By Could Motorola be ushering in a new era of cellular phones sporting 3D capabilities much sooner than expected? Our friend Carl over at AndroidForums was quick to point out some striking similarities between the latest images of Motorola’s new MT820 and a recent patent filing for three-dimensional display technology.
Lets take a look at the recent images of that new Motorola flip-phone:
And compare that with this recent patent filing from Motorola for 3D-enabled cell phones:
The patent is for a device that will display a standard 2D image on its screen with the cover open, but when the translucent flip-top is down, it will convert those images to 3D. If you take a close look at the pics of Motorola’s MT820, the top half is a transparent plastic, rather than an additional screen. Could it be a specially-coated image filter?
I still question the use of 3D beyond being a gimmick movies can employ now and then, but it seems Hollywood, the gaming industry, and electronics manufacturers are really getting behind the 3D movement with a huge push of 3D products. Nearly every big budget movie getting a release this summer will have a 3D counterpart, Nintendo will be releasing a 3D Nintendo DS, and 3D televisions are coming to the market quickly. It may just be a fad that will fizzle out as quickly as it started, but perhaps 3D is here to stay.
Take this as a big old heap of speculation with a side of rumor, but the image in the patent filing matches up a little too closely for this to not deserve some sort of attention. If Motorola drops a 3D phone this soon, it will be one well-kept secret. Could it be a possibility, or is the latest Moto Android merely borrowing the form factor of a planned 3D device, minus the 3D?
why has no one mentioned the front facing camera clearly visible in this shot…. and 3d would prove pointless on a cell phone untill graphics get better… WAYYY better
if nintendo thinks 3d on a ds to play games has a point, then i dont see why 3d on a smartphone that can play games wouldn’t also make sense.
(although I’m not sold on Nintendo’s logic for sure)
@michaelk
I would listen to what Nintendo’s selling. Everyone thought they would be sitting squarely in third place with the Wii and that the PSP would crush the DS, and we’re seeing that they genuinely get what consumers want. I’m buying one.
Covert: What makes you think it’d be used for 3D games? Films are the obvious first application, for exactly the reason you state.
i think the haziness of the picture above is due to photoshoping, the ads around the phone are blurred out, the cover was see thru so they blurred it out to avoid the adverts
@jimbo
good point. can’t believe i didn’t realize that.
the fone isnt photoshopped! clearly theyre trying to hide sumn dhats on that sheet of paper or watever dhat is iyts resting on. there are more pictures here http://www.slashphone.com/next-moto-ming-filled-with-android-as-moto-mt820-259240
I am not sure about 3D.
It would be something to show off but thats about it.
Honestly when I read this article, I thought about the 3D phone(s?) Japan has released already early last year..
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/03/04/financial/f092751S15.DTL
The link above shows a 3D phone (with a nice article :D). Don’t know if there’s others.
Well from what I’ve heard Nintendo’s 3DS will include high motion censoring basically making it look like something like this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_P4gyjf5tQ
@Covert and @Kevin Krause
From the patent, perhaps it’s not exactly a facing camera, but this:
16. The electronic device of claim 11 further comprising a sensor that detects when the cover is in the closed position and that causes a predetermined image to appear on the display.
17. The electronic device of claim 11 wherein the housing comprises a first plurality of registration features and the cover comprises a second plurality of registration features, wherein the first and second registration features align upon the cover assuming the closed position.
18. The electronic device of claim 11 wherein the electronic device further comprises sensors, and the cover comprises registration features detected by the sensors for aligning the images with the optical element.
Also, regarding the blurred paper or adverts or whatever they are underneath the leaked image. It’s rather curious it’s of a different color on the cover. It almost makes me think they blocked out the rest of the paper in order to match the film on the cover rather than vice versa.
Additionally, go back to the site with all the photos of this Mot phone and notice how in one picture where it appears to be sitting on some sort of leather or vinyl surface with its cover open, you can’t see through the cover at all. They’re blocking out the see-through cover completely and that has nothing to do with adverts below it as nothing else is blocked out.
Link:
http://cdn.slashphone.com/sp/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/moto-mt820-6.png