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OpenGL Coming to your Cellphone
Little Hamster writes "SGI and Nokia have signed an agreement to co-operate on the development of a 3D standard suitable for all embedded mobile terminals, based on OpenGL. This could be used for bringing real 3D Games to mobile devices, 3D global positioning systems, 3D representations of buildings or even creating entire interfaces in 3D.
You can also find the press release press release here."
This is not to say that I didn't enjoy playing Doom on a Nokia 9210 .. though the arrow pad is worst I've seen :)
Software should be free as in speech, but if we also get some free beer, all the better.
find decent 3d interfaces on my 1.5ghz machine with a cutting edge video card. I wouldn't expect it from a portable device!
Although this could be used well for GPS systems (as mentioned in the post) to display maps with altitudes.
Imagine how great it would be to have a FPS type of map of where you were? All you have to do is look down into your PDA and move arround the map to find out where you want to go. Oh well a man can dream.
.. under the Microsoft topic as well? "All your cell phone are belong to us" - MSFT
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
But for me the main problem with this is that no-one has yet mention how MUCh it's going to cost me to a)get it, upgrade my phone, etc and b)How much it's going to to cost to use it. Cos I can't see systems like GPS, interfaces(on other phones/pdas?) being given away. If the cost issue can be sorted, even if all we get is a basic ballpark figure, then I may grow to be very interested in this indeed....
RoseColor red={0, 0xffff, 0x0000, 0x0000};VioletColour blue={0, 0x0000, 0x0000, 0xffff};find / -name *mybase*|chown you
..until i can play QuakeForge on my cell :)
Wow, now I'll be able to show off my m4d r4iling sk1llz to all these newBz in the subway on my 4'' phone.
Presumably this technology won't be available for at least a few years, considering that Nokia have not yet launched their full-colour mobiles.
The Nokia 7650 was scheduled for UK release in May but it's been put back to August.
There is absolutely no need for anything 3D on cell phones. What I would like to see, and so far I haven't seen in Europe, is a cell phone featuring:
- full calendar with appointments, alarms, repeats and no-ringing "timespans".
- nice T9 SMS entry like Sagems (as opposed to "menu bloated" alternate word lookups in Nokia's T9 implementation)
- FM _and_ AM radio tuner
- MP3/OggVorbis playback capability with CF storage
- 300hour standby
- flip-out microphone so people can hear what I'm saying
- amber backlight instead of white/green/blue
- notepad/voicerecord/simple_finance app
- GPRS, HSCSD, Bluetooth
If I could find a set that had ALL of the above I could replace my walkman, mp3 player and a pocket calendar. Unfortunately I have not seen one cell phone that has all of the above. Anybody has seen such a beast in a standard cell-phone form factor?
OpenGL? Sure, 3d menus, crappy 3d games in 160x160, will wonders never cease... arghh
3D Snake!
GPS and 3D-models of building sound great but somehow I believe that we'll only get yet another excuse to pay a months wage for a thing we can play games on.
First of, call me troll if you want. I don't care.
Cell phones are for talking, at most instant messaging. If I want to play games on a portable, I'd do it with a GBA or something. It's novel, yes, and cool technology. But why would you want to try and play a REAL game on it? I just don't see the interest.
Sorry for the contrary opinion. If you disagree, tell me why.
Sent from your iPad.
A phone with decent sound quality, a sliding 7110-style front, a good radio section (because I'm often in poor signal areas) and a big battery so I'm not constantly charging it.
I don't want games, I don't want mp3s, calendars, appointment reminders or anything like that. Just a phone.
I don't mind if the improved RF stage and bigger battery makes it a bit big. I don't want a phone the size of a domino. I'm quite big and heavy myself, and can easily carry a bigger phone. Just so long as it means the buttons and screen are a bit bigger, because it's a hassle to use a mobile when it's cold and you're wearing gloves.
It's the same with laptops - I want a new, modern laptop, but about the same size as my old 8086 Toshiba. Why? Because it runs for about 2 days on a fully charged battery, and has a proper clicky keyboard. The layout is a bit smaller, in the way that laptop keyboards are, but the keys have a lot of travel, like a normal desktop keyboard. It's so much more comfortable to type on.
Yay, first irrelevant anti-MS post award!
;-).
Jesus man, hows about you stop thinking about Microsoft for ONE SECOND - this has NOTHING TO DO with this story.
And don't write M$, it marks you out as a complete ballbag, and I'm quite happy to lose 2 karma to tell you. Not 3 tho'
About OpenGL
...
OpenGL is available on all other major computer platforms, including IRIX®, SolarisTM , HP-UX, Compaq® Tru64® UNIX®, AIX®, BeOS, Windows NT®, Windows® 98 and Mac® OS.
No Linux?
AFAIK Mesa isn't officially an OpenGL implementation, because it hasn't been tested, but aren't there any implementations that have gone through the tests?
Also missing from the list are the newer versions of Windows...
I doubt, therefore I may be.
Cue dramatic music.. flash blue screen of death..
~A'Ëq'i4d)^'$ÊSÈòB
Most likely the real application will be service providers trying to rip off customers by offering expensive "animated 3d logos", made by summerworking students getting minimum salaries.
They won't stand a snowball's chance of running DOOM 3 at full res unless you want them to double as central heating. And OpenGL for a cellphone UI would be overkill, and hard to use -- remember how VRML was going to take over the web?
But I can think of at least one valid use for this - streaming videoconferencing. Why stream 24fps video when you can run facial-recognition software, break a face up into polygons like a game model, and transmit the facial movements to be rendered on a screen. Lots of cellphones now come with cameras built in, so it wouldn't be that great a step up. Or perhaps if it was too cheesy for live conferencing you could have a face "read" text messages to you.
Any more ideas, or is this just another flash in the pan?
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Did they say 'in all devices'? That's pretty crap.
I can imagine some specialised people who might need this. So they can pay more for their mobile.
I on the other hand don't want or need 3d on my phone (not even my PDA/phone hybrid). Let me rephrtase that. I wouldn't mind it, if it was free. But it's not. And I'm not prepared to pay for something I won't use.
If they had differentiated the market, I wouldn't mind. That way, if ever the killer app for 3d on a small screen came up, I could get one. But in the mean time, when this comes out, I'll have to pay...
Oh, I'm a near graduated mechanical engineer, so I can see people saying 'but wouldn't it be great, you could show parts on your screen!' or 'you could show them what it looks like in the machine shop!'. But it doesn't work that way. Most 3d stuff has to be shown either full screen (as in game graphics; you need to see it the way the player would, anything else distorts) or large, on paper, building plan like. The last thing you need is misconceptions because of a missed detail.
Small 3d is very limited in use for most things except a small Quake game...and that's not as enjoyable as you'd think.
-- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
Seriously though, how fast could this be? I know that there are some ARM processors with built in 3D acceleration.. maybe that's what it's targeting?
-- 2 + 2 = 5, for very large values of 2
Now it is confirmed: Slashdot is the world's leading ludditian web site.
What will throwing this extra functionality in - I assume an extra gpu to do the math etc. - do to battery life which is already painfully low! How about someone coming up with a revolutionary new battery or power source instead of putting 3d on a tiny screen?!
Okay I tell you why. I own a GBA. Recently I managed get a co-worker with a credit card to order me a backlight for it. With some skills I have not used in two decades(yes I am old) in managed to install the light and even to close it again. It works brilliantly. I now once again spend an awfull lot of time playing on it and might even buy some more games.
So thumbs up for the GBA right? Wrong. You see I work for a company called O2 as the web-developer, the cause I am the only programmer for the moment, for their online presence for the dutch branch. Holland was the first country in wich the XDA, a PDA with pocketpc(I know I know) and GPRS, was available. Apart that it is MS and is a bit underpowered the thing has one major advantage over the GBA, QUAKE!!!!!!! Yes it is tiny, yes the controls suck, but it is QUAKE!!!!!!! I have played doom on the GBA, trust me the two don't compare.
Since the XDA has gprs, and I presume that nokia will also, it has internet. Multiplay anyone? Fragging people why waiting for the plane could make waiting really fun. Only slight problem is that the processor is designed for boring old office type apps and so lacks the oomph needed to play later 3D games. With this move perhaps they will add a simple 3D accelerator as well
Try not to see this new devices as phones with gadgets but as mobile pc with a modem attached and if you only want a phone that can do voice. ehm what is stopping you? Just keep you're old one youre provider will love you since they will really get back the subsidie they made on it.
As for those wanting big screen, buy a nokia PCMCIA gprs/gsm card to play online while on the move.
I hope that someday soon I will simply be able to do quick FPS missions while travelling to work or maybe even a online RPG.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
With all the suppliers desperately trying to justify the 3G licences they've bought.
Now the only thing that is pointed at as a money spinners is pron (Virgin have signed with Penthouse or somesuch already).
Perhaps if the openGL takes off 3D mapping, gaming etc will be another revenue stream.
Annoying little girl picks up cellphone, hotly pursued by dinosaurs:
"This is a Nokia System, I know this!"
I call it "Billy and the Cloneasaurus"
--
My sometimes helpful blog
That sounds interesting. I am curious if anyone out there can point out some 3d interfaces fot the PC,
3D interfaces in mobiles will come as popular as they are on desktops these days.
If battery technology every makes a major leap forward (big IF I know), I could see 3D screensavers becoming fashionable on these things, especially among gadget lovers in Japan.
Anyway, there may not be many applications now, but that shouldn't be a reason to declare it not worth doing. It's inevitable that 3D will be put on every size screen because 3D capability has practically become a basic, expected functionality on any display.
Until your eyes have a HUD, a cellphone might be a perfect way to get a 3D view of what you can see PLUS annotations about what's nearby, an arrow for where to turn next (from your own perspective, which can be faster to grok at times than the overhead view), topographic contour overlay, star finder, etc. As long as the phone can sense its orientation as well as position, it could double as an cheap HUD. Saying your eyes can do this on their own disregards the advantage of the computer interlink the cellphone has.
But you we all know the manufacturers will...
..put in some annoying whizzy interface (complete with embarrasing sound effects) that shows a rabbit pulling your incoming SMS messages out of a top-hat or something.
You fool! You've given cheese to a lactose intolerant volcano god! Do you know what that means?
I would just like to say this.
This is the greatest day of my life, openGL on the cellphone!!!
YES!
This is truly supper-wicked-awesome.
Take that Russia! um?... I mean Bin Laden (waving fist in the air)
Yes!!
what's a cellphone?
Now i really can look like a borg, i'll just watercool whatever graphics chip they have, and then when i use my phone to play quake and i get a call and put it to my head it will appear as tho i have coolant running through my head!!!!
Seriously, i thought my phone got hot when i talked on it! now its gonna do 3d?
moo.
Now my cellphone can have an annoying "personality" just like the Gadgetmobile. I can hardly wait.
Thinking fondly of days of yore, when telephones had only two controls and no display, and worked just fine, thankyouverymuch.
btw, check out this all-java PDA from kyocera, man that looks cool.
Kyocera Java PDA
"Further distancing itself from other and more mainstream PDA products, the user interface of the Pocket Cosmo is according to Kyocera entirely original with rich menus supporting 3D movement, smooth scrolling and instantaneous switching of applications..."
more j2me news: lurker's guide to j2me
Some people seem to be concerned about how good a 3D app would be on such a small screen at a low resolution. I think the best idea is to look at the state of 3D games on the GBA. There are a mirid of them and many of them are great. One of the best examples is V Rally 3. While most of the other racers use a technique called Mode 7, this one is fully 3D in all aspects. Since the GBA at 240x160 on a small screen can look good in 3D, I wouldn't be concerned with the 3D not being acceptable on a cell phone...
Unstable Apps: Our Android Apps Don't Suck
From: Competitive Comparisons:
> [Windows 2000 offers] Better business alignment with straightforward licensing and clarity of intellectual property ownership.
So my choices are:
1) Pay big bucks and be sure of who 0wns me, or
2) pay nothing (aside from development costs) and not give a rats ass.
What's with all this hooplah with 3D? I say, "been there, done that"....Let's go straight to 4D!!!!
"You have the option of insanity. I do not. And that makes me crazy!" - Brian to Angela, My So-Called Life
How long until they sell that intellectual property to Microsoft? I don't trust the bastards anymore.
Because nothing makes you feel safer than a lot of teenagers driving around playing Quake on their cell phones. In fact, why don't I just get a gun and put it in my mouth right now.
- Full calendar which can synchronise with the desktop
- Pervasive T9 throughout its interface
- It's an open platform, so apps will be written to play MP3s and Ogg Vorbis (though it doesn't come with them as standard)
- 100-150hrs standby
- Speakerphone & good quality audio
- Full colour screen
- Notepad, voice recorder (and voice dialling)
- GPRS, HSCSD, and Bluetooth
The only item on your list it doesn't have is a radio. But more crucially than any of the above, it's an open platform, so applications can be written for it to do almost anything you want.For example, someone's already written a MPEG 4 video recorder for the phone, which I frankly find amazing.
Oh, PS... it won't work in the US. But you could wait a few months for the Sony Ericsson P800, which will do.
IMHO, this would be the best thing for developers, and with the elements within that article that discuss the previous display work that is hardware independent I think it would fit in nicely.