Eyes-on with Samsung's MBP200 pico projector

Pico (read: really really small) projectors are everywhere at this year's CES, and Samsung's in the mix with its own version: the MBP200, a DLP-powered mobile projection accessory that's set to arrive later this year.

About the size of, say, a compact digital still camera and weighing in at about 5.6 ounces, the MBP200 (no price yet) is a little bigger than some of the other pico projectors I've seen—then again, it also comes with a built-in 2.2-inch LCD, a speaker and a microSD memory slot (support for up to 16GB).

Hook the MBP200 up to your cell phone or laptop (or just snap in a microSD card with video files) and you're good to go; according to Samsung, the diminutive projector is capable of throwing HVGA (480 by 320) images as big as 50 inches, although I wouldn't expect a top-notch image at that size.

Of course, it's tough to judge image quality in a brightly-lit exhibition hall; given that, the 20-inch-ish projected picture I saw from the MBP200 looked relatively sharp, if a bit washed out (again, I'd chalk that up to the poor lighting).

Not bad, but what about pico projectors built directly into cell phones? Well, Samsung actually had one on hand—a Korea-only handset, that is. Image quality was about as good as on the MBP200 accessory, but one thing I noticed immediately was that the phone itself began to get hot once the projector was on—really hot. Hmmmm.

So, thoughts on the growing pico projector trend? Is this a feature/accessory you'd want for your cell phone?