Pico projector phones by the end of this year?

Let's face it. Phones today have everything. You can watch full-length movies in better quality than you can on your four-year-old laptop with some phones. So, what's next? What new feature can be added to mobile phones that hasn't already been done? According to an article today from DigiTimes, the next step looks like micro projectors.

The concept of a micro projector, or pico projector as they're often called, is nothing new. Actually putting them inside of mobile phones, however, is a growing topic. According to DigiTimes, Foxlink, whose parent company Foxconn builds Apple's iPhone, has begun manufacturing tiny projectors and is working with a European handset client to get those projectors into products as early as the end of the year.

DigiTimes' source is unconfirmed, so these are purely rumors right now -- but plausible rumors at that. According to DigiTimes, international brand vendors, including Nokia, Samsung, and Apple, all plan to launch handsets with bullit-in micro projectors in time for the holiday season.

This isn't the first we've heard of mobile phones being offered with projectors. The Samsung i7410 (pictured above) is already shipping over seas, and offers a top-mounted built-in projector. If you're tired of watching movies on your tiny 2-to-3-inch smartphone screen, then the idea of a built-in projector might tickle your fancy. Granted, you couldn't watch anything on the train or in most public places, since the picture requires low light to be sharp, but it could be useful at home. And, of course, being able to run presentations at the office directly from your phone would be nice as well.

There are endless possibilities with what you could do with a projector built right into your phone. If this projector thing really gets big, middle school kids everywhere will be be displaying things on the backs of innocent kids' shirts, making old-fashioned "Kick Me" signs obsolete.

[Via The Register]