3D

It seems that those of us who haven't bought a glasses-free 3D gadget yet may have the opportunity to try one anyway. Announced at the Virtual Reality Exhibition in Tokyo, Pic3D is a thin sheet of transparent film, which enables a glasses-free 3D effect after being applied to any screen. Global Wave, the Japanese company that makes the product, claims that it utilizes a lenticular lens system instead of parallax barrier, achieves 90 percent of light transmission, and has a 120-degree of field view. Read More

Despite the facts that there isn't much appropriate 3D content, and the viewing angles required for the 3D effect are limited (as was described in our Nintendo 3DS review) the list of glasses-free 3D gadgets increases. The HTC EVO 3D smartphone was the latest addition, but certainly won't be the last. Perhaps not many readers have heard of the Chinese manufacturer Gadmei, although there is at least one reason to become acquainted with it. The company has released its P83 portable media player (PMP), which is capable of displaying 3D videos and images that are viewable without glasses, and is certainly one of the most inexpensive devices of its kind offered so far. Read More

The range of gadgets capable of stereoscopic glasses-free 3D viewing is slowly increasing, with the LG Optimus 3D, Sharp Aquos SH-12C and Nintendo 3DS gaming console already on the market. HTC has now announced that its first glasses-free 3D smartphone, the HTC EVO 3D, will be available in Europe in July. Unveiled in March 2011 and introduced in the U.S. by Sprint on June 24, the EVO 3D features a stereoscopic 3D display, allowing users to view three-dimensional images without glasses, plus the phone is able to capture pictures in 3D. Read More

Since I enviously eyed my very first Sony All-in-One computer in the early 1990s, the space-saving desktop form factor has found its way into most manufacturer's product ranges. With its latest VAIO L Series addition, Sony brings 3D visuals to the party, along with a touch-enabled bezel for shortcut activation and feature control. It's powered by a second generation Core i7 processor supported by DDR3 memory and is given a generous helping of fast hard disk storage. Read More

For those of us who grew up with film cameras, even the most basic digital cameras can still seem a little bit magical. The ability to instantly see how your shots turned out, then delete the ones you don’t want and manipulate the ones you like, is something we would have killed for. Well, light field cameras could be to today’s digital cameras, what digital was to film. Among other things, they allow users to selectively shift focus between various objects in a picture, after it’s been taken. While the technology has so far been inaccessible to most of us, that is set to change, with the upcoming release of Lytro’s consumer light field camera. Read More

The update to version 2.1 of NXP Software's popular CineXPlayer movie viewing iPad app sees an improved interface that now offers a thumbnail view instead of just a text list and lets users start transferring and watching an unconverted movie straight away. One of the most interesting additions, however, is the ability to watch 3D movies - either with anaglyph (red/blue) glasses, or glasses-free with the use of GRilli3D's overlay film. Read More

While details of Sony’s PlayStation Vita came as no surprise at Sony’s E3 press conference, the announcement of a PlayStation branded display raised a few eyebrows. At 24-inches, the full HD 1080p, edge-lit LED LCD 3D display is aimed specifically as PS3 owners without the space or cash to go with a big screen 3D-capable TV. In addition to 3D, the display also comes with a two-player feature that allows two different images to be sent to two different players at the same time. Read More

Alongside the Padfone, ASUS announced yet another tablet at Computex 2011 to join its previously announced Eee Pad Transformer, Eee Pad Slider and Eee Slate. The company first unveiled its Eee Pad MeMO 7-inch tablet at CES in January and the company has now unveiled a glasses-free 3D model dubbed the Eee Pad MeMO 3D. While the device sports a 1280 x 800 IPS LCD panel for wider viewing angles, this presumably won't apply to viewing 3D as - like the Nintendo 3DS - the MeMO 3D uses a parallax-barrier 3D overlay to create the 3D effect. Read More

ViewSonic chose Computex 2011 to unveil its new 24-inch monitor which boasts a built-in 3D emitter. With 3D gaming seen by many as the best use for 3D technology it's a little surprising we haven't seen a the release of 3D monitors to rival the numbers of 3D TVs hitting the market. Nevertheless, ViewSonic is claiming its V3D245wm-LED is the first 24-inch smart monitor sporting an integrated 3D emitter to support active shutter 3D glasses. Read More