Sharp has unveiled a 3D viewer that doesn’t require glasses at a demo in Tokyo.
It’s the size of a mobile smart phone with a 3.4in screen – a sliver smaller than the iPhone – and not yet in production, but there has been speculation that it could make it into Nintendo’s next DS console, which may be called the 3DS, due around this time next year. Since Sharp is also Japan’s biggest mobile phone manufacturer, it’s also very likely to appear in Sharp mobile phones in Japan. Sharp and Hitachi already supply 2D DS screens.
The screen uses parallax via a system of angled slits to project a slightly different image to each eye. It only works on very small screens, at distances of up to 30cm, and the technology isn’t yet suitable for large displays like TVs.
Production is expected to start in Japan in September but industry insiders predict that we’re still about five years away from enjoying 3D without the need for the accompanying glasses on TV in the home.