Your cell phone may soon be able to view Avatar in its full 3D because Sharp said it will soon begin manufacturing 3D-capable displays for smartphones and cell phones.
The cool thing is that Sharp is committed to cell phone screens that won’t require dorky glasses, which is one of my biggest concerns about the proliferation of 3D in televisions. While they didn’t give a sales date, I’d ballpark the first concept 3D cell phones to come out late next year, with the technology becoming cheap enough for mass production within five years.
“In the 2D era, contents and infrastructure have spread from movies to homes, and from homes to mobile devices,” Sharp executive managing officer Yoshisuke Hasegawa told Reuters. “We believe the same thing will happen with 3D. Three-dimensional images that mostly inhabit big screens now are about to hit mobile terminals.”
At first, I thought this was a dumb idea because who really wants that much 3D on their handset but the more I think about it, the more I like it. Unlike a large television, only one person is usually looking at a cell phone, so it will be easier to pulled off the fixed 3D without glasses. Beyond the entertainment possibilities, this could also open the door for innovative productivity apps – depending on the interaction method, this could make looking at spreadsheets and graphs a breeze. Gaming on your 3D-capable cell phone could also be off the hook.
It’s not just the cell phone world that is going gaga for 3D, as Nintendo also seems to think this type of technology could be an incredible asset for portable gaming consoles. The gaming giant is prepping a 3D version of its DS juggernaut, which we’ll probably see an official announcement at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this summer.
Update: Just wanted to point out that the photo is of the Hitachi Wooo H001 and the display is made by MasterImage 3D.
