14 DAY TRIAL // On June 18, Amazon is set to make official its first smartphone, one that has been long rumored to arrive on shelves with support for 3D effects, and some more info on the technology that it will use to enable that is now available.
Apparently, the company has partnered with Omron for the launch of this device and will include the latter’s Okao Vision face sensing technology in order to track user’s head.
The handset has been already said to feature four IR cameras on the front, in order to scan users’ faces to handle various UI elements, and the guys over at TechCrunch claim that this has been already confirmed.
Moreover, they note that the handset will include a modified version of Omron’s Okao Vision technology, so as to be able to deliver stereoscopic effects on a standard LCD screen.
For example, users will be able to browse or access side panels by simply tilting the device or their heads left and right, something that Amazon has already hinted at in the teaser video released for the June 18 launch event.
In addition to reading data delivered by the four front cameras, which are placed in each corner of the phone to track X, Y, and Z coordinates, the technology will also take advantage of the phone’s gyro sensor and accelerometer to offer faster response.
The 3D effects that the Amazon smartphone will have to offer to its users will be unique on the market, especially since the device does not need 3D glasses to work.
Omron’s Okao Vision is also said to be able to recognize faces and facial elements to determine a user’s age, gender and ethnicity, but the smartphone will not include such capabilities, it seems.
However, Amazon will allow developers to take advantage of the technology and to build apps that are based on it, and hopes that they will be highly interested in the matter.
However, the 3D feature is expected to be limited at the beginning, offering support for only a small amount of gestures that have been built into the OS.
The handset will run under a forked version of the Android operating system, developed by Amazon itself and called FireOS.
The specs list of the handset reportedly includes a 4.7-inch touchscreen display capable of delivering a 720p resolution, a Snapdragon processor, and 2GB of RAM.
Moreover, the mobile phone is expected to sport a 13-megapixel camera on the back, a front camera for video calling, and the aforementioned four cameras for head tracking.
