The end of the latest episode of our favorite television show used to leave us on edge. That cliffhanger eating away at us all week until the next episode aired and we continued on the vicious cycle. (Don’t even get me started about end-of-season cliffhangers!)
Thanks to Over-the-Top (OTT) services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, we can now satisfy our craving to watch multiple episodes in succession, sometimes even finishing an entire series or season in one sitting. Not surprisingly, a recent study from the TiVo Research Group found that this binge-watching behavior has become the new normal, with approximately 90 percent of the population preferring to partake in ‘TV benders’.
Some OTT services are catering to this “all in one” viewing experience by releasing entire seasons of shows up front, answering their subscribers’ need to binge watch as soon as the new material is available. To make things even more convenient, we don’t need an actual television to join the conversation about the latest House of Cards episodes. Our smartphones and tablets are the new TV screens, and they are with us everywhere we go.
So what does this mean for the mobile device market?
These video streaming platforms have created a new purpose for smartphones and tablets. Gone are the days when we were confined to sitting in front of a stationary television screen and flipping the channel during commercials. Instead, we have pocket-sized devices on which we can instantly view mobile video without interruption. The one thing we have been giving up when we view our movies and shows on a mobile device is a screen size big enough to sit back and watch the show in comfort, alone or with a group. But like everything else in the technology world, there is a solution at hand that makes larger-viewing experiences achievable.
Pico projection technology is helping enhance the choice people are already making by offering the option of mobility, without the limitations of a small screen. Customized viewing experiences give the consumer the power to pick the screen size that best suits the moment. Whether you’re on a plane, a passenger in a car, or even camping in a tent, you can project and watch your latest television obsession on a screen bigger than the 5 plus inch screen of a smartphone or tablet, getting as big as one that rivals the largest big screen at home.
As a growing part of the population is demanding “TV Everywhere,” pico projection can be the key to having content on-the-go and the big screen we are used to at home – the technology answer to having our cake and eating it too. Solutions such as MicroVision’s PicoP® display technology offer a vivid, always-in-focus picture and the ability to generate a screen size of over 100 inches from a device no bigger than a smartphone.