Ready for Kinect games and apps on your smartphone?
The prospect may get closer to reality when a firm making the components of the motion-sensing game accessory unveils in January a compact 3D sensor that can fit in smartphones.
PC World reported PrimeSense, which developed the 3D-sensing technology in Microsoft’s Kinect, may be unveiled at the International Consumer Electronics Show in January.
It added the company expects to have samples ready for manufacturers by the middle of 2013.
The PC World article said Israeli firm PrimeSense's Capri 1.25 embedded 3D sensor is about a tenth the size of its present sensors.
It also quoted PrimeSense as saying the tiny sensor will be low-cost and may be built into consumer devices ranging from laptops to TVs, tablets, and smartphones.
Potential for mobile market
PC World said analysts believe the sensor can genereate interest in the mobile market, as Apple already filed patents over touch-based user interfaces.
Malik Saadi, a principal analyst with Informa Telecoms & Media, said Apple's control over touch has other vendors looking into alternatives like touch-free gesture recognition.
Saadi cited Samsung, which he said is considering gesture recognition and may roll it out soon.
For its part, Qualcomm recently announced it acquired some assets of EPOS Development, a developer of ultrasound positioning technologies.
Qualcomm makes the Snapdragon SoC (system on a chip) platform used in many smartphones. — TJD, GMA News
