At 100 lumens, the 7.5mm-thick laser projector outputs just under the recommended brightness for daytime use.
At CEATEC 2012, Panasonic recently demoed a prototype of its world's slimmest 100-lumen laser projector module (or OIU aka optical imaging unit). The device has the capability to beam out an 800 x 480 picture. What makes this technology worth the wait is the fact that it doesn't require focussing. The light doesn't go through an LCD filter like ordinary projectors do, and instead, it's a single laser beam scanning out the picture.
The company also showcased optical bay drive pico projector (already being offered by Fujitsu), as well as the PJ-SJ25U 854 × 480 DLP pico projector launched earlier in August. It is worth mentioning here that the latter's image quality was quite impressive even under the strong ambient lighting, but it seems rather expensive at $730.
Though pocket-sized projectors aren't very popular these days, their usage is likely to explode once they get small and cheap enough to fit into standard smartphones. The latest projector from Panasonic seems to be an important move in the direction of having a projector in your pocket.
