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."

Comments

OpenGL? lets make a usefull cell phone first.

[Saahbs]

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

Re:the screensize

[yatest5]

Some solution to screensize problem

Solution calculated - Add bigger screen.

I just want a phone.

[Gordonjcp]

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.

But why?

[gusnz]

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?

Re:hrmmph.

[larien]

Counterpoint: you almost always have your mobile with you. Now, say you're stuck in a bus queue, or actually on the bus and want to kill some time. Damn, your GBA is at home, but with modern phones, you can pull it out of your pocket (NO! I meant the phone!) and start playing (yes, I really, really meant the phone!).

While it might not be as good at games as a GBA or similar, in many cases it's "good enough". I remember playing games for hours on a Spectrum which had much less power than one of these!

Battery Life?

[bennygeek]

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?!

3D on a small screen DOES work

[GweeDo]

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...