14 DAY TRIAL // Today, Amazon is expected to unveil to the world its very first smartphone, a device that has been rumored for a few years now, and which is said to land on the market with a revolutionary 3D UI.
Running under a forked version of Android, the handset should include support for tracking the movement of a user’s head, so as to deliver a 3D experience without the need of special glasses.
Tracking a user’s head would be possible courtesy of no less than four front-facing infrared cameras, which are paired with internal sensors. The phone is also rumored to include Japan-based Omron’s Okao Vision face sensing technology for the delivery of said stereoscopic effect on its screen.
Moreover, the smartphone would offer support for various gestures, so that users could navigate through menus and apps without having to touch the screen.
All sounds great in theory, yet no confirmation on the matter has been provided as of now, and there’s no telling whether the info will actually pan out.
However, a recent post on BusinessWeek unveils that the 3D UI of this device was actually inspired by a 2007 video (embedded below) in which hacker Johnny Chung Lee (who works at Google now) showed that the Nintendo Wii sensors could track one’s head when their position was reversed.
Thus, images on the screen could be displayed in accordance with the user’s position, which would create the aforementioned 3D effect, even if the screen was not created for that and the user does not have special glasses.
The hardware specifications of the device won’t be that impressive, yet this unique feature is expected to make it highly appealing among end-users.
The Amazon smartphone is said to pack a 4.7-inch touchscreen display capable of delivering a 720p resolution, as well as a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, as BGR reports.
Moreover, the phone should sport 2GB of RAM and might land on the market with a feature that will enable it to automatically digitize text from photos of signs and other printed materials.
Courtesy of this functionality, the handset would be able to easily translate text on the go, while also being capable of, for example, saving info from a business card.
Rumor has it that the handset will be released in the United States exclusively on the network of AT&T, and that it would be accompanied by a so-called Prime Data monthly plan. No info on the phone’s pricing has been provided as of now.
However, all of the necessary details on the phone should become official later today. Amazon has scheduled a press conference at 1:30 p.m. EDT / 10:30 a.m. PDT, so stay tuned for more on it.
