3M Beats Everyone to the Micro Projector Business

People who have thought much about it have concluded that projectors are the one way to reconcile ever-tinier gadgets with the ever-more data and media we have on them. And plenty of companies have been trying to build a micro projector that you can carry in your pocket or even get built into your cellphone or iPod.

But no one knew that 3M (yes, the Post It people) would be the first company to do it. After two years of stealth development, they popped out a little press release on Friday announcing that they had a working projector in hand—just as I was finishing an article proclaiming Microvision to be the company that won the race.

More details and incredible video after the jump.

3M’s projector shows full-color, standard def video at a rate of at least 60 frames per second—television quality. Its 10 lumens of brightness make it powerful enough to overcome bright room lighting to project an image about 15 inches across. When we took it into a dark room, it could easily do 50 inches.

Instead of lasers, which Microvision and its rival Light Blue Optics are using, 3M uses LED for illumination. They wouldn’t tell me if it’s one white LED or three (red, green, and blue) bulbs. But my bet is on one—given the size of the projector and the color quality—which was nice, but not stunning.

Texas Instruments is trying to do the same thing with LED and it’s DLP imaging chip—similar to what you get in rear-projection TVs from Samsung. But 3M is using liquid crystal on silicon—basically and LCD on a mirror that bounces light out the front of the projector.

3M won’t be selling final products, but will supply the guts of the projector to companies that will sell it either as a handheld accessory (about the size of an iPod Classic) or possibly even built into gadgets. No word yet on who those companies are, but a 3M rep told me they are definitely ones we’ve all heard of.

The projector’s a bit fat for cellphones—at least those made in the last five years. But 3M promises to get it way smaller (and brighter and with higher screen resolution) in the coming years.

What can you use it for? Well, the demonstration products I saw take flash memory cards, have USB ports and/or have regular video inputs. I can see it making a really nice iPod accessory.—Sean Captain

In bright light

In dark room

Want more? Check out our entire CES 2008 coverage here.

Comments

[working man]

Mike Kelly and the 3M Corporate gang should be real proud of their mini-projector, and while their at it they should pat themsleves on the back for all the U.S. jobs they have sent overseas the past five years

[Working Man 2]

The 3m faciliy in the US that created and developed the mini-projector will be seeing half its workforce going overseas in 2008. 3M may believe in the mini-projector , but they don't believe in the American people.

[onlooker]

But if 3M stuck with all American employees, this little gadget wouldn't be made until much MUCH later. By going the cheaper route, they are able to develop advances much more quickly.

[RumSlush]

You really need to see the Microvision version of this projector. Brighter, smaller, and ready to be embedded now!

[Tom Lardner]

My understanding is that Microvision has the following advantages over TI, 3-M & BlueLight:
1. brightness & clarity
2. battery life, 2.5 hours vs. 1.5 hours
3. cell focus vs. manual focus
4. size (smaller) better for imbedded units.
5. price
I attended CES Conf. Analyst investors confirmed Microvision's superiority during my conversations @ Microvision announcement of SHOW. Would you comment please?

[sndtx]

I have been told Microvision is superior to others. Size - 60x60 dark light...automatic focus...smaller than others...Where is the comparison of 3-M to MVIS?

[Monkey]

All these Microvision investors, and employees desperately trying to post on these types are articles is fun to watch. Just read the article - the whole point of the article is that had PopSci known about 3M's development before they would have proclaimed 3M the winner. From what I see, 3M actually has a product, and the image looks great.

[Barbara Snedegar]

Onlooker, you are full of crap. American people developed this product and the factory was already there in full operation. 3M chose to downsize over 1600 Americans over the past 3 years from the Cincinnati location. Now, the 100 Americans still there develop the product and how to manufacture it, then send it to the China factory so they can pay someone 50 cents per day to make it. I've moved on and glad of it. 3M sucks.

[moved on]

I agree with Barb - I too, once worked at 3M Cincinnati. The people at that plant were intelligent, hard working people. Most of the employees worked there 10, 15, 20, 25 or even 30 years. And what do they get for their dedication? Their job has been eliminated as we move it to China. All - and before you go, you have to train the "China engineers" how to do your job. So I agree - 3M should be so proud of their new product and the loss of all the AMERICAN JOBS! I too have "moved on" and I'm much happier and better off for it.

[Anime Master]

I think its cool, and it doesn't have artifacts like Microvision but it is bigger and doesn't have the awesome laser color. But this is just what we NEED if there was only one suppler than there would be no competition just one supplier trying to convince people that it was worth the price they set. With two suppliers they still must convince the public that its worth the cost but they must also try and have one that's cheaper or better than the other guys. Oh and if its made in china there will be a knock off image quality that looks like crap but sells for $15 in 3 months.