We’ll go ahead and put a lid on your swelling excitement level, most likely with two simple words: “parallax barrier.” You see, Dialog Semiconductor’s DA8223 is being hailed as the world’s first real time 2D to 3D video conversion chip for portable devices, but it requires a parallax barrier display. On the upside, that means that there are no glasses required for viewing, and pretty much any 2D content could be tricked into being 3D for the viewer; the downside, of course, is that it probably won’t immerse your senses, overwhelm your eyes or otherwise revolutionize your life. That said, it’s still suitable for both tablets and smartphones, and according to the company, it “requires virtually no software development and uses a tiny fraction of the battery and compute power of competing application processor based software-approaches.” If all goes well, the chip will be hitting mass production in the latter half of 2011, which gives you right around six months to prepare yourself for the third dimension. On your phone.

Continue reading Dialog Semiconductor pushes 2D to 3D conversion chip for phones and tablets

Dialog Semiconductor pushes 2D to 3D conversion chip for phones and tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are many hugely efficient ways to get around Tokyo, but for visitors taxis usually come at the bottom of that list. Drivers rarely speak English and, compared to the rest of the world, they’re quite expensive (about $8 to start, going way up from there). But, should you find yourself in one they’re naturally hugely clean and sophisticated, that sophistication getting a boost now by DoCoMo. 820 black sedans for hire in Tokyo will be outfitted with WiFi, freely available to customers who dishonor the back seats with their backsides. 100 of the cars will even have Sony PSPs back there too, which is odd because we were pretty sure everyone in Tokyo already had one — or a DS, at least. These specially equipped taxis can be identified by the red DoCoMo WiFi stickers on the doors, so don’t accept anything less, no matter how late you are for that KneuKlid Romance concert in Shinjuku.

Docomo grants Japanese taxis with WiFi, PSPs, little red stickers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rage HD for iOS is a seriously gorgeous game — well worth the $2, if you ask us. Now that he can look up from his monitor, id Software’s technical wizard John Carmack is making the interview rounds — let’s see what we can glean, shall we? On the subject of Rage itself, expect the first patch to add Game Center support as well as some bug fixes / minor tweaks to prettify the game further. And if you picked up the SD version, consider yourself among a more exclusive crowd: sales have been majorly lop-sided in favor of HD. “If it’s that big of a difference,” he told TUAW, “we probably won’t offer the low-end, standard def version [in future games].”

We already know Carmack’s thoughts on the iPhone vs. Nintendo DS / PSP, as they’ve been echoed before once or twice, but here’s one new to us: “You should be able to do something that’s better on an iPad than anything that’s done on the Wii,” according to the John that spoke with Kotaku. That’s all purely theoretical, as it’s really up to the developer as to how much power it takes advantage of, and even with the tablet in question, “we’re nowhere close to maxing out what could be done on an iPad.” Oh, and Android? There’s work being done for the Little Green Platform as well, but via TUAW John, “there’s a lot of things with how the distribution platform works and the diversity of the platforms that you have to target, where things are still much, much nicer on the iOS world.”

As for id’s next foray in the “iOS world,” Joystiq learned that a driving game based in the Rage universe is in the cards, and perhaps something inspired by Quake Arena: “maybe focusing on the lightning gun, and call it ‘Lightning Arena’ or something, that would be a full roam-around FPS game.” When asked about his resemblance to one Kevin Bacon, all reports indicate Carmack vanished behind a green-tinted smoke cloud of 1s and 0s, leaving in his wake a three-foot tall statue of Commander Keen made from old shareware discs.

id’s Carmack talks Rage HD, iPad’s power, and future iOS games originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, what could the maker of the 3DS‘ autostereoscopic display be doing in its spare time? Why, stealing a bit of thunder for itself, by the looks of it. Sharp has just trotted out a pair of glasses-free 3D Android handsets for Japan’s Softbank network in the form of the touchscreen slate 003SH and QWERTY-slidin’ 005SH. A 1GHz Snapdragon powers Froyo on both, with the 3D-capable displays stretching to 3.8 inches and 800 x 480 resolution. The 003SH also comes with a 9.6 megapixel camera capable of 720p video, while the 005SH settles for 8 megapixels. There are also bundled 3D content deals in place, such as the one with Capcom that will see Mega Man, Resident Evil and Ghosts ‘n Goblins titles coming preloaded on the handsets. Intrigued? The 003SH is coming this December, to be followed by the 005SH in February.

Sharp Galapagos 003SH and 005SH bring glasses-free 3D to Japanese Android lovers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 03:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not every day that you hear about an autostereoscopic 3D cellphone launching let alone for less than $100 (Rs. 4,299)… off contract. But that’s exactly what Spice Mobility just announced in India. The M-67 3D phone features a 2.36-inch 240×320 pixel display with dedicated 3D shortcut key letting users switch between 2D and 3D viewing modes for the UI, images, and video. Unfortunately, this dual-SIM phone is only equipped with a 2D camera, not one of those 3D jobbies being cooked up by Sharp. We’re guessing that at this price the viewing experience doesn’t approach the Nintendo 3DS, but it’s certainly a harbinger of things to come.

[Thanks, Jay]

The 3D cellphone lands in India for $97, no glasses required originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Oct 2010 06:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking for a new Android form factor on AT&T and don’t mind a bit of BLUR? Motorola’s got you covered, with the mid-range Bravo, low-end Flipside and budget Flipout you see immediately above. We spotted the trio of Android 2.1 devices at CTIA 2010 and had to give them a try, and though none really impressed they’ve got some interesting designs. You won’t hear us clapping for the $129 Bravo, as it’s basically a pared-down Defy — the same 3.7-inch WVGA slatephone, but with a fixed-focus three megapixel camera and without the ruggedized outsides.

Meanwhile, surfers, skaters and virtual keyboard haters could possibly enjoy the $80 Flipout and $100 Flipside. The former’s got the same sort of irresistible, pocketable style that made Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance SP an instant hit half a decade back, arguably even more so than its inspiration, though as you’d imagine the 2.8-inch QVGA screen and other Charm features leave much to be desired — it’s a painfully slow, low-res experience for those used to serious smartphones — and though the Flipside throws in a decent landscape keyboard and an HVGA screen, they don’t help much when it’s got the exact same silicon and yet another iffy three megapixel shooter inside. Still, the wonderful thing about the internet is that you can look before you buy, so feast your eyes in galleries below and videos after the break!

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Continue reading Motorola Bravo, Flipout and Flipside hands-on: hastily handled and summarily shot (video)

Motorola Bravo, Flipout and Flipside hands-on: hastily handled and summarily shot (video) originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Perhaps the worst, and least repairable, shortcoming of touchscreens is their failure to act as viable game controllers. Keyboard-equipped smartphones alleviate that pain a little (particularly if you pair them with a Game Gripper), but ultimately we’d all prefer real controllers for our real games. Such was clearly the thinking behind the homebrewed setup here, which combines an HTC EVO 4G — with Android and an NES emulator inside — with an Arduino board, a BlueSMiRF Bluetooth module, and a classic NES control pad. The result might look like a mess of wires, but who cares when you can rock Super Mario 3 the way Nintendo surely intended?

Continue reading NES controller pressed into service to Android overlord (video)

NES controller pressed into service to Android overlord (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen enough home theater 3D already to be well and sick of it, but mobile 3D is still an upcoming sector, one which Sharp seems to be making a bid for. It’s showing off a mobile device prototype (it looks like it could be your friendly neighborhood carrier’s next Android handset) with a glasses-free 3D parallax screen (akin to the tech used in the Nintendo 3DS), a 3D camera around back, and 3D output over HDMI. The result isn’t stellar — just because a mobile device is shooting grainy, color-bleeding footage in 3D doesn’t make the footage stop being grainy and color-bleeding — but it most certainly works, as we witnessed both on the device’s own screen and on a regular glasses-required 3D TV the prototype was outputting to over HDMI. The 3.7-inch LCD rocks a 800 x 480 resolution in 2D mode, which gets halved to 400 x 480 in 3D, and Sharp is also showing of a 10-inch glasses free LCD that didn’t come off as so impressive somehow.

Sharp shows off mobile prototype with 3D screen, 3D camera, and 3D output originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Sony takes aim at iPhone gaming in new PSP ad

Sony takes aim at iPhone gaming in new PSP ad originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re sorry, but the Palm Pixi’s rendition of Need for Speed no longer impresses us — we’ve just seen John Carmack show off Rage for iPhone. While of course it looks nothing like the PC graphical monstrosity that swept the E3 Games Critics Awards, it’s safe to say the 60 frame-per-second tech demo at QuakeCon 2010 shoves the cell phone gaming envelope through a Juggernaut-class brick wall. Where Carmack originally called the iPhone “more powerful than a Nintendo DS and PSP combined,” the id Software co-founder is now aiming squarely at the likes of PS2 and Xbox with iPhone 4 hardware. Not impressive enough? He says it still “runs great on an original 2G iPhone” as well. VG247, who liveblogged the event, reports the title will be available in the App Store later this year for a relatively inexpensive price, with a second game available in time for the PC game’s 2011 launch. Sadly, there’s as of yet no plans for Android owners to get the same megatexturing goodness. Don’t miss the video after the break, because this screenshot doesn’t do it justice.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Carmack blows minds with id Software’s Rage, running on iPhone at 60fps with ‘megatextured’ graphics (video)

Carmack blows minds with id Software’s Rage, running on iPhone at 60fps with ‘megatextured’ graphics (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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