The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Amazon is working on two different smartphones and an audio steaming device. One of the smartphones will feature glasses-free 3D capabilities. The device is said to use retina-tracking technology, images would seem to float above the screen like a hologram and appear in 3D at multiple angles. Hopefully it will be an improvement over the lenticular based type screen that the Nintendo 3DS currently uses. I’ve seen a few glasses-free 3D demos at the 2012 CES and at a 2012 3D convention, the technology is getting better with each new generation of the demonstrated devices. MasterImage was one of the earlier companies promoting glasses free 3D, I first saw the MasterImage demo in 2011. It was a great early attempt at glasses-free 3D, almost but not quite there yet. MasterImages 2012 demo looked pretty good, incredibly promising. I was very impressed with the Dolby/Phillips Glasses-free 3D technology. The glasses-free Dolby 3D was sharp and clear from multiple angles. Dolby’s glasses-free 3D is going to be a game changer and a must have device. Will Amazon be licensing the Dolby/Phillips glasses-free 3D technology to use in their new 3D smartphone or is Amazon developing their own technology for their upcoming glasses-free smartphone? More when I get it. The WSJ reported that no word if any of Amazon’s newly announced new devices will actually hit the market and if so…which product it’ll be.
Amazon has a strong pulse on the 3D entertainment market. Directly tracking the growing number of 3D blu-ray movies available for sale and also the number of 3D films in development and in pre-production via their subsidiary IMDB. The amount of 3D content is growing at an incredibly fast pace. If Amazon can pull it off it’ll have a definite winner on it’s hand. But it has to be perfect glasses-free 3D to make a dent in the crowded smartphone market.
By: Steven D. Ito
Source: The Wall Street Journal