14 DAY TRIAL // After registering an impressive success with Kinect on Xbox, and the over 18 million sold units are proof of that, Microsoft is gearing up for making a splash with Kinect for Windows as well.
Back in January, the company announced plans to release Kinect for Windows SDK as soon as tomorrow, and to have the sensor available for purchase in 12 countries around the world.
However, it appears that its plans for the new sensor extend far beyond that, and that we might also see it integrated with laptops that run under Windows 8.
Rumors on the matter emerged only last week, followed by some additional details on this today, coming from the same news site.
The Daily cites sources from Microsoft claiming that the sensor will be indeed integrated with these laptops, and that prototypes are already out there.
Apparently, Microsoft is keen on ensuring that the combination would deliver to its promise, and has sent out people to use these laptops in crowded places.
The sensor needs to be fine-tuned, and its testing in places where there is a lot of audio and visual background noise was meant to serve this purpose.
Rumor has it that the combination could offer users the possibility to log into their device without even having to touch it.
All they would have to do is to stay in front of it and speak the password. The sensor will analyze both user’s voice and his/her face, and will unlock the device if it finds a match.
While all this sounds pretty cool, it appears that the laptops/notebooks to make use of the Kinect sensor won’t deliver long battery usage time.
Vendors will be able to apply their own customizations on Windows 8 devices packing the Kinect sensor, which might result in fragmentation, The Daily suggests.
Also, Microsoft is said to impose exclusive partnerships to those makers willing to put Kinect inside their laptops. The software giant plans on establishing licensing relationships with companies, but won’t allow them to use other similar products with their devices.