# Laser pointer on cell phone



## o0o (Jan 6, 2010)

They put cameras and other devices on cell phones these days. 

I was wondering the feasability of putting a combo red/green laser pointer on cell phones -- one could use their phones for business presentations as well as all the other functions cell phones can do.

Plus the "cool" factor would increase!!


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## PhantomPhoton (Jan 6, 2010)

Several years ago I remember aftermarket screw on antennas for older cell phones had multicolor LEDs and even low power red laser diodes in them. I'd rather just have a quality pointer though instead of a cheap thing on my already oerly complicated and bloated cell phone.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Jan 6, 2010)

They have phones with lasers in them. Just, the lasers are used for the projection of images and videos, not a dot.


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## qwertyydude (Jan 8, 2010)

Those aren't laser projectors. It would be far too costly if there were an rgb laser array in a phone. Instead they're using a relatively new technology called DLP, electronically controlled microscopic mirrors to project light.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Jan 8, 2010)

Well, yeah, but it uses "laser"s to "project" an image..."or"...

DLP are those nano-mechanical mirrors, and unfortunately, these would not be too good with moving pictures since I'm fairly certain that they use a triple-scan technique wherein they project the red image, then the green image, then the blue image, then move to the next frame. Result: multi-colored "trails." But what the heck ever, you can still say "hey, check it, my phone projects pictures and video!"


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## lasermaker (Jan 9, 2010)

I have a patent to put the Laser Flare signal into a cell phone and any transceiver. The PLB makers are looking at it and I think you would have the ultimate phone for play and safety. Voice and visual communication in one package.


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## DM51 (Jan 10, 2010)

One problem with this idea is that it would immediately turn your phone into an item you would not be allowed to take on to an aircraft. 

And really, if you think about it, how useful would it be? Other than as a toy to play with, it would be something you would hardly ever need. If you are someone who does business presentations and you actually _need_ a laser pointer, you would have a proper one anyway - you wouldn't rely on a toy add-on in a cellphone.


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## Sigman (Jan 10, 2010)

DM51 said:


> One problem with this idea is that it would immediately turn your phone into an item you would not be allowed to take on to an aircraft.
> 
> And really, if you think about it, how useful would it be? Other than as a toy to play with, it would be something you would hardly ever need. If you are someone who does business presentations and you actually _need_ a laser pointer, you would have a proper one anyway - you wouldn't rely on a toy add-on in a cellphone.


I don't know, it's kind of like strobe or s.o.s. on our programmable lights. Certainly valuable to have if you need it! Helps to cut down on all the gear one carries around these days. 

ANYONE that goes "out & about" (a drive/trek into the boonies, backcountry, even short trips, etc...) should have some sort of signal device(s) with them. Maybe Alaska trekking is "different" than elsewhere? I don't think so...eh? :thinking: Just on the roads here, there are just too many places one can drive "over the edge" & no one would ever know you were there. Happens often, there are just too many "what if" examples to use...

I thought the rescue laser flares were allowed on aircraft...however I can see different thoughts/reactions from various TSA agents.

BTW, :welcome: lasermaker! Good to see you "signed up". We're a crazy bunch here! What's your knowledge about the rescue flares taken aboard passenger aircraft?


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## Apollo Cree (Jan 10, 2010)

qwertyydude said:


> Those aren't laser projectors. It would be far too costly if there were an rgb laser array in a phone. Instead they're using a relatively new technology called DLP, electronically controlled microscopic mirrors to project light.



DLP is relatively ancient technology. 1990's or earlier. Not necessarily good or bad, but not new by any means.


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## lasermaker (Jan 11, 2010)

*Re: Laser Flares Carry on Aircraft*

The FAA bought 500 Rescue Laser Flares because they could carry them on an aircraft. I carry mine all over and at first I made the error of calling it a laser FLARE. They thought it was a pyro something. I now call it a laser signal. Not much of a threat as you cannot hit the pilot from your seat. 5mW wouldn't bother him anyhow. I just came back from Seattle and had two gallon zip locks full of laser flares and prototypes, looked like I was suspect when it went through the scanner, they spread it all out and ran it again and I was on my way. If the laser flare was incorporated into a cell phone there would be no issue. Just don't call it a FLARE. Thanks for the welcome to CPF [FONT=&quot] [/FONT] [FONT=&quot] [/FONT]


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## ixfd64 (Jan 21, 2010)

SkyMall sells a portable iPhone charger that has a built-in laser pointer. It's not exactly a cell phone with a laser, though.


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## Ragnarok (Jan 23, 2010)

Duct tape _is_ amazing stuff.

R.


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## SmurfTacular (Feb 19, 2010)

DM51 said:


> One problem with this idea is that it would immediately turn your phone into an item you would not be allowed to take on to an aircraft.
> 
> And really, if you think about it, how useful would it be? Other than as a toy to play with, it would be something you would hardly ever need. If you are someone who does business presentations and you actually _need_ a laser pointer, you would have a proper one anyway - you wouldn't rely on a toy add-on in a cellphone.



Also, keep in mind that people who do a lot of presentations probably do a lot of flying...

And I would imagine even a 5mW would drain your battery fairly quick.


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## wyager (Feb 20, 2010)

SmurfTacular said:


> Also, keep in mind that people who do a lot of presentations probably do a lot of flying...
> 
> And I would imagine even a 5mW would drain your battery fairly quick.



That depends what color. Green would probably drain about 20-40 times the output power in watts, while red is about 15% efficient including lens. However, green is more visible. Perhaps when green diodes (more efficient) are released on a cheaper scale, this tech will become more viable.


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## SmurfTacular (Feb 20, 2010)

a 5mW green takes up exactly 5mW of power.

a 5mW red also takes up exactly 5mW of power.

There is no difference in power consumption, green is more efficient because its brighter.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Feb 21, 2010)

Ithink green lasers are less efficient than red ones. Only a fraction of the emitted IR comes out the end green. My green seems to plow through batteries compared to my other laser.


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## wyager (Feb 21, 2010)

SmurfTacular said:


> a 5mW green takes up exactly 5mW of power.
> 
> a 5mW red also takes up exactly 5mW of power.
> 
> There is no difference in power consumption, green is more efficient because its brighter.


lol, it works nothing like that. A red diode laser (or most diode lasers) emits roughly 1/6 of the input power, the other 5/6 is lost as heat. So a 5mW red takes up about 30ma, plus the driver has to be factored in..... Weren't you on LPF for a while? There's a reason you got such bad rep.... A 5mW green laser uses an IR diode, so that gets about 1/6 efficiency, but on top of that it has to go through 2 nonlinear crystals and multiple focusing lenses! Green is brighter per mW, but it's harder to get that output.


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## SmurfTacular (Feb 21, 2010)

I got a bad rep on that site because almost everyone on that site is a pampas, self righteous, douche bag, that are so full of themselves. I gradually got sick and tired of everyone there, and all the trash talk.

I'm not directly referring to you, i'm sure your a cool person. Its just that the average attitude and personality of the society on that site drove me up the wall.




anyway, the reason behind my theory is that I know for a fact that my 5mW green will last as long as my 5mW red (both AAA batteries). And since green is 60x brighter, i'd say that's more efficient.


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## wyager (Feb 21, 2010)

SmurfTacular said:


> I got a bad rep on that site because almost everyone on that site is a pampas, self righteous, douche bag, that are so full of themselves. I gradually got sick and tired of everyone there, and all the trash talk.
> 
> I'm not directly referring to you, i'm sure your a cool person. Its just that the average attitude and personality of the society on that site drove me up the wall.
> 
> ...



Everyone is pampas? They are large treeless plains in south america? J/K lol
Whatever, I don't want to start a flame war, but about the second part, that has nothing to do with the laser diode. That's the driver talking. The driver in your 5mW red was probably less efficient than the one in the green laser. And think about it, if an 80mW pump diode is needed for 5mW of pure green in a cheap green module, that's a lot less efficient than just having a 5mW diode. However, like I said there are some ~550nm (yellowish green) diodes leaking into the market if I remember correctly, which could open up some possibilities like this.


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## SmurfTacular (Feb 22, 2010)

wyager said:


> However, like I said there are some ~550nm (yellowish green) diodes leaking into the market if I remember correctly, which could open up some possibilities like this.



leaking into the market? like how...

yellow green would be an ugly color IMO... What I really want is a red-violet laser, i've seen them, thier crazy.


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## TooManyGizmos (Feb 22, 2010)

No Lasers in cell phones ........

They would be abused by too many kids .

We don't need Lasers to be that commonplace.

Next request will be for strike bezels on phones ... and photon torpeedos .

And the "beam me up Scottie" function comes next.


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## wyager (Feb 22, 2010)

SmurfTacular said:


> leaking into the market? like how...
> 
> yellow green would be an ugly color IMO... What I really want is a red-violet laser, i've seen them, thier crazy.



In modern laser projectors. That's how they're leaking out. When purchased in the millions, they cost a few bucks each but for us hobbyists they cost at least 600 bucks each. And red-violet lasers are just a red laser, combined with a violet laser. And yellow-green is the brightest color to humans, it's not really yellow-green, it's more of the color of a leaf on a tree.

@toomanygizmos
I agree, actually. This could be a major pain in the *** for laser hobbyists....


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## SmurfTacular (Feb 22, 2010)

wyager said:


> In modern laser projectors. That's how they're leaking out. When purchased in the millions, they cost a few bucks each but for us hobbyists they cost at least 600 bucks each. *And red-violet lasers are just a red laser, combined with a violet laser*. And yellow-green is the brightest color to humans, it's not really yellow-green, it's more of the color of a leaf on a tree.
> 
> @toomanygizmos
> I agree, actually. This could be a major pain in the *** for laser hobbyists....



I know, I saw them on the LPF boards, there crazy.... I would imagine it being a problem aligning them correctly so that they are perfectly parallel...


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## Illum (Feb 22, 2010)

laser pointers have a very limited application nowadays....other than astronomy, cat, or meeting halls everything else that needed to be point to can be done with a flashlight...up to 200 yards:shrug:


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## wyager (Feb 22, 2010)

SmurfTacular said:


> I know, I saw them on the LPF boards, there crazy.... I would imagine it being a problem aligning them correctly so that they are perfectly parallel...


It's actually not that hard-you use a dichroic mirror, which reflects one color but lets another through. It can be a pain in the ***, but if done in a proper environment it should be no problem.



Illum said:


> lasers have a very limited application nowadays....other than astronomy, cat, or meeting halls everything else that needed to be point to can be done with a flashlight...up to 200 yards:shrug:


That's quite incorrect. Lasers are used nowadays more than ever... and demand is expected to go WAY up in the next ten years... here are the most popular uses I can think of right now:
High-end optics, including holography, optics testing, weapon sights.
Manufacturing-mostly IR lasers, used for welding, much cheaper and more accurate than gas welding
Communications-specifically verizon FIOS fiber optics.
Consumer electronics (specifically blu-ray players) the blu-ray diode is getting more and more powerful to accommodate BR disks with more layers, along with holographic disks. They are expected to breach the 1/2 watt rated power level in the next couple years in BR burners, which means us hobbyists can have BR lasers about 2 watts in power.
Laser shows-common entertainment, no big demand swings here. Used for parties and clubs.
Weapons-the military has dumped billions over the last couple years into bomb-busting lasers, with decent success.
Here is the big demand increase in the next few years- projection tech. Laser projectors can easily be 1/10 the size of a standard projector with the same abilities. On top of this, laser TVs are going into production and their color rendering should be better than that of any current device. This means cheaper and more advanced visible lasers too.

There are tons of scientific uses (like fluorescing or reacting), medical uses (cell stimulation, replacement of the scalpel, killing certain viri), and many others I'm not going into detail about. There are also more distant applications, like laser based computers. People have no idea how many times in their daily lives they use something that works with lasers.

will


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## Illum (Feb 24, 2010)

I am not suggesting that lasers have fell out of utility in manufacturing and communication operations, I'm merely suggesting that laser pointers have very limited uses for an average individual outside of work to use it in a primarily recreational manner. 

I once had profound interest in green laser pointers, but after a bought one I noticed that practical uses in daily life is very limited and since then stopped going to LPF:candle:


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## wyager (Feb 24, 2010)

Illum said:


> I am not suggesting that lasers have fell out of utility in manufacturing and communication operations, I'm merely suggesting that laser pointers have very limited uses for an average individual outside of work to use it in a primarily recreational manner.
> 
> I once had profound interest in green laser pointers, but after a bought one I noticed that practical uses in daily life is very limited and since then stopped going to LPF:candle:


Very true. However, when the heck are you going to use 8 surefires, 5 fenixes, and like 6 nitecore lights? Probably never, but they're still fun to collect. That's why we're on a forum about flashlights


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