LG Projector Review

Makes me think that LG and Celluon may have a more significant relationship - but I don't know.



Thanks Fuzzie


SisaWeek

LG Uplus has been bringing in the domestic Korean venture company's beam project overseas. It is an evaluation that it has begun to expand the market of ultra-small beam project with the advantage of lowering the price compared to specifications by collaboration.

LG Uplus announced on November 11 that it will launch portable mini projector 'U + pocket beam'. Pocket Beam was launched by Celluon, a venture company. It was sold overseas several months ago and it supports HD (1920X720, external output) resolution with Sony's optical engine.

The eye-catching point is that domestic sales prices are more than 100,000 won cheaper than overseas. The same product was sold for $ 429 (480,000 won) on the Celluon official homepage or in the US Amazon.

LG U + has been able to lower prices by taking charge of UI development and marketing of domestic products.

New Products from Celluon at IFA - Check Reddit

Got Multiple alerts from some readers today about a post on the MicroVision forum from Reddit. I appreciate the heads up -- I'll be checking with Celluon's office outside Seattle to see if I can get up close and personal with this stuff this week.

Microvision on Reddit

Trade Korea

Haven't had time to post earlier this week. Visited Celluon @ IFA on Monday. I was really impressed by the PicoBit. They had several of them for exhibition.

They told me it is 50lm and is actually perceived 2 times as bright as the picoPro. The PicoPro was on the left for comparison and I can confirm it. Even though the ambient light conditions were quite bright, one could easily watch the saturated picture of the PicoBit. I found it very high quality.

Another nice thing is, that you now have an sd-card slot, as well as that you can connect with an iphone wirelessly, although they told me that you will just be able to show own content like pictures and so on, not yet downloaded content (and maybe also not streamed content).

The touchpad is a nice working feature allowing you to select pictures videos or anything else currently at display. Although I didn't find it as smooth as my iphone touch screen. But the reason for it might have been also my sticky a little bit wetted fingers.

There were even other projector devices presented, but unfortunately I didn't take enough time to try them out as well. I was told that the PicoBit will start selling at the end of September. At first from Celluon Website and later from Amazon. I was glad to hear that the PicoBit will be also available in Europe through Amazon. 

I am very looking forward to buy several PicoBits at the end of month :-)

From the Gainesville Sun

More at the source

Today’s devices pack enough juice to get see you through to the credits. Many also are incorporating Miracast and AirPlay technology so you can stream directly from your mobile device via Wi-Fi, which means a totally untangled, cordless experience. Since so much of today’s content is streaming, there are no more optical discs or ripping DVDs to make your content digital, just log in to Netflix or Hulu. Essentially the cultural shift from the living room to mobile makes the idea of a small device that projects a large image on a wall or screen even more relevant.

Celluon PicoPro ($399) — At roughly the size and weight of a smartphone, this device not only can fit in your pants pocket but also in a shirt pocket. Instead of using a traditional bulb, the PicoPro uses a laser, which creates uniform brightness from edge to edge. One of the most important aspects of a projector is the lumens or strength of light that is emitted. The device is rated at a low 32 lumens but because of laser technology it's essentially perceived as closer to 60 lumens. It is also able to auto-focus. For Android users, you can easily connect wirelessly to the device with Miracast technology.

Some Videos that newbies may not have seen

An Advertisement for the Celluon PicoAir.... PicoBit will be an order of magnitude better.



Disney's project Hideout -- which most definitely uses PicoP (ShowWX in this video) I'm sure it's considerably better now.




On this one, go to Youtube, and read the comments below it. You may think that we're on to something.

Of course, in a couple of years, the cake will be blank, and guests will project some of their memories of the couple on the walls with their own phones. (Who imagined that?)

ASM - What I Expect

The Annual Stockholder's meeting is coming up next week.

I can't get a definitive list of what will be present for demos, but I do expect that most of what was available at CES will be available at this meeting.

Seeing pictures of the Qualper phone is one thing -- holding it in your hand and watching it work is quite something else -- what I saw wasn't a poorly made prototype.

Of course I could be wrong about any of these being present -- I can't get a definitive list... but when you see this... it's very impressive.

See some of you next week.

PicoBit

Qualper Phone

RoBoHon
Android TV  with picop
Keystone Correction Demo
Brighter Engine

Big news coming from Celluon

Celluon Twitter

 

Celluon, Inc.‏@celluon

Big news coming this month from Celluon! Stay tuned!

• RETWEETS 4
• LIKES 6
• 

5:31 PM - 4 Apr 2016

Celluon Video -- PicoBit

Celluon PicoBit at CES -- it's coming soon. (April-May) this year.

I'll be first in line to purchase one.

From GeekCentral

Turn your home into a theatre during a blizzard

My good friend Joe found this one today at the Huffington Post. 

Of course the guy in the video isn't quite right... not ALL projectors have to be focused.

Huffington Post




"Make something with your hands -- in this case, a movie projector made out of a shoebox, magnifying glass and your smartphone -- and reward yourself by watching a movie afterward. If you're not feeling very motivated, Celluon's PicoPro ($349, Amazon) is a very sharp, easy to use handheld laser projector.

CES Impressions

I didn't really type up my impressions from CES. A few important impressions stick out, that give me great confidence for the future.

• I think the Qualper phone, ViewSmart device and the PicoBit are all made by the same large company. (Just to be clear -- no one in any position of authority told me so.) Maybe they're a shell company for SONY, or maybe for SAMSUNG. The quality of the devices was excellent, and the three devices look very similar. (The little projector door looks exactly the same on all three devices.) Celluon seems to have some connection with SAMSUNG, and the device contains a SONY PicoP module. The exterior of the device seems a lot like the SONY phone I carry. I am suspicious that this is connected to the new smartphone factory Sony has built in Thailand. (Only my suspicions.)  The devices are awesome, and I KNOW people will want them.

• Haier and R2D2: We missed an opportunity for some great publicity with an American Cultural Icon. Yes, MicroVision is in a robotic refrigerator with a projector in the shape of R2D2. The news isn't the robotic refrigerator. The news is that we have a foot in the door of a major manufacturer. The only glimpse I got of R2 was this in the back of the display, covered for an unstated reason. When I returned one of their representatives told me that he couldn't be seen because of Disney licensing agreements. They have the Star Wars license in Japan, but not in the USA. So R2 Stays under cover.
• About Haier Corporation
• Sharp didn't participate in the show. They are clearly, however, marketing their PicoP engine as a separate component.

• Eyewear. This year, Augmented reality glasses were around the place like GoPro like cameras were around the place last year. Every time you turn around, there's a pair of virtual reality or augmented reality glasses. I was impressed with the effect of the Virtual reality goggles I tried (from HTC) It's an extremely immersive experience. The resolution leaves something to be desired though. 
• Augmented reality is going to be a place for MicroVision to truly shine. I went out to my way to try every pair of Augmented Reality glasses I could find. In  twenty years we'll laugh at how primitive what is out there now really is. I tried the glasses that Robert Scoble calls the BEST a couple of times, from a couple of different companies. They had great difficulty adjusting them for my head, and the field of view, although called the best, was kind of bad. Imagine holding a laptop at arm's length in front of you. That's the size of the screen of information they had available. -- still really cool, but not very good -- especially since that information is right in front of what you want to be looking at. When I tried on MicroVision's NOMAD -- the field of view was like holding a 40" television screen at arm's length -- and I'm told the field of view is now larger -- and higher resolution - and in color. While most of the work that goes on around these things has been software and interface -- adding a better display is going to be relatively straight forward and essential for them to get wider adoption. There is one other head mounted display that I think *might* compete: The BMW Head mounted display. I did not get a chance to see this. It's going to be a big space - even if this is competition that will be okay.

• SONY: Sony makes most or all of its money selling components. PicoP is an additional component for them to sell. It's an off the shelf LARGE display that takes up very little room. Expect it to be popular. 
• Expect other OEMS to go to the SONY (& Sharp) modules before they consider making their own.
• Know that when there is demand - SONY will be able to ramp up production faster than you think.
• Also remember that SONY is a risk averse company -- they do far better selling components than their own products. (they'd rather fill demand for components than stick their necks out on their own consumer products.)
• SONY is probably doing things that MicroVision isn't aware of. That's okay. If they have a contract with a large OEM - they're going to have NDA's to deal with as well.
• The MP-CL1 isn't part of the projector division at SONY -- it's being sold by the BATTERY division. (This is an important consideration -- it NEVER occurred to me that it would be sold by battery guys) 

• NDA's are still huge. 

• I've never been more confident about the prospects for this company.

CES Day 2

Celluon:

I went to the booth three different times, but the working model of the PicoBit was out at meetings each time I got there.

I did see the mockup of the unit however. It looks a lot like the ViewSmart, although it has additional features like the HDMI input and a couple of extra buttons on the bottom side of the touchpad.

It looks enough like the ViewSmart that I wouldn't be surprised at all if Celluon and ViewSmart are are somehow related. 

You can see the HDMI connection at the back of the unit, and the buttons toward the back of the top of the unit. The top of the unit is all touchpad. (and it's size compared to the PicoPro) On the lower picture, you can see the little projector door that is like the one on the ViewSmart.





Later in the day, I had an interesting experience, I saw a booth where  a PC about the size of a paperback book was being demoed. I asked them if they could put a screen in the computer. There was a bit of language difficulty. I took out my PicoPro and showed it to them. To say they were excited would be an understatement. I ended up taking the guy down to Celluon's booth, last I saw he was dragging one of their people back up to this booth to connect the two.

Longhaocomputer.com 


Sumitomo Laser Module:

Pretty much everyone in the manufacturing portions of the consumer electronics business is pretty tight lipped. They were very open that the laser modules were targeted for projectors -- the ultimate use, but they mentioned some other uses as well. 

This is a box they had on the display with the two now in production laser modules and the smaller one (next to the dime) that is in development. (that's small!)

Learning about MEMS Manufacturing: memsindustrygroup.org

A little more mundane, but important for understanding MicroVision.

I stopped by this booth and grilled an engineer for about 45 minutes about how MEMS are manufactured. It was very useful. I'll do a full post about it when I can compile one. The quick summary, lots of chemistry, silicon, coatings, layers, and the parts handling - very interesting methods. 

Beam 

Beam Labs

Beam is a light fixture that has a projector integrated in it. It's cool. Sony has a similar thing going in LifeSpace. Use it to share pictures, etc. The image is not touch interactive, though, and as they move the light up and down it has to be focused. (sound familiar) 

They let me compare to the PicoPro. The image from the PicoPro was at least as bright, and stayed in focus - as we know.  The presenter was suitably impressed with the PicoPro. (I mentioned MicroVision -- and that the image can be touch-interactive. I think they'll call.)

I took the picture below. The projection was pretty good, but the lighting was not optimal for projection at their display. (although unless fixed, difficult to keep in focus.)

There's more, but these are the highlights.

Four Pocket Projectors - One fits in a pocket

Cheatsheet

Small projectors and projection tech in general keeps getting more attention. So, of the four "pocket" projectors in this article only one actually fits in a pocket.  Check it out at the source, linked above.

Best rated is the Celluon PicoPro.

4 Pocket Projectors That Give You a Portable Home Theater

Picture this: It’s game-day and you’re hosting the boys for the afternoon. You’ve got the craft brewskis chilling and the cheese dip ready. But instead of viewing the big game on just another flat screen TV, you’re about to impress your pals with the prowess of a Pico projector. What, you ask? Pico projectors, also known as handheld or pocket projectors, are the latest craze to hit the tech world. And with good reason: They’re light, compact, and connect to your tablet, phone, or computer to project crisp, crystal-clear quality picture to any wall (or ceiling!) in your man cave. Whether you’re considering buying one for yourself to have the movie theater experience from the comfort of your couch, or as a holiday gift, read on for four solid performers.

Best for Android and Windows users (you can connect wirelessly via Miracast or DLNA), this HD projector is as sleek and compact as it is functional. With a lengthy battery life, it also boasts a built-in speaker and laser projection technology to deliver first-rate brightness and image quality. Did we mention it’s always in-focus (you won’t need that archaic focus wheel) and ships complete with a holding mount, MHL cable, Samsung adapter, and carrying pouch?

To see what it’s like to have a cinematic experience at your fingertips, check out this video. The image size is over 200 inches in optimal lighting, and there’s practically no internal sound coming from the system (like you might experience with some models); trust us, you won’t be disappointed.

Best Buy

We've been waiting for MicroVision's tech to be seen at "big-box" stores in the states.

Here it is. In time for Christmas. It's on the website so far, we'll see if it makes it onto the shelves. I think the chances are pretty good.

Find it here: Best Buy PicoPro 

Also at SEARS

Also at NewEgg

The BIG picture:

I try to remain a "big-picture" guy. Rather than worry about details or the next conference call, I look at whether or not the bet I'm making is a worthy bet. If the big picture makes sense, the bumps in the road are simply bumps in the road. A new product having a slower than wished for release, or a supply-chain hiccup is just a new product having growing pains. All new products have them, we only notice them on the new products we care about and pay attention to.

Tablet computers have been out for only a few years. The iPad was first, and it was  released in 2010 to laughter.  The immediate reception by most people was -- wrong. I must admit I was dismissive at first -- but this taught us something about the electronics market that we need to pay close attention to now.

The negative reception to the iPad came from a couple of things: It was a poor replacement for a laptop (missing the lap top computer crowd). It was too big to be as portable as the iPhone. (misses the phone people.)

Steve Jobs himself said that no one would buy a big phone. He was wrong. He was wrong, because they wanted a bigger screen -- and the only way to get a bigger screen was to make a bigger phone.

This picture --- taken in my home in a dim room, on a white wall. My phone is at the bottom, the projected image from a Celluon PicoAir surrounds it.

This is the kind of "larger screen" possible with PicoP. Carrying around this screen? EASY. Put it in your pocket, take it out when you need it. 




There are two things that the mobile user wants and is willing to go out of their way to pay for: more portability -- a smaller form factor -- and a bigger screen. This single fact can eliminate nearly all doubt about this product's potential for success.

More portability and larger screen size are in conflict until you get PicoP. With PicoP, you can put a big screen in your pocket. 

There are other portable projectors, but their power consumption, contrast ratios and required focus wheels render them impractical for truly portable operation. 

Which means, ultimately, that mobile companies have to use PicoP. It's the best solution.

What's the size of the market? 1.4 BILLION smartphones were sold last year. I remember working potential numbers with a friend once, and asked, so, how many of the smartphones in the world do you think will get this. "ALL of them" was his quick answer. People who see this, think it's going to be all of them -- or at least most of them. I've run my price target estimations based on 10% of cellphones, and the price target for this stock gets so high it seems like it might be crazy. Granted there are some guesses in that calculation, but they're educated guesses. (Valuations Page)

Is MicroVision positioned for growth? Partnering with two companies who make components for smart phones around the world, is a great place to be.

Stay focused on the big picture. We're very close.

Why PicoP? Because this
Why Mobile Companies MUST use PicoP

RoBoHon

And when you can get into something as cool as this -- where are the limits, really? 

MP-CL1 Reviews begin

9to5Mac Review of MP-CL1 -- much more at the source

Review: Sony’s MP-CL1 updates a proven HD pico projector with a thin, Apple-friendly shell


PicoPro’s projection system was MicroVision-developed and laser-sharp, requiring no manual focus knob — an advantage over rival projectors such as the otherwise more powerful AAXA P700 and ST200, which I subsequently reviewed and liked.

This week, Sony is entering the pico projector market with MP-CL1 ($350), which uses the same MicroVision laser projector found in PicoPro. Sporting the same 1920×720 resolution and putative 32-lumen brightness/80,000:1 contrast ratio as PicoPro, MP-CL1 promises to create a 40-inch TV image at 4-foot distances, an 80-inch image at 8-foot distances, or a (very dim) 120-inch image at 12-foot distances. Sony has pitched it as a “take it anywhere” big screen display for the iPad, iPhone, and PlayStation 4; it’s equally viable for Apple TVs and HDMI-ready Macs. So which is the better value: MP-CL1 or PicoPro?…

MicroVision’s projection engine automatically projects perfectly sharp images regardless of its distance from a wall, a major setup and usability advantage over rival pico projectors where manual knob turning is required to achieve sharpness.

World Cellphone Use by Country

This information popped up in a conversation on InvestorVillage. The specific reference is here. (I cleaned it up a little so the display would be better.) 

As PicoP powered projectors are going to be primarily cellphone accessories whether embedded or otherwise attached to the cellphone, this is a good analysis of the market for MicroVision's PicoP.

It is particularly noteworthy that the market for cellphones is nearly as large as the entire population of the world. And in numerous places they have significantly more cellphone connections than people. 

Also of note is that cellphones are commonplace in second and third world countries, much more so than I expected. 

In some of those places -- where people are unable to afford the price, space and electric bills to support a regular television set, they will be able to afford an accessory PicoP -- and access media like western audiences through their cellular devices. 

Our potential market is gigantic and ready for the product that MicroVision can deliver with its partners.

Rank	Country or region	Number of mobile phones	Population	Connections /100 citizens	Data Year
	World	6,800,000,000+	7,012,000,000	97.1	2013
01	China	1,276,660,000	1,369,811,000	93.2	2014
02	India	960,579,472	1,267,402,000	77.5	2015
03	United States	327,577,529	317,874,628	103.1	2014
04	Brazil	284,200,000	201,032,714	141.3	2015
05	Russia	256,116,000	142,905,200	155.5	2013
06	Indonesia	236,800,000	237,556,363	99.7	2013
07	Nigeria	167,371,945	177,155,754	94.5	2014
08	Pakistan	140,000,000	180,854,781	77.0	2014
09	Bangladesh	126,870,000	157,497,000	80.5	2013
10	Japan	121,246,700	127,628,095	95.1	2015
11	Germany	107,000,000	81,882,342	130.1	2013
12	Philippines	106,987,098	94,013,200	113.8	2013
13	Iran	96,165,000	73,973,650	130.0	2013
14	Mexico	101,339,000	112,322,757	90.2	2013
15	Italy	88,580,000	60,090,400	147.4	2013
16	United Kingdom	83,100,000	64,100,000	129.6	2013
17	Vietnam	72,300,000	90,549,390	79.0	2013
18	France	72,180,000	63,573,842	114.2	2013
19	Egypt	92,640,000	82,120,000	112.8	2013
20	Thailand	69,000,000	67,480,000	105.0	2015
21	Turkey	68,000,000	75,627,384	89.9	2013
22	Ukraine	57,505,555	45,579,904	126.0	2013
23	South Korea	56,004,887	50,219,669	111.5	2014
24	Spain	55,740,000	47,265,321	118.0	2013
25	Argentina	56,725,200	40,134,425	141.3	2013
26	Poland	47,153,200	38,186,860	123.5	2013
27	Colombia	49,066,359	47,000,000	104.4	2013
28	South Africa	59,474,500	50,586,757	117.6	2013
29	Algeria	33,000,000	35,000,000	94.2	2013
30	Taiwan	28,610,000	23,197,947	123.3	2013
31	Kenya	28,080,000	42,000,000	71.3	2013
32	Venezuela	32,019,086	30,163,157	106.2	2014
33	Peru	33,000,000	30,000,000	110.0	2013
34	Romania	26,000,000	21,438,000	123.5	2010
35	Canada	28,217,707	35,675,834	79.1	2014
36	Morocco	36,550,000	33,818,662	113.6	2015
37	Netherlands	20,000,000	16,515,057	121.1	2013
38	Australia	30,200,000	22,700,000	133.0	2013
39	Saudi Arabia	46,000,000	27,137,000	169.5	2013
40	Malaysia	30,379,000	28,250,000	143.8	2014
41	Sri Lanka	22,123,000	20,771,000	107.0	2014
42	Chile	21,000,000	17,094,270	122.9	2013
43	Nepal	18,240,670	26,620,020	86.8	2014
44	Ethiopia	18,000,000	85,000,020	21.8	2013
45	Guatemala	17,571,895	14,713,763	119.4	2013
46	Ecuador	15,900,000	14,300,000	111.2	2013
47	Portugal	13,400,000	10,562,178	126.9	2013
48	Hong Kong	17,445,581	7,264,100	240.2	2015
49	Belgium	11,822,000	10,414,000	113.6	2013
49	Hungary	11,561,890	9,908,798	116.7	2013
50	United Arab Emirates	17,132,724	8,410,763	203.7	2014
51	Sweden	11,194,000	9,103,788	122.9	2012
52	Bulgaria	10,655,000	7,600,000	140.2	2008
53	Israel	9,319,000	7,310,000	127.5	2008
54	Finland	9,310,000	5,457,429	170.4	2013
55	Singapore	8,106,700	5,399,000	150.1	2015
56	Denmark	7,000,000	5,543,819	126.2	2008
57	Azerbaijan	7,000,000	8,900,000	78.7	2009
58	Jordan	6,010,000	5,950,000	101.0	2010
59	New Zealand	4,922,000	4,430,000	111.1	2012
60	Mongolia	3,500,000	2,980,000	117.4	2013
61	Estonia	2,070,000	1,294,486	159.9	2012
62	Lebanon	2,720,000	4,224,000	64.4	2010
63	Lithuania	4,940,000	2,955,986	167.1	2013
64	Cuba	1,300,000	11,200,000	11.6	2011
65	North Korea	2,000,000	24,451,285	8.3	2013
66	Panama	6,900,000	3,405,813	202.5	2013
67	Malta	452,515	554,651	122.6	2013
68	Zimbabwe	13,518,887	13,060,000	103.5	2014
69	Montenegro	1,103,698	620,029	178.0	2014
70	Ireland	5,770,638	4,581,269	125.9	2015