The Sony Xperia Projector — still an experimental "Concept" for the moment — shows how a smart projection system could serve as a hub for your family's digital lives.
In additional to products like the Xperia X series and Xperia Ear smart earpiece, Sony's Mobile World Congress presence was big on "Concepts" — work-in-progress experimental gadgets intended to show the firm's future direction. One such device is the Xperia Projector Concept, a connected sensor-plus-projector system designed to serve as a digital hub for your home.
In its current (and very much unfinished) state, the Xperia Projector is a small box capable of projecting images onto a surface directly adjacent to it, and sensing touches on that surface. In essence, it can turn a table or wall into a rudimentary touchscreen. The built-in camera, Sony tells us, will be able to detect someone approaching the unit, and even recognize individual people within a home, showing them specific notes or reminders accordingly.
The brief demo setup shown at MWC starts with a large clock display with calendar notifications on the right, and notifications like missed calls on the left. A right swipe brings you to a family calendar, complete with photos and notes attached to each date, one of a number of interactive slides in this proof-of-concept. Others include recipe readout, a notepad, through which you can draw on the wall or table with your finger, and a recipe readout.
Unlike the Xperia Agent, Sony's other experimental projector gadget, this device is supposed to serve more as a digital hub than a personalized assistant. It also lacks some of the personality of the Agent, with its cutesy design and cartoon-like movements. But maybe you're looking for something a bit more neutral in a shared device.
Like all Sony's Concepts, it's unclear what, if anything, the Xperia Projector Concept will develop into, but the technology at the heart of it has all kinds of interesting possibilities. Check out our hands-on video above to see the Xperia Projector in action.
