Hasta La Gadget!

One of the bright spots of CES 2010 was the projector scene. Home theater, gaming, and and 3D projectors were abundant. So were pico projectors, which are getting brighter, higher resolution, and adding innovative flourishes.

Although the televisions being shown at CES generated most of the 3D buzz, we were pleased to also see the introduction of several 3D-ready projectors, for both home-theater and educational use. The ViewSonic PJD6531w is a 3,000-lumen DLP projector capable of either 2D or 3D operation. It’s designed for tabletop use, but can also be mounted on a ceiling for use in a classroom or meeting room. Along with the pico projectors mentioned below, Optoma announced the first two models in its GameTime projector line. Both the GT360 and GT720 are 3D-ready and optimized for use with gaming platforms, the GT360 for the Nintendo Wii and the GT720 for the Wii, Microsoft Xbox, and Sony PlayStation. Optoma plans to launch half a dozen additional 3D-ready projectors in the first six months of 2010.

Looks like the world’s still got appetite for some more pico projectors, as Favi‘s releasing a pair some time between late February and early March for prices yet unknown. First is the RIOLED-Q (pictured) which sports a pretty 800 x 600 native resolution at 50 lumens — supposedly the best brightness in class (like the Optoma PK301), along with built-in SD / MMC card reader, battery, three-watt stereo speaker and an ever-so-handy digital keystone correction. Joining the party is the smaller RIOLED-V which is shy about its display specification, but proudly packs a card reader and WiFi to cater its various web apps for YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, Yahoo News, Weather, Email, Internet Radio and web browser. Too bad it doesn’t do phone calls.

Favi RIOLED-Q and RIOLED-V pico projectors launched: the future is bright, wireless originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ll be familiar with the LG eXpo and its specs already — which include a slideout QWERTY keyboard and 1GHz Snapdragon under the hood — but we thought we’d go try the handset out for ourselves and tell you what we thought. Construction on this little machine was plenty sturdy to withstand the bumps associated with its unusual shape, while the keyboard slider mechanism had a reassuring feel to it. On the whole our impression was that you’ve got a middle of the road modern phone with a sales hook that depends on just how into projecting your images you are. Trust us, the sharp and large picture you may hope for from this device is possible only in very limited circumstances — even a moonlit night seems likely to mess with your enjoyment of the attached pico projector’s output. For the most part, you’ll have to be content with either watching 14-inch movies with the curtains drawn, or projecting ill-defined naughty pictures on the whiteboard while the teacher isn’t looking. Even if neither of those sounds like your kind of thing, feel welcome to peruse the hands-on gallery below.

LG eXpo projector hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The show floor finally opened up here in Vegas today, and just as we knew they would, the product announcements are flowing hot and heavy. LG‘s one of today’s biggest players, unleashing a whole bevy of new kit that truly spans the gamut of consumer electronic sectors. Kicking things off is the CF3D, which is hailed as the planet’s first Full HD, 3D single lens type projector. As for specs, you’ll get 3D auto picture calibration, a twin engine, two HDMI 1.3 sockets, 300 ANSI lumens and a single USB input, while the XGA HX300G won’t do much of anyone outside of traveling salespeople much good. Moving on, there’s a little confirmation of the Skype news that we caught wind of yesterday; sure enough, a range of LG’s NetCast-enabled HDTVs will ship with Skype capabilities, though it sounds as if you’ll need to budget for a standalone camera. LG’s also making official that Mobile DTV-supporting DVD player that we first spotted at the tail end of last year, which will be in stores later this year for around $249. There’s plenty more to share on these — as well as a good bit surrounding a legion of new monitors — so hop on past the break if you just can’t get enough.

Continue reading LG reveals Full HD 3D projector, Skype-enabled HDTVs and more at CES

LG reveals Full HD 3D projector, Skype-enabled HDTVs and more at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3M just got done pushing out its MPro 120, and here at CES we’re already feasting our eyes on the MPro 150. For all intents and purposes, this is just an MPro 120 with 1GB of internal storage and a microSD expansion slot. We spotted it over at CES Unveiled, and while the VGA video wasn’t anything special, the ability to open and display PDFs, Excel files and PowerPoint documents (in addition to the traditional movie and audio files) was indeed a nice add for the traveling salesperson. Hit up the full release after the break if you’re thirsty for more details, and you should see it ship next month for just under $400.

Continue reading 3M rolls out MPro 150 pocket projector with 1GB of inbuilt storage

3M rolls out MPro 150 pocket projector with 1GB of inbuilt storage originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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