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Cell Phone with Built-in Projector

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sun Mar 27, 2005 10:40 AM
from the almost-practical-now dept.
Displays Handhelds Hardware
karvind writes "Siemens researchers have developed a cell phone featuring a built-in projector system. A laboratory model was presented at CeBIT 2005 in Hanover. The system makes it possible to project a complete keypad or display onto a surface. With a special pen, users can write on the virtual keypad and operate the phone's functions. Other projection keyboard concepts can be found here and here"
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  • That's not a projector. (Score:4, Funny)

    by VJTod (563763) on Sunday March 27 2005, @10:42AM (#12060003)
    I want a 1280x1024 projector. They're just projecting a keyboard.

  • hard to type (Score:5, Insightful)

    by alatesystems (51331) <chris.talkingtoad@com> on Sunday March 27 2005, @10:44AM (#12060014) Homepage Journal
    Anyone who has ever used these type of keyboards knows you need a completely steady surface, it needs to be semi-dark so you can see the keyboard, and it hurts the hell out of your fingers to type on a non-giving surface.

    None of these aspects are well-suited for portable typing. I want a SELMA hologram for my portable electronics interaction.
    • All they'd need to do would be to incorporate some type of thin glove with specially-padded fingertips to get around the hard-surfaced keyboard.

      But imagine laying in bed and have your phone ring and project the Caller-ID info onto your wall or ceiling so you would/wouldn't have to get out of bed.

      That'd be sweet.

      • Re:hard to type (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        But imagine laying in bed and have your phone ring and project the Caller-ID info onto your wall or ceiling so you would/wouldn't have to get out of bed.

        I just press the silence button.

    • Re:hard to type (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I want a SELMA hologram for my portable electronics interaction.
      Holy crap, +5 obscure reference.

      That was a good show, too. Wonder what happened to it.
      • Time Trax was extremely awesome. I don't know what happened to it; I even emailed the sci-fi channel asking to buy dvd's or vhs or anything they have. I would love to have any versions I could find. Sci-Fi never responded, of course.

        I found episodes on Gnutella, but they were all in German.

        If there's 2 things Germans are good at, it's pirating digital content and making cars.

        (In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, I'm replying to an AC; lower your threshold to see it.)
      • So, do you project her [thesimpsons.com] in full 5'9" size? Does the projecter belch Laramie smoke to make the virtual experience more real? There are unshaven bikini-clad images available, too.
    • Depends on your use, I figure. Does it already hurt after writing 2-3 mails? (if so, maybe you shouldn't hit the keyboard as hard, it's not a wife :) ).

    • I tried out the Canesta projection keyboard at the Symbian expo in London two years ago. The keyboard was projected using a laser, and was perfectly visible in the artificial light of the exhibition hall. The keyboard generally worked well, and was linked bia Bluetooth to a Sony Ericsson P800.

      The real drawback of these devices in my opinion is the lack of tactile feedback - until the character appears on the screen you don't know whether you've hit the key correctly. It's fine for hunt-and-peck typing,

  • Giant Keyboard (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 27 2005, @10:46AM (#12060023)
    How far does this thing project? Can I set it up across the room and have giant keyboard that I can jump around on, like in Big?

  • too clunky... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kebes (861706) on Sunday March 27 2005, @10:49AM (#12060030) Journal
    TFA claims:
    "At first glance, the mobile phone looks exactly like a conventional cell phone."

    ...but I disagree. It looks big and clunky. Frankly I don't think this feature is worth the added bulk, cost, complexity, and battery-usage. This will remain a gimmick until it can be integrated seemlessly into current cellphones, and more importantly, until the interface is actually smooth and efficient.
    • With the exception of enough technical advances
      along this line to enable very very small cell
      phones, what is the point?

      Unless it is the precursor to a cell phone/PDA
      with a projected viewing screen and keyboard?

      Exactly how much more unsafe will it be to use
      your cell phone while driving, with the keypad
      (, or display & keyboard) projected up onto
      the interior of the windshield?
    • I am amazed at your studpidity, kebes. What you are saying is essentially "the feature is useless and will remain a gimmick until it works perfectly". May be you were not aware of it, but all new technologies go through these stages. First DVD players were bulky, expensive and there were no DVDs to play on them. First mobile phones, for fuck's sake, weighted several kilos and were carried around in a briefcase. Of course this is a prototype - have you seen any phones with projectors before? Of course, it is

  • Stupid idea.. (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This has got to be the stupidest cell phone idea of the year!

    So you'd have to hold the rather klungy cellphone still near a suitable surface and plug the projected keyboard with a thick bluetooth pen? Why not just use morse code by panging your head agaist the wall?

    Bluetooth foldable keyboard is a much better choice.
    • A bluetooth foldable keyboard is still another item to carry around. I'm not going to wear one of those scott e-vests unless I get a job infiltrating buildings or something, because they make you look like a moron. Also, you don't hold it up. You can usually find desks near walls. Put it on the desk. If not that, then a TV dinner table or something.

  • pen operated or can I touch type? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 27 2005, @10:52AM (#12060044)
    In this concept [canesta.com] a virtual touch typist demonstrates he can type directly on a laser-projected keyboard, but this newer concept [physorg.com] indicates that a special pad and pen are required. What happened? This was hot a couple years ago...

  • Awesome (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Rolling_Go (859757) <holycrapbatman@hotmail.com> on Sunday March 27 2005, @10:55AM (#12060056)
    Wait, no, my bad.

    Also what do you really need a projected keyboard on your cell phone for? Is it really that time consuming to put in a new contact with your keypad, or are people writing 20 page business reports and stuff on them? I'm getting too old for this shit.

  • mobile? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by orson_of_fort_worth (871181) on Sunday March 27 2005, @10:57AM (#12060060)
    Very nice technology and all but it requires the user to be stationary, kind of defeating the purpose of a mobile phone.

  • Wrong direction (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If they are going to build a projector into a cell phone, then it needs to display the screen on the wall, not a keyboard on a desk. I've long wondered why no one has integrated a projector into a laptop.
  • Looks to be yet another solution in search of a problem...Don't get me wrong, I'm sure something useful will evolve out of this tech at some point..

  • Cell Phone bloat! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bogaboga (793279) on Sunday March 27 2005, @11:00AM (#12060077)
    What I observe is what I call cell phone bloat. Much as I'd like to send my photo to my loved ones once a while, I resent the idea that these gadgets are no longer produced in their simplest terms as it once used to be.

    Here in Canada, major Telcos charge exorbitantly just for the previledge of being able to send and/or view video. These are features that users do not use that much. How many of you send photos via their cell phones on a regular basis?

    Now one sees projectors...next will be God knows what...! Maybe it's because I am in Canada and being charged unfairly. What is the experience of others?

    • Well, the projectors obviously won't be using their network(it's all local), so it's safe to say that they won't be chargin you much for it. Now, they could always charge you when you buy the phone, but it's a one time charge and a)phone prices are to a certain extent set by the manufacturer(though you can always jack them up) and b) Most telcos use neat feature laden phones to sucker people in to long term shitty contracts so they tend to price them cheap if you are getting a contract(and way too fucking

  • New excuse (Score:5, Funny)

    by Solder Fumes (797270) on Sunday March 27 2005, @11:08AM (#12060111)
    If I project this onto my lap, maybe I'll get fewer odd looks on the airplane.

  • Yeah, right (Score:4, Funny)

    by roman_mir (125474) on Sunday March 27 2005, @11:11AM (#12060123) Homepage
    First thought: ta da ta da ta da ta da ta da ta da ta da ta da - Batmaaaaaan. Communicate with symbols projected into the sky.

    Second though: wow, I will have to walk around with two suitcases full of batteries.

    no dice.

  • This is so very close. I want a color projector at minimum 640x480 resolution that I can project on a wall, and a laser projector that will draw a keyboard for me. I want this stuff in a phone, which can be the size of a PDA, and which should have a decent screen on it as well. Provided there is a decent system for writing programs for the phone, that's the convergence device I'll pay for. (Got to have a camera and mp3 player too.) Granted it'll probably be the size of a small palmtop but I want to have all of these devices in one so I don't have to carry around a bunch of stuff. Really I think they could make it not much larger than an iPod as long as it used flash storage.
  • http://www.overclockersclub.com/?read=7328384

    Laser keyboards should be able to take up less room though they're probably a bit delicate yet.

    they could be made much smaller than they current keyboard applications.
  • The phone in TFA is way too bulky to be an acceptable portable device, so I assume its merely a prototype.
    Manufacturers clearly realise that the phone in its current size is a device people find comfortable carrying around. This is the device that will end up converging with all the other gadgets that we geeks like to carry around these days.
    Personally, I can't wait for the summer day when I don't have to wear a multi-pocket combat jacket with something stuffed in every pocket - camera, phone, PDA, MP3 pl

  • What a waste of time (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cliffski (65094) on Sunday March 27 2005, @11:51AM (#12060295) Homepage
    can't 'researchers' come up with something useful? That trevor bayliss guy who invented the clockwork radio, now THAT is inventing. These are just lab-monekys churning out cool trinkets for rich kids. Arent there things to invent that satisfy a real need amongst consumers who arent tech-obsessed rich kids?

  • The phone itself is badly designed. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by AtariAmarok (451306) on Sunday March 27 2005, @11:52AM (#12060307)
    Like many cell phones, the phone itself is badly designed to make it difficult to do basic things like enter phone numbers. Something that should be a "no-brainer" like having a standard right-angle array of the phone numbers is lost on them. Why have the 7 key located way above the left key so you have to look at the keys in order to figure out where they are? (The Nokia N- Gage is one of the worst examples of this: it is like the intentionally went out of their way to make it useless as a phone).

    Maybe the projection system could make up for this by projecting a standard number button array so it can be used. However, it would be a lot simpler if they used a standard number array on the phone itself.

      • "If the user wants to phone someone using a cell phone, they typically search for a contact by name rather than enter the number using the keypad"

        But even then, they have to enter the numbers on by the silly "Stylish, but not very functional" keypad to get them into the phone contact list in the first place! Unless they connect their phones to something else, like a computer, to enter their numbers. Few users do that. Also, I use my cell phone just by dialing the number, and most others I know do this too

  • Tangible Tools (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby (173196) on Sunday March 27 2005, @11:56AM (#12060321) Homepage Journal
    Most of our motor skills require a tool to be really skillful. Because tools react to our actions, and our minds require feedback to interact with things. This projector requires a pen, which looks superfluous, but which will certainly help accuracy and counter the frustration of pushing fingers against an actually blank, flat, smoot surface like a tabletop. But it's kinda big, and has only limited gestures: press and stroke. How about a thin rubber sheet, maybe 0.1mmx10x10cm, with a textured pattern, that the phone projects onto? A video sensor next to the projector (with the phone standing upright, rather than that huge swivel projector) watches the fingertips, like existing projection keyboards. Our fingers will work the surface a lot more nimbly when it reacts. A later generation can cover the sheet with rubberized piezo actuators, or stacked MEMs, for a truly interactive surface. The sheet could be rolled up into the side of a hollow stylus used for more precise pointing when necessary. Make it cheap enough to replace several times a year, and the whole thing starts looking like a real tool, instead of a picture of a tool.

    As long as I'm writing SF, how about the MEMs sheet un/rolling itself from the stylus? And including sensors, rather than a video sensor? Or the phone with a fiberoptic jack for projecting the interface image through the sheet itself? Somebody gimme a budget!
  • I love the idea of this, and if it was implimented well and extended, you could end up with a device which could transcend the limitations of screen size. Unfortunately, as an ex-owner of a Siemens SL45, which was a pioneering MP3 player phone, I can categorically say Siemens is not a company which will support early adopters of their technology. The phone was fragile and unstable, and their support was arrogant and tardy, Pity, it seemed like a great idea, just like this one...

  • Ah, but the service providers... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by 93 Escort Wagon (326346) on Sunday March 27 2005, @01:14PM (#12060693)
    ... like Verizon will want this disabled - for your own protection of course!

    To use this virtual interface, you'll need to subscribe to Verizon's easy-write(TM) service. It's only $4.99 a month!

  • Minesweeper anyone? (Score:4, Funny)

    by creimer (824291) on Sunday March 27 2005, @02:00PM (#12060922) Homepage
    If your cell phone can project a game of Minesweeper onto the bathroom wall...

    PHB: Why are you spending so much time in the bathroom?

    Peon: Uh... none of your business.

    PHB: Why were you tapping on the stall walls for?

    Peon: If you were stuck up like me, you're be tapping the walls too.

    PHB: Why did you yell "You bastard!" when I walked by?

    Peon: Hey! Can't a guy take a difficult dump around her?

    PHB: Not in this company!
  • They merely licensed this technology from a US company.

  • I stand corrected (Score:3, Informative)

    by flowerp (512865) on Sunday March 27 2005, @02:48PM (#12061159)
    It is an Israeli company who invented the virtual
    keyboard.

    http://www.globes.co.il/DocsEn/did=875104.htm

  • projectors, who's going to use that? But a death ray! That would be cool! Of course I also want to be the only person allowed to have a cell phone with a built in death ray because the rest of you can't be trusted.

  • Am I missing something here? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Rui del-Negro (531098) on Sunday March 27 2005, @09:26PM (#12063089) Homepage
    If you have to use a special pen... what's the point of having a keyboard? I mean, why doesn't it just do handwriting recognition? The whole point of having a keyboard is being able to type with all (or most of) your fingers. If you're limited to using the "special pen", it's slower than typing with your thumbs (assuming you have two of those).

    Unless they can make the virtual keyboard work reliably with people's fingers, I doubt this will be very successful.

    RMN
    ~~~
    • It makes a lot more sense to do the voice recognition on a central server, since the device is already designed with transferring audio to a remote location in mind.
      • As opposed to "tea, earl grey, hot".

        Yeah, what's the point of that? It'll just deliver a cupful of liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. (Or it'll just get it completely wrong and connect you with El Tigré Hutt.)

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