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OpenGL Coming to your Cellphone

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the why-the-hell-not dept.

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."

3 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. OpenGL? lets make a usefull cell phone first. by Saahbs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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

  2. I just want a phone. by Gordonjcp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  3. Re:hrmmph. by larien · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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!