Japanese carrier KDDI’s never been shy about showing off its latest and greatest from its lab, and here at CEATEC 2011 we got to put our fingers on more than one its in-development smartphone sensory enhancements, at the side of a free-viewpoint concert concept that’s being researched on. The 1st demo we saw was actually an analogous haptic smartphone prototype that was unveiled back in May, but we thought it would be nice to provide it a choose our personal hands — read directly to learn how well it performed.
Surprisingly, the feedback was effective to the purpose that lets even feel the ridges at the virtual keypad — KDDI’s ambition with that is to permit the partially-sighted to the touch-type (presumably alongside some UI visual aid in addition), while everyone else may also have the benefit of preemptive hyperlink selection inside the web browser with assistance from fine haptic feedback, thus reducing the possibilities of hitting the incorrect links (see the video below). We were also impressed by the pressure sensor at the touch layer that enabled a “soft punch” input and a “hard punch” input within the demo game, so that you can imagine the chances with much more layers implemented; except the prototype we saw was already bulky enough. Regardless, so far as availability is bothered there isn’t a info just yet, though this technology is currently patent pending.
The following stand we visited showed off a “smartphone with new experience of hearing.” Truth be informed, we were only expecting a phone with a louder earpiece, however turned out to be a piece greater than that: what KDDI’s done this is integrating some type of bone conduction technology into the telephone, though all that’s required is skin contact around its earpiece, and consequently the tube effect (on air compression) contained in the ear canal would help reproduce the audio. The outcome? Lets hear the caller clearly even while wearing a couple of earphones (that have been playing classical music in addition) — the reason here’s that the tube effect still applies to the chamber between the earphone and the ear drum. Alas, there’s also no date for commercial availability yet, so you’ll just ought to take our word for it.
Last but not least, KDDI brought along a coarse but inspiring demo of a “free-viewpoint concert” for all sorts of display method — be it on a phone, tablet or TV. The idea’s rather self-explanatory: you’ve a virtual band in front of you, and through the performance not just are you able to move the camera around inside the virtual room or maybe at the stage, but you too can freely move each member around if you would like to change the sound stage. That allows you to jam with the instrumentals, you are able to simply flick the singer away, and in addition with the opposite band members do you have to like to have a one-to-one singing lesson. Just like the previous two demos, though, this early research project has yet to return up with a release plan, so you’ll just ought to get yourself a pal from KDDI for endless virtual concert fun.
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