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Sharp Galapagos 003SH and 005SH bring glasses-free 3D to Japanese Android lovers
Hey, what could the maker of the 3DS' autostereoscopic display be doing in its spare time? Why, stealing a bit of thunder for itself, by the looks of it. Sharp has just trotted out a pair of glasses-free 3D Android handsets for Japan's Softbank network in the form of the touchscreen slate 003SH and QWERTY-slidin' 005SH. A 1GHz Snapdragon powers Froyo on both, with the 3D-capable displays stretching to 3.8 inches and 800 x 480 resolution. The 003SH also comes with a 9.6 megapixel camera, while the 005SH settles for 8 megapixels, although both are capable of 720p video. There are also bundled 3D content deals in place, such as the one with Capcom that will see Mega Man, Resident Evil and Ghosts 'n Goblins titles coming preloaded on the handsets. Intrigued? The 003SH is coming this December, to be followed by the 005SH in February.
AUO trumpets 'deadzone-free' laptop and tablet 3D displays, recommends leaving glasses at home
Hello, future! We had an inkling that glasses-free 3D was the next big thing when we had a gaze at Intel's display back at CES earlier this year, but it seems that AUO is out to overcome the largest hurdle when dealing with lenticular lens 3D technology: viewing angles. Today, the outfit has revealed the world's first deadzone-free naked eye 3D notebook panel at FPD International 2010, and as the lengthy title indicates, this solution will enable you to view 3D content sans glasses and without positioning yourself carefully in front of the screen. Purportedly, AUO's tapping into SuperD's naked eye 3D wizardry to create a 15.6-inch laptop (1080p) and 10.1-inch tablet (WXGA) panel, and there's even an eye-tracking mechanism that's baked in to capture viewers' eyeball movements. Zanier still, both 2D and 3D modes can operate concurrently on the same display, and the viewer can switch back and forth between the two modes without having their brain implode. The company's pushing a mass production date of Q3 2011, which means that the last CES this planet ever sees should be quite the interesting one.
ITRI shows off 6-inch FlexUPD AMOLED, hybrid 2D/3D display, makes lots of promises
Hey, remember when Taiwan's ITRI said that flexible TFT-EPD displays would be ready for smartphones by 2009? Yeah, well, keep that in mind when reading about this new 6-inch flexible display the company says will be released in a line of e-readers "very soon." It's called the FlexUPD, a 1mm thick AMOLED with a 5cm folding radius, 150nits brightness, and "unbreakable" construction. ITRI is also talking up its switchable 2D/3D display that we saw earlier, able to display both types of content simultaneously and do so without the requirement of goofy glasses. That tech is called i2/3DW and is set to "revitalize the [display] industry by revolutionizing the concept of 3D viewing." You keep on believing, ITRI, we'll just keep on waiting.
Toshiba Regza GL1 wants you to put down the glasses, enjoy the 3D
Toshiba might have abandoned OLED, but that doesn't mean the company is lacking ambition in the display-making field. Today it's using CEATEC 2010, Japan's biggest electronics expo, to make official that 21-inch glasses-free 3D prototype we've been hearing about. It's lost an inch in becoming a retail product, with the 20GL1 offering a 20-inch diagonal, but the important multi-parallax picture transmission (employing a lenticular lens setup as used in Philips' Dimenco) remains the same. The new set, accompanied by a smaller 12GL1 model, will be shipping in Japan this December, and if it really does what it promises, the rest of the world should not be far behind. Update: Japan's Impress Watch has more details for us, listing a 720p resolution for the 20-incher and a funky 466 x 350 on the 12-inch GL1. Prices are estimated at ¥240,000 ($2,885) and ¥120,000 ($1,443), respectively.%Gallery-104161%%Gallery-104163%
Minox PX3D concept camera eyes-on at Photokina 2010
It took us a solid nine minutes of gawking at Minox's gilded DCC 5.1 in order to push through and locate the PX3D that premiered here at Photokina, but sadly, little was available other than the opportunity to snag a few glamor shots. The general idea is that this cutesy pocket camera will one day hit the market and capture 3D images that can then be viewed on-screen without 3D glasses. We're still under the impression that a parallax barrier panel will be required in order to witness the magic, but it's all still a mystery for now. It's still the most curious looking 3D camera that we've seen to date, so you can bet we'll be keeping you in the loop as this thing slowly crawls from prototype to profit maker. %Gallery-103099%
Minox PX3D concept camera produces 3D images viewable sans glasses
The doors of Photokina open in a matter of hours, and we'll most definitely be venturing over to Minox's booth in order to have a look at the PX3D. According to the barebones teaser release, this here concept camera will be able to capture 3D images that are viewable sans glasses. It should be noted that the world's first consumer-oriented 3D cameras haven't exactly seen the fondest of reviews, but tossing the glasses requirement may just flip things on its head. It's still unclear what kind of display / digital photo frame will be required to view the effect (we're guessing a parallax barrier panel will be thrown up for display), but we'll be barging in soon in order to get the full skinny.
Rockchip's Supernova x1 tablet does 3D without glasses or technical specs
You had to know that Nintendo's 3DS wouldn't be the only glasses-free 3D handheld for long. Our Chinese compatriots caught sight of a prototype device from Rockchip called the Supernova x1, performing some similar lenticular trickery to make images appear 3D. Exactly what display tech it uses remains a mystery, but we're told the Disney footage being displayed had to be "processed" in some way to make it appear 3D. Like the 3DS, the 3D effect here can be adjusted or disabled entirely, but that's really all that is known at this point about this mystery tablet/PMP. Sit tight, though: everything should be revealed at IFA in a week's time.
Toshiba reportedly prepping glasses-free 3DTV for Q4 launch
Hot news out of Japan if you're an eager 3D beaver: a report from Toshiba's home nation indicates that the company has three models of glasses-free 3D displays in the pipeline, which are being prepared for launch "before Christmas" at prices of "several thousand dollars" each. As you might recall, we got our first inkling about Toshiba Mobile Display's multi-parallax technique back in April, which is when the above 21-inch panel was being touted along with promises of eliminating eye strain and widening 3D viewing angles. We suspect that by now Toshiba has put a slinky bezel on the thing and started thinking up alphanumeric product names for it, though do bear in mind that queries to its press office were deflected with the boilerplate "no comment" response.
DoCoMo's glasses-free 3D LCD panel could make the 3DS look decidedly first-gen
At E3 this past summer, we got our first taste of the Nintendo 3DS, and early impressions were good: compelling 3D effect sans glasses from its Sharp-sourced parallax barrier LCD. But, as soon as we moved the thing it became clear that the viewing angle on the effect is woefully slim. This is a problem DoCoMo is said to have at least reduced with its glasses-free LCD, relying on eight lenticular lenses to offer a 30 degree viewing angle -- on the horizontal plane. Vertically you still have to be perfectly aligned, but the company hopes to remove that restriction before products based on this tech are released in the next year or two. It's a bit early, but we're already having flashbacks to young LCD manufacturers battling to deliver the widest viewing angles while maintaining full contrast. Hopefully that means in the not-too-distant future everyone will have 180-degree 3D LCDs -- and they'll all be dirt cheap, too.
ITRI's display manages 2D and 3D at once, set to challenge Toshiba for hybrid supremacy
We're still not really sure how Toshiba managed to do both 2D and glasses-free 3D in a single display, but we do now know that it isn't the only company to have achieved this stereoscopic feat. Engadget Chinese caught sight of ITRI's similar composite display, which is able to add depth to individual sections of the screen whilst leaving the rest of it stuck in Flatland. It's a 22-inch, 1680 x 1050 panel and, while 3D content is said to be rendered in much lower resolution than the rest of the display, SecondLife doesn't really require that many pixels to freak you out anyhow. No word on a possible retail release, so you'll just have to keep crossing your eyes at your current monitor.
Toshiba prototype display does 2D and 3D at the same time
One of Toshiba's favorite hobbies is to tease the general public with prototype autostereoscopic technology, and that's exactly what we have here today; demoed at SID 2010, this screen can display 2D and 3D images simultaneously on the same 12-inch screen, no glasses required. How it does that is rather complicated, especially when translated from the Japanese, but it sounds like Toshiba's sandwiched a special panel with gradient-index lenses between a high-speed polarizer and the typical color LCD. We'd wager good money it's not coming to a store near you, but we'll keep an eye out for future developments. These days, they have a tendency to pop right out of the screen.
LG Display busts out 84-inch 3DTV with 3,840 x 2,160 res, we want the 2D version
Yesterday we brought you Samsung's 19 inches of transparent AMOLED goodness, today LG counters with an 84-inch 3DTV boasting UHD resolution and a claim to being the world's biggest of its kind. To be honest, at that size you really can't get away with old reliable 1080p, so it's comforting to see LG's keeping pixel pitch in mind when designing its headline grabbers. In other news coming out of the SID 2010 show, LG is demonstrating a "liquid lens" TV that'll give you glasses-free 3D, though the details of how that works are a bit scarce, while the company's also pushing its IPS wares in a big way, with a 47-inch HDTV, a 32-inch pro monitor, and a 9.7-inch (sounds familiar) smartbook on show. Also at 9.7 inches, we have color e-paper that's slated for mass production before the end of the year, while that flexible e-paper from January is also making an appearance. A pretty comprehensive bunch of goodies from LG, we'd say. Update: We just noticed a small but freaky 3.98-inch UHD LCD with a world's best 394ppi density. Amazing.
Fraunhofer's 3D posters make your fish-based advertising really pop
The pinnacle of 3D-based content? Glasses-free, of course, and Fraunhofer has reached that level for static images -- and it plans to use it for advertising, of course. The company is talking up its new 3D posters that rely on 250,000 lenses embedded in a grooved sheet, each lens with a 2mm diameter. The effect is said to be similar to those simple "3D" lenticular postcards and cereal boxes we've all seen, but Fraunhofer promises that improved accuracy used in manufacturing here will make the resulting images far clearer, enabling the effect to be clearly seen on these five meter posters even from across the street. That's good, because when was the last time you walked up to a billboard to get a closer look?
Toshiba Mobile Display touts 21-inch glasses-free 3D HDTV, raises a few eyebrows
While we were fretting about what special tech Nintendo's 3DS would use to generate autostereoscopic imagery on its comparatively puny screen, Toshiba Mobile Display (and others) have been working on bringing that same headgear-free 3D to TV-sized panels. Employing a "multi-parallax" technique, the latest from the Toshiba spinoff firm promises "significant reduction in eye fatigue" as well as approximately a 30 degree horizontal viewing angle. The latter might be peanuts compared to a quality 2D display, but let's not begrudge being offered at least some positional flexibility. Other specs include a 1280 x 800 effective resolution and 480 nits of brightness, which are notable achievements when you consider that the 9-parallax implementation requires the generation of 9 separate images and therefore could be achieved with only an "ultra-high definition LCD module." We've sadly no info about this panel's potential for retail availability, but judging by the bezel-free picture we've been given, that might be a good way off from now.
NewSight's 70-inch 3DTV keeps the glasses away with its parallax barrier tech
Last week's Finetech Japan 2010 expo allowed display manufacturers to show and tell each other about their latest innovations and advancements. One of the unquestioned highlights was NewSight's implementation of parallax barrier technology on displays up to 70 inches in size. The company is claiming its demo unit as the world's largest glasses-free 3D screen, but regrettably deprives us of any further details. All we're told is that the parallax barrier is "affixed to commercial-grade" LCDs, which suggests to us that perhaps the technique and hardware could be applied atop your favorite brand's existent 2D models. Of course, that'd only matter if these displays deliver a manifestly better picture and experience than what we have now, but it's looking like we'll have to wait a little bit longer to find out.
Sharp's 3D tablet panel doesn't require glasses, RGBY 3D TVs launching this summer do
Don't think Sharp's going to sit by and let Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony have all the 3D TV fun. The Japanese company, and fourth-largest LCD TV maker, plans to begin selling its own 3D TVs in Japan this summer before launching in the US, Chinese, and European markets sometime later in the year. To prove it, Sharp ponied up some sample RGBY ("Y" for yellow) 3D LCD panels it claims to be the "industries brightest" in sizes up to 60-inches. While these biggie panels all require active 3D shutter glasses for the extra-dimensional effect, Sharp was also showing off a 10.1-inch 3D display prototype for netbooks or tablets that -- like its 3.4-inch parallax barrier display announced last week and suspected to be headed to Ninty town -- doesn't require glasses at all and can be produced with or without a touchscreen. No word on when that pup might begin mass production, however. 60-inch panel pictured after the break with a real live woman doing the pointing -- amazing.
New glasses-free 3D tech uses per pixel prisms for zero crosstalk, audience flexibility
Try as manufacturers might, attempts at autostereoscopic (glasses-free) TV have been subpar; existing tech typically makes for messy images due to ghosting, only provides a 3D effect if you're standing in one of a very few predetermined spots (usually 8-10 viewing angles, though we've heard of 64), and reduces display resolution -- all because only some pixels can be seen from each spot. With the occasional exception, it's not terribly impressive. Scientists at the National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan are looking to change that. Rather than block light with a parallax barrier, their screen uses a matrix of specially cut prisms to reflect it, reducing ghosting to nil and maintaining display resolution by sending the same image to each viewer. Though there are still a fixed number of viewing zones, the prisms are so tiny that manufacturers can simply add more prisms to each pixel to increase that number -- with 11 prisms per pixel, researchers say such a system could support 100 simultaneous 3D moviegoers. We've no word on whether the tech is affordable or when we'll see it, but we expect it to handily beat cyborg eyeballs to market.
i3D's glasses-free prototype screen aims to take on all of 3D's problem areas
Uncomfortable, expensive glasses and a lack of 3D content -- that'd be the short list of stuff we dislike about current 3D TVs, but coincidentally it also happens to be the exact issues i3D is determined to wipe out with its glasses-free technology. We stopped by to meet with the young, Los Angeles-based company last week, and though it obviously isn't the first to develop spec-less displays, its proprietary hardware and software combo was really impressive. The demo of a 7-inch prototype really tells the whole story -- and we encourage you all to see it for yourself in the video after the break, though obviously you won't be able to experience all three dimensions from your standard LCD. Our time screen-gazing was pretty breathtaking, even though the smaller display was far from immersive. As for the viewing angle issue that's the Achilles' heel of the others, i3D claims its technology allows for three-dimensional viewing at close to 90 degrees, though it was hard for us to really evaluate that on such a small screen. The coolest thing by far is the software's ability to convert 2D to 3D content on the fly. One second we were watching a two-dimensional clip of Cars and then with the tap of the 3D button the car was driving off the screen. While this isn't the first company dabbling in 2D conversion, we haven't seen any others doing this without the glasses, and i3D does claim it can convert any resolution programming. We'll have to see it to believe it, but if it does work and the quality lives up to what's being promised there'd go our lack of content issue! Apparently the price of the technology should add at most 20 percent to that of a current HDTV, but here's where we tell you that we wouldn't be surprised if it took years for all this technology to make into Best Buy's Magnolia Home Theater section. Given the fact that we met with the company in a backyard, we'd say that both it and its technology are in the early stages. But hey, it makes you feel better that someone is working on that 3D frustration list, right? %Gallery-88839%
Nintendo announces 3DS -- the glasses-free 3D successor to the DS
Whoa, now this is a whopper coming (almost) out of nowhere. Nintendo has just slipped out a press release in Japan informing the world that all-new 3D-capable portable hardware is coming, with a full unveiling set for E3 2010 this June. Tentatively titled the 3DS, this glasses-free 3D wonder is pitched as the successor to both the DS and DSi, and will use a "compatible cart" that should ensure backwards compatibility with your vast library of favorites from the older consoles. Nintendo expects to launch the 3DS into retail "during the fiscal year ending March 2011." Update: Unofficial reports from Japan suggest the 3DS will have a parallax barrier 3D LCD from Sharp, a vibration function, and a "3D control stick." Read about it all here.
Intel shows off glasses-free 3D demo -- now this is more like it
If you've kept even a loose eye on our CES coverage this year, you'd know that 3D is firmly "in." But our main gripe is that the glasses requirement makes it largely impractical for in-home use. Intel had a comparison demo setup in its massive booth, and it had a top display arranged to showcase glasses-free 3D and the bottom to demonstrate the more traditional glasses-required 3D. A technician at the booth explained that the footage was all specifically shot to fit the format, and a special overlay was applied to the 3D HDTV in order to complete the magic. He confessed that the resolution was "sub-720p," and there were only eight specific places that you could stand at in order to actually get the full experience. We stood around 10 feet back, dead center, and were downright wowed by the results. You could honestly see loads of depth, and everything appeared buttery smooth. Stepping closer resulted in less-than-awesome visuals, but we're definitely stoked by the possibilities here. Take note, TV / content makers -- glasses free > glasses-required. %Gallery-82534%
