pocket projectors

The Samsung W7900, aka the Show, certainly lives up to its name. In fact, if it had just the gorgeous 3.2-inch OLED screen, the digital TV tuner or the five-megapixel camera, it would be a winner. But the Show combines all those features with the (current) Holy Grail of handhelds -- a digital projector that displays sharp, bright images up to 50 inches.

Our friends at Texas Instruments, which makes the DLP projector inside the Show, let us snag the phone for a quick hands-on.

Details are still fuzzy, but with very little fanfare it appears the world's first cell phone with a built-in projector has arrived. A company called Logic Wireless is claiming a CES debut of The Logic Bolt (in partnership with T-Mobile, no less). The phone has "razor-sharp" projections which can grow its screen size by 3000 percent and still retains a remarkably slim footprint, if the photos are any indication.

Having watched the slow development of pocket projectors for years, I'm thrilled to have not one but two real-life models to play with. 3M's MPro110 ($360) debuted in September and earned a grand award in our Best of What's New roster for 2008. This week, Optoma will start selling the first competing product, its Pico PK-101 projector, for $400.