Mobile Phone Projector

Get ready for mobiles with built-in projectors.

The problem with the latest mobile phones is that their tiny screens often aren't large enough to do justice to their killer multimedia features. However, Texas Instruments may have the answer.

It has developed a tiny projector that's small enough to be integrated into a mobile phone. The complete projection unit contains a DLP chip, three lasers and a power supply, yet is still just over an inch long. Using the projector a mobile phone will be able to beam out DVD quality video onto a wall or screen. The company calls the technology pico-projection and it is essentially a development of TI's pocket projector technology that led to the development of book sized business beamers like the Samsung SP-P300.

As well as mobile phones, TI reckons the tiny projector could also be integrated into a range of other devices such as iPods, portable media players and even digital cameras.