3D without glasses is entering the smartphone space. At the Mobile World Congress currently taking place in Barcelona, Spain, LG announced the Optimus 3D smartphone, as well as the Android-based Optimus Pad tablet with 3D. The tablet requires red-blue glasses.
The Android-based device is being billed as the first smartphone with no-glasses 3D, and it also boasts dual channels, a dual-core processor, and dual memory. The additional processing and memory, as well as two five-megapixel cameras on the back, support 3D video, which can be played back on its 4.3-inch VGA display. In 3D, the smartphone captures 720p, and, in 2D video, it takes a full 1080p.
A ‘Generational Shift’
The video can be displayed on a TV set via HDMI or a wireless connection to DLNA-compatible devices. LG said YouTube will now accommodate 3D video as well.
While some observers have been suggesting that many smartphones are reaching a “me too” plateau, Dr. Jong-seok Park, CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications, is saying otherwise. He told news media that smartphones will undergo a “generational shift” this year, assumedly propelled by no-glasses 3D that will also give LG a bigger presence. LG has been active in feature phones, but less so in smartphones.
In the hot category of tablets, LG’s new Optimus Pad has a dual-core Nvidia processor, runs Android 3.0 — otherwise known as the tablet-optimized Honeycomb — and, with an 8.9-inch display, fits between the smaller Samsung Galaxy Tab and the larger Apple iPad.
The tablet also features 3D that requires old-fashioned red-blue glasses, supported by two cameras on the back, in addition to a two-megapixel camera on the front for video calls.
‘A Gimmick’
Avi Greengart, an analyst with Current Analysis, is attending the Mobile World Conference. The pioneering no-glasses Nintendo 3DS handheld game device, he said, is “likely to be successful” because the technology…