With pico projectors coming soon, Sony Ericsson has picked a perfect time to file a patent describing self-adjusting mobile phone projectors.

The phone’s camera would analyze the picture coming from the projector and could adjust it for color, brightness, and focus. This would ensure the best possible image coming from your phone every single time.

This is a great idea, and it would work perfectly in cell phones considering that you can move them just about anywhere to project an image. We’re excited to see a system like this in action.

The Woood Smart Phone, envisioned by UK designer Gernot Oberfell, is a notable mention of the 2008 Greener Gadgets Design Competition. It seeks to provide a greener alternative to today’s mostly-plastic cell phones.

Just like the Chute Smartphone, Woood is made of, well, wood. Actually, it’s a wood composite containing up to 80% natural fibers. Components like the buttons and endcaps are made from biodegradable plastic, to ensure that most of the phone can be recycled.

The phone would be very friendly to touch and feel, just like real wood. It would also age over time, changing its appearance for the better.

With so many cell phones being disposed of every year, Earth-friendly phones would be a welcome addition. Provided its good looks and green nature, the Woood would definitely be a hit. More images after the jump. Read more »

Young Optics Inc., a company that creates optical components and optical engines, has announced that they will be shipping a pico projector either at the end of this quarter or the beginning on the next one, meaning that we will see a tiny projector in the next few months.

The devices are expected to run on only 1 watt of energy and, using an LED lamp, will be capable of displaying 7 ANSI lumens of brightness. The pico projectors will use the Texas Instruments DLP display technology.

A name or price has not been announced yet. However, with the release date imminent these details should emerge soon.

With this projector we could finally see an explosion in mobile video. A pico projector would probably mean bigger storage in mobile phones so we can cart around big video files and view them anywhere at a decent size. Hopefully the big mobile phone manufacturers will take advantage of the technology when it’s released.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google is considering either buying or partnering with Space Data Corp. The company is known for providing wireless networks via giant balloons, which combined with that 700 MHz spectrum could mean free wireless access with incredible coverage. Read more »

The Chute isn’t just a regular cell phone. It’s natural. It’s organic. It’s made out of… bamboo?

That’s right, designer Michael Laut has created this concept smartphone to convey a more relaxed and natural feeling. He believes that people would be much happier interacting with a more natural-looking phone, hence his choice of materials, ergonomic proportions, and even the on-screen display.

All of this while also using less plastic and more of a renewable resource. We say thumbs up and hope some phone manufacturer will pick up this design. Another picture after the jump. Read more »

Nokia has unveiled the “Remade” concept phone, made entirely of recycled materials, at MWC.

Although just a prototype and non-operational at the moment, the message this phone sends is very good, and very green.

The case and touch-sensitive keypad are made from old cans, hence their metallic finish. Even the electrical components can be created from recycled materials.

“It really shows what can be done with materials,” said Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. “It is only a concept now - I cannot make a phone call - but it gives you an insight into how we think we can break new ground.”

It’s great to see Nokia thinking green while trying to stay classy. The phone looks good, and certainly would do more good than harm were it ever produced.

[Via Engadget, guardian.co.uk]

Texas Instruments has unveiled a pair of new chips that allow cell phones to power mini projectors and give them high-definition video recording capabilities. TI is hoping to take a lead in the cell phone chip industry after falling behind to Qualcomm last year by developing chips that allow for significantly more advanced phones.

Cell phones will soon be able to project images onto a wall, overcoming the limitations of their tiny screens. The company expects commercial products harnessing the new technologies to show up in a year.

Nice going TI, this is some pretty cool stuff… the days of small screens and low-quality videos are over!

Sony Ericsson has just announced quite a few new phones, including the Cybershot C902 and C702 models. The 902 features a 5 megapixel camera, HSDPA, 160MB internal memory, an M2 slot, and a 240×320 2-inch display with 260k colors. The camera is perfect for people who don’t want to carry a full-fledged digital camera everywhere but want to be able to take a high quality photograph should a moment requiring one come up.

The C702 is similar to the C902, but with a weaker camera at 3.2 megapixels and a slightly larger 2.2-inch display.

The press release for both can be found here. Nice going Sony Ericsson, these phones have some really great features that we hope will start showing up more often in other phones.