Review: LG Optimus 3D SmartPhone
Posted Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 8:06 am by Jason Cartwright
When it comes to televisions, consumers have been less than enthusiastic in embracing 3D, that hasn’t stopped LG from creating a 3D SmartPhone. The 4.3” device has dual-cameras for taking 3D photos and video and a glasses-free 3D screen to display them. Powered by dual-core processer and running Android 2.2, the phone is fast and features solid build quality.
3D
Not only can you create 3D content on the phone, but you can also watch 3D videos from online sources like YouTube 3D. Of course if your creating content in 3D, your going to want to share that content to YouTube, you can. The problem here of course is that your friends need a 3D enabled screen to view your creations.
Not everyone’s eyes will react to the 3D display in the same way, so LG has provided an on-screen adjustment. Similar to that of Nintendo’s 3DS hardware slider, it adjusts the distance between the two images. Everyone I showed the device to needed a different setting.
It is impressive how well the 3D works without glasses, but viewing angles are incredibly limited. Some situations work better than others. Longer depth photos with objects at different distances works best. Taking 3D photos of a flat surface like a wall is next to useless, just use the 2D option.
3D Gaming on the LG Optimus works well to become a great option for those consumers looking to avoid carrying both a phone and a 3DS. Only problem here is the number of 3D enabled games available is fairly limited.
Cameras
One of the largest photo sharing sites on the internet, Facebook is yet to support 3D, so sharing there or even Flickr isn’t an option, at least not in 3D. Remember you can turn it off and use the phone as a standard 2D camera. At 5 megapixels, the camera sounds good on paper, however compared to the lower megapixel count of the iPhone 4, it doesn’t bear well for the LG. Light exposure is difficult to get right, particularly when your setting exposure levels manually. It’s hard to ignore the HDR feature of other devices and just how much of a difference that makes.
Operating System
The phone frustratingly still ships with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and while LG have committed to updating it to 2.3 (Gingerbread) there’s no official date. It’s ridiculous that phones are still shipping with 2.2 when Android 2.3 has been available to them for such a long time now. Even worse is the prospect of getting future updates.
Availability
The LG Optimus 3D is exclusive to Optus for $0 upfront on a $59 plan or outright for RRP $799. Why device manufacturers continue to lock devices to a specific carrier I will never understand. Sure, there may be an up-front financial incentive from the carrier to get an exclusive, but this significantly limits potential sales. Telstra is Australia’s largest and fastest mobile network provider and to exclude yourself from that market seems like a seriously short-sighted business decision.
Overall
Overall this phone’s biggest feature is 3D, on a hole I felt it was a unnecessary novelty. LG is by no means, the only smartphone manufacturer integrating 3D into their device. If you can forget about the 3D part of this phone, it’s actually a solid device, however the OS issue is something that needs to be resolved.
LG are currently running a competition to giveaway an LG Optimus 3D, just make sure your quick, as it closes tomorrow.
Forget active-shutter, how about active-eyelid 3D ?
Posted Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 11:13 am by Jason Cartwright
One of the more unique approaches to the 3D glasses problem is to use your eyelids as active shutters. Most 3DTV’s work by presenting an image to each eye while the other is blocked, this happens so fast that your brain interprets it as a single image with much more depth. This unique concept involves placing two nodes on your temples, syncing them with the display, then playing the movie.
The two nodes beside either eye communicate with the TV to sync the frame being displayed with each eye. To do this, the opposing eyelid is closed, then the process is alternated and repeated. Its a very bizarre thing to watch, as this kind of behaviour of the eyes is what you would typically associate with someone having a seizure. Without using it myself, its hard to know just how well it works, but the theory behind it is sound.
The system requires a 120hz TV, just like regular active shutter displays.
He hopes to have a final version ready for CES 2012, although I’m not sure many reviewers would be willing to give this one a go. It is a unique way to tackle the issue of consumers not wanting to wear glasses to watch 3D content, however I suspect the majority aren’t going to adopt this either.
More information about active-eyelid 3D at Jonathon Post
Samsung misses the point, makes light 3D glasses
Posted Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at 12:46 am by Jason Cartwright
Samsung have just released press shots of these new ‘light’ weight’ 3D glasses. On a new Japanese website samsungtomorrow.com they claim the glasses are the lightest ever 3D glasses. Thanks to the magic of Bing Translator, English speaking individuals can read the news as well.
Made by luxury glasses manufacturer Sihouete and weighing in at just 28 grams, they are really light, well done. The problem is, the weight of the glasses has nothing to do with the reason people aren’t lining up in droves for 3DTVs. Even the most enthusiastic 3D supported has to admit all of the glasses (these included) are ugly. Can someone please get Oakley on the phone ? Its unlikely that you’ll ever look cool wearing glasses inside, but there’s a long way to go before you don’t look like a tool.
There’s even a 50/50 weight distribution to avoid pressure on your nose. Samsung, you really have pulled out all the stops here. The Samsung 3D glasses do have one redeeming feature, the ability to auto-detect wether your wearing them and automatically power them on or off. This conserves battery life, that’s right, get used to charging your glasses.
Samsung may not be the only ones with 3D glasses announcements this week, with CES 2011 about to get underway. 3DTV is sure to be, yet again, a big theme of the show.
Via Gizmodo
3D Broadcast coming to Australia 2011 from Foxtel
Posted Friday, January 15, 2010 at 9:01 am by Jason Cartwright
One of the big problems with buying a new 3D television is where to find content. Sure the 3D Blu-ray format was just formalised, but expect it to be a while before they start hitting our shelves. Well Foxtel is leading the way in 3D content, announcing their intentions to begin 3D broadcasts in 2011.
More @ Gizmodo
