5:00 AM - January 10, 2012 - By Douglas Perry - Source : MicroVision

Projector-based touch displays, such as this solution from MicroVision, are showing up at CES and could turn into a trend for smartphones in 2012 and 2013.

ZoomMicroVision is showing off its new PicoMagic demonstration platform, which is powered by the PicoP Gen 2 HD laser display engine and can be integrated into portable devices to enable users to project images to an external surface. The company says its PicoMagic platform will be "ideal for various consumer and commercial mobile applications such as entertainment, advanced gaming, business projection, and education."

MicroVision is debuting two applications, the more intriguing of which projects a (virtually) touch sensitive image and allows interaction with multiple users, which could be interesting in meetings that require whiteboard displays. The other application enables a user to project 3D images for an entirely new and immersive experience.

"Pico projection is an emerging market with great growth opportunity for MicroVision and we believe consumers want a more engaging experience than just projecting information from mobile devices," said Alexander Tokman, president and CEO of MicroVision, in a prepared statement.

"We have developed the first two PicoMagic display applications based on this feedback from customers and consumers. The PicoMagic display applications open up new possibilities for OEMs and developers to create the next generation of pico projection products that go beyond basic projection. Combining the PicoP Gen 2 HD laser display engine with PicoMagic applications can give business users, educators and gamers an unmatched interactive and immersive content display experience.”

At this time, PicoP Gen 2 HD is only available as a "demonstrator," but is expected to become available in production numbers late this year to be used in commercial products in 2013.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/projector-smartphone-touchscreen,news-13792.html