t we all run out and by truckfulls of OLED? Well, the first major drawback is sticker shock. The OLED comes at a high price, twice as much as their plasma and LCD counterparts.  It’s a little odd considering that the material costs for OLED are much, much cheaper than any other technology. However, it’s outlandish to think that electronics giants such as Sony and Samsung would gouge consumers, isn’t it?

The other huge drawback to OLED, which you scarcely hear a whisper about, is the incredibly short lifespan, about 14,000 hours. For those of you who expect to have your $3,600 investment last more than five years, you may want to look down the aisle at the LCD and Plasma screens. One has to ask, what good is the super earth friendly OLED if you have to have two for the lifespan of one LCD?

Although OLED has some promising traits, it appears that some manufacturers are more concerned with squeezing top dollar out of the technology rather than exploring more practical uses. OLED has incredibly low power consumption, and it is ultra thin and bendable, making it ideal for portable gadgets. But OLED is so much more, it is actually printable, so it can be easily mass produced. GE intends to begin production for OLED light sources as soon as 2010.

Pico for Everyone

So what makes the pico or LED projectors so exciting? Well, at the top of the short list is that unlike regular projectors, picos don’t use bulbs. They use tiny LED lights. These low power consuming LEDs don’t waste power by converting it to heat like regular bulbs. Instead, almost all the power is converted into light.  This also eliminates the need for a cooling fan since our tiny LED buddies are already cool. Take away the giant bulbs, annoying fans and you’re left with pocket size perfection.

Another exciting aspect is the prospect of picking it up and taking it with you wherever you go. Imagine having a portable small to large size screen available to you whenever you need it. Then, it can be banished to your pocket until you decide it should come out again. No more lugging around heavy equipment. No more tiny iPod screens.

These mighty midgets may never be a replacement for the living room home theater.  Since LED’s innovations are still emerging, there is still a long way to go before they are as bright as their larger counterparts.

For now, the brightest pico LED projectors on the market are only around 100 lumins as opposed to upwards of 3,000 lumins for standard projectors.  The way it works is, the larger you project the image the more light you need. What that translates into is that you need about 1,000 lumins to be visible in room light.  Picos need a dark room, or to be confined to a smaller, 20 to 30-inch screen size. 

Still, the many advantages of the pico outweigh its shortcomings. Picos can run on batteries, so you can take them camping with you. They make a great screen for a bedroom; you don’t need an expensive white backdrop, just project it on your ceiling. They’re great for meetings, small presentations or portable gaming sessions. Perfect for the college student with limited space and moving has never been easier.

The environmental impact is as small as the pico itself. Plus, it won’t be going into any landfills anytime soon since they have a 20,000 to 50,000 hour lifespan. That dwarfs the 600-5,000 hour bulb life for standard projectors and still exceeds the screen life of most LCDs, Plasmas and OLEDs.

If that wasn’t enough, picos are going for anywhere from 200 to 700 bucks. Now, we wouldn’t recommend the super cheap picos, they’re so dim that they are only really practical in pitch black.

The Joybee GP1 by BenQ is a little larger than the standard pico, but it’s the brightest pico we were able to find and it has an 858 x 600 native resolution. Combine it with with your ipod video or ipod touch and you got a portable entertainment center. Or perhaps you just want to run video right off your jump drive in the GP1s usb port.

Now this is the part of the story where we warn the reader to be cautious. There are already a ton of picos out there, some cheap, dim and small, others larger and more expensive. Some run on batteries, some do not.  Most are LED driven, though the pico moniker is now being dawned by most projectors under 5 lbs. Which means that there are picos with regular bulbs that burn out in 600 to 1,000 hours. Buyer beware.

On the Horizon

As excited as we are about picos, we still recommend that you heavily research before taking the dive, and urge you to perhaps wait even for the next generation of picos. What’s in store for the picos of tomorrow you ask? Well, unlike LED picos that are driven by red, blue and green LED lights, there is a new technology that uses red, blue and green lasers. The advantages of this new technology are many.

For one, the projectors can now be much smaller.  Small enough to fit into the head of a cellphone.  They run on very little power. And, probably most interesting of all, they are always in focus, regardless of the projection surface distance.  This would mean that all ipods, cell phones, or dare I say it… iPhones, could soon have a projector built right into them.

Microvison (MVSI), a small company out of Redmond, Washington, is the owner of this new technology. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Microvision may soon be one of the most valuable tech companies. Microvision expects to release its first version of their pico projector dubbed ShowWX, in mid 2010 for around $300-$500. Expect to see great things in the future of projectors.

Picos are incredible, and it won’t be long before they will be a part of our day-to-day lives. But, they still have a long way to go. In order to come into their own, pico will have to overcome their shortcomings. Still there is much to be excited about, but we recommend that readers wait for the technology to mature. So, jump on the interweb and do some research. It’s time well spent that will yield a better understanding of some of the most interesting portable gadgets today.

Questions and comments: raul@hpr1.com