Brookstone Unveils iPhone Case with Built-In Projector

Hearing about a new pico projector for a phone doesn't get tech enthusiasts quite as excited as it used to. However, pico projectors built into a phone case is something entirely different and far more practical than running cables from projector to phone and vice versa. That is why Brookstone, home of everything cool, has just introduced The Pocket Projector Case.

The Pocket Projector Case is a smartphone case with built-in projector and also includes a 2,100mAH battery, as well as a 0.5 watt speaker. Designed specifically for the iPhone 4 (but also conveniently compatible for the iPhone 4S), the phone slides into the case and engages the dock connector. From here you can project anything projectable onto a 50" rectangle on the wall.

50" is optimistic, however, and will require a pretty dark room to be accomplished. Brookstone's projector case also puts out a max of 15 lumens, which is the same amount as Microvision's SHOWWX+ pico projector. If you want an image that is bigger than a small television, you are going to have to turn out the lights. But isn't that kind of the point when you use a projector for entertainment?

The display has a resolution of 640 x 360 and the case's internal battery should keep it going for at least a couple of hours. In addition to that, the device can work as a backup battery for the iPhone within. One thing of interest to point out is that the case has a manual focusing dial, unlike the "infinite focus" of laser projectors. But that is to be expected for the relatively low price of $230.

As it stands, phone projectors do not seem to be quite up to standards in terms of use, though The Pocket Projector Case from Brookstone is definitely a lot easier to use. You can order this device for the above mentioned $230 price now with the actual device shipping on November 21st.

Source: Wired - Pocket Projector: A Magic Lantern in an iPhone Case

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Optoma's Neo-i iPhone/iPod Pico Projector

A lot of people thought that pico projectors were going to be the next big thing. Sadly for those people, the technology never really took off. Pico projectors have become more of a device nice to have but not something necessary to have. However, Optoma has a very interesting new take on pico projectors and it is known as the Neo-i which combines an iPod/iPhone speaker dock with a tabletop projector.

Unfortunately for most, the Neo-i is not cheap coming in with a $449 price tag, however, the specs are quite a bit better than your typical pico projector. The Neo-i has a 50 ANSI lumen DLP projector which offers WVGA (854x480 pixels) resolution in 16:9 format. It also has a full-bodied 16 watt stereo system built directly into the dock. The Neo-i can also run using an optional outboard battery pack. The bulb on the Neo-i is also rated at having a 20,000 hour life.

As opposed to Optoma's much smaller PK301 pico projector, which Optoma says has the same light source, Optoma is not classifying the Neo-i as a portable device. In contrast to that, however, the Neo-i only measures 12.8 inches deep by 3.1 inches tall and only weighs 2.5 pounds which makes the device small enough and light enough to be transported.

The style of the device looks slick and based on the picture above it appears that it has slots for VGA out, HDMI out, AV in, Audio out and DC in and the control buttons seem to be touch sensitive with illuminating backlight. Head on over to cnet for the full review.

Source: cnet News - Review: Optoma's Neo-i iPod/iPhone projector

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Blow Up Your iPhone Movies with the New Sparkz Projector

If you're an iPhone user, at some point, you've probably watched a movie or some other type of content on your phone and decided that it's just not the same on that 3.5 inch screen. Well now, there's a solution. Sparkz has released a new projector that allows you to dock your iPhone (or iPod) and allows you to blow up and project any movies stored on your phone. It also works for other devices such as video cameras, gaming systems, DVD players, media players and laptops.

The handheld pico projector is only 4.5 x 3 x 2.5 inches and allows you to watch any media directly from your gadgets. That includes podcasts, camera roll videos, photo slideshows, Youtube, iTunes, etc. It will also charge your iPhone or iPod while you're watching. It has a built-in external stereo speakers with audio out and a high capacity battery that allows for 2.5 hour run time with each charge.

It has a brightness of 15 lumens and the lens is 3M LcoS. LED Life is 50,000 hours, Battery is Lithium-polymer 3500mAh and resolution is 640 x 480 VGA or 1024 x 768 XGA. The projector sells for about $500 and that includes the tripod and all cables needed to hook the projector to various devices.

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