Tiny pico projector for cell phones and cameras

6mm High Unit for Embedding into Handheld Devices by the End of the Year
Chinese conglomerate Foryou Multimedia Electronics has been working with Syndiant in Dallas and with Hong Kong’s ASTRI R&D Labs to develop an LED pico projector that is less than 4cc in volume and 6 mm in height and suitable for embedding into cell phones and digital still cameras. While it will be approriate for digital cameras, it is still too large for smartphones - as the trend with the recent 4G iPhone to a thinner unit shows.

Using Syndiant’s SYL2030 panel, which offers WVGA resolution (854x480 pixel) in a tiny (6 mm) package, ForYou and ASTRI designed an embeddable LED pico projector for handheld consumer devices.
“We are pleased to expand our relationship with ForYou and ASTRI,” said Mark Harward, CEO of Syndiant. “The SYL2030 member of our VueG8 family of pico projector panels really provides a viewing gateway that enables a large screen experience from hand-held devices such as cell phones and digital still cameras. With true WVGA resolution, this panel provides excellent image quality with vivid saturated colors, while delivering the low cost and power efficiency to be an ideal solution for these very high volume embedded applications.”
“Our initial product announcement with Syndiant’s 1024x600 pixel SYL2061 at CES was very well received, and we are pleased to announce our second endeavor with both Syndiant and ASTRI,” said Jefeng Liu, marketing manager at Foryou. “We expect our product to ship before the end of 2010.”
“ASTRI is proud to play an important role in delivering innovative products to the fast growing pico projector market,” said Kenny Chan, business development manager at ASTRI. “We are excited to see the commercialization of our joint efforts and to achieve significant milestones on additional pico projector development projects that we are hard at work on.”
Foryou is a venture of the Huizho Foryou Group, one of the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of DVD Loaders and DVD pick-ups. They also design and manufacture automobile electronics, consumer electronics, LED lighting products, plastic molding, and Optical-Electronic components. Syndiant manufactures the world’s smallest and highest resolution light modulating chips used in ultra-portable projectors small enough to embed in a cell phone. Syndiant’s patented technologies will provide a large screen experience in handheld electronics, such as smartphones, notebook computers, portable media players, video game consoles and cameras

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World's first notebook PC with integrated 60GHz wirelessHD

ASUS' New Notebooks Incorporate SiBEAM’s WirelessHD 60GHz Technology

In a move that is a significant step forward for 60GHz technology, ASUS has launched two new notebook computer models that incorporate SiBEAM WirelessHD technology for linking to external displays.
By integrating SiBEAM’s advanced wireless video network chips on display mini-card (DMC) modules, these notebooksprovide high-quality, uncompressed 1080p/60 video, robust transmission, and latency-free transmission for gaming and entertainment. Consumers will be able to be “untethered” and connect to the HD television, while still accessing the Internet and their home network without interference. ASUS also announces their new membership and participation in WirelessHD as an adopter.

ASUS is incorporating SiBEAM’s WirelessHD technology in its new notebook PCs including the G73JW and the G53. Ideal for gaming, these models will provide consumers with a latency-free gaming experience with perfect video quality, as SiBEAM’s WirelessHD technology is the only wireless display solution on the market that provides a lossless and uncompressed video connection. The addition of the technology will enable consumers to use the notebook with the HD television while at home or play games on the notebook while on the road. By operating in the 60GHz frequency band, the new products will not experience any interference with WiFi, cordless phones, or other wireless technologies, but rather permit simultaneous usage of these other wireless devices for Internet access and home networking.

“As the WirelessHD entertainment experience expands from adapters to televisions to BD players to set-top boxes and now to portable devices including the notebook PC, the value of WirelessHD networks for consumers grows," said John LeMoncheck, president and CEO of SiBEAM. "This launch by ASUS not only represents the first notebook PC, but also the first portable devices to include WirelessHD, emphasizing the viability of 60GHz for portable entertainment platforms. There is clear value to the consumer in being able to connect their entertainment devices wirelessly to displays so that they can enjoy the content from their PC on the television wirelessly. SiBEAM is happy to support ASUS in such market expanding activities.” 

“ASUS is proud to be the first company to introduce a notebook PC enabled with WirelessHD. ASUS has a long-standing history of listening to customers and then identifying technology to meet those needs,” said P.C. Wang, Corporate Vice President & General Manager Notebook Business Unit from ASUS. “Having considered the needs of our customers, it’s clear that there is a compelling proposition for connecting a notebook PC to a high definition display for gaming and entertainment. Given that consumers are increasingly using ASUS PCs for entertainment applications, connectivity to a wireless display becomes valuable. Having evaluated the range of wireless display options available, the WirelessHD solution and wireless chips from SiBEAM were most appealing to ASUS. Given that the leading provider of WirelessHD technology is SiBEAM, we were delighted to partner with them in bringing the first notebook PC to market with their support.”

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New screen adds memory to reduce power

Sharp has developed a new LCD technology that dramatically reduces power consumption.
Although the current screen is only 1.35in large and monochrome, and is aimed at small portable and solar powered applications, there is potential for the technique to be used to reduce power in larger LCDs.
The Memory LCD uses a memory cell in the column driver so that only the pixels that haven't changed are refreshed. This cuts power from 2mW for a typical 1.35in monochrome screen to 15µW in the Memory LCD, a dramatic reduction of 130 times
Sharp uses its proprietary Continuous Grain Silicon technology to make the screen, which at the moment is only 96 by 96 pixels. However, Sharp is a leading maker of LCDs for mobile, so expect this to be moving into larger monochrome screens for book readers, small colour screens and then to screens capable of handling video.

Flexible CMOS for portable screens

Electronics Weekly reports development by the University of Texas of a flexible version of today's standard CMOS technology. This opens up the possibilities of larger flexible displays that can be rolled up in a pocket and still have an acceptable battery life.
This has been done by combining amorphous silicon and polymer semiconductors which traditionally are high power consumption, not good for portable screens. For example, said the University, an n-mos a-Si:H flexible display column driver consumes around 150µA static current per column - equating to a total column drive power of 700mW in a 15Hz QVGA display, compared with 18mW for the backplane and 660µW for the row drivers.
An equivalent column driver in hybrid CMOS, said the University, consumed under 1µA, and dissipated only dynamic power - a total of 2.3mW for all column drivers in the 15Hz QVGA display, says Electronics Weekly.
The University has focussed on column drivers because all column drivers are active all the time in a display, while only one row driver at a time on.
To be larger than 150mm, these displays have to be on flexible substrates as glass is too brittle.
Researchers are now working on extending the lifetime of the test devices.

Ten best and worst phones

Mobile phone manufacturers risk losing their customers as they race to incorporate touch-screen features into their phones in a bid to copy Apple’s success, according to feedback from shoppers collated by customer review website, www.Reevoo.com.
More than 19,000 buyers of phones were asked by Reevoo.com to score and assess 226 phones against a range of criteria, including style and function. Reevoo.com’s analysis of feedback from customers shows that 5 out of ten phones in the bottom ten are touchscreen models.
In contrast, only 2 of the top ten phones are touchscreen. The top-rated phone with a score of 8.8 out of ten is the Nokia 5220 xpressmusic. The phone features a conventional key pad. Apple’s iPhone is the highest scoring touchscreen phone with a score of 8.3 out of ten.
The most important phone feature is its style, according to respondents, with 15.3% rating style highest. Next most favoured characteristics are being compact (14.1%), having a good camera (10.4%) and being good for music (7.7%). Lowest ranked criteria for customers are web browsing (1.5%) and email functionality (1.2%).


The top ten phones:

1. Nokia 5220 XPRESSMUSIC
2. Nokia E71
3. Sony Ericsson W595
4. Nokia 2680
5. Nokia 3110 Classic
6. Samsung M150
7. Apple IPHONE3G 16GB – touchscreen
8. LG KC910 Renoir – touchscreen
9. Nokia 6600 Slide
10. Nokia 3600

The bottom ten phones:

1. HTC Touch Diamond touchscreen
2. Sony Ericsson T303
3. Samsung Armani - touchscreen
4. Sony Ericsson C702
5. Nokia 6124 Classic
6. BlackBerry Storm 9500 - touchscreen
7. Samsung i900 Omnia - touchscreen
8. Nokia N96
9. Samsung U600
10. Samsung F490 - touchscreen

200 Million Ultra-mobile Devices to Ship in 2013

From a virtual “standing start” of just 10 million units in 2008, market analysts ABI Research predict shipments of ultra-mobile devices (UMDs — the umbrella term for ultra-mobile PCs, netbooks and Mobile Internet Devices) are expected to exceed 200 million in 2013.
“The UMD market will still be small compared to the wireless handset market, but with a forecast revenue of nearly US$27 billion in 2013, it will certainly be significant,” said ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis.
While netbooks account for about 90% of today’s UMD market, they will fall to a distant second place by 2013, while MID (Mobile Internet Device) shipments surge ahead to take nearly 68% of the market, with Ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs) remaining a niche category.
To put the UMD market forecasts into perspective, the 2013 estimate of 200 million shipped devices is roughly the anticipated size of the worldwide laptop PC market.
“As this market enters its rapid growth phase and starts to evolve,” said Solis. “We will see considerable experimentation with different distribution channels: some will sell direct from the manufacturer, some via retail outlets, and some through mobile operators who will subsidize them to encourage new data plan subscriptions.”
The data comes from a new study from ABI Research, “Mobile Internet Devices and UMPCs” which analyzes the drivers and barriers for UMDs across the ecosystem. It examines the issues that will shape this market, including the contest between x86-based processors and ARM-based processors, distribution and subsidization, device definitions, and the effect of cellular voice-enabled MIDs. It includes detailed, segmented market forecasts through 2013.
www.abiresearch.com

Handheld projectors for mobile phones

A post from the Embedded blog shows how displays are evolving to provide high resolution outputs for mobile phones