HTC recently confirmed that it is opening an office in that area. And now an executive has also corroborated the companyâs curiosity about 3D.
âWeâve always had an interest in bringing userâs content to life in 3D,â says Drew Bamford, HTCâs head of User Experience. He traces that interest back to the companyâs Touch Diamond handset, which launched in the spring of 2008.
The phone, which ran on Microsoftâs Windows Mobile operating system, had a software layer called TouchFLO 3D that incorporated 3D details. Features included a phonebook that rotated, akin to a virtual Rolodex, and music albums that flipped when swiped with a finger. âWe built up expertise in rendering content in 3D,â says Bamford.
When HTC moved from TouchFLO 3D to its Sense experience, it âstepped backâ from these 3D flourishes, however. The company was also adjusting to a new operating system (Googleâs Android) at the time and felt it had a lot of information to absorb, says Bamford. Now that HTC has more than two years of Android experience, it is âwell positioned to push boundaries [in 3D] again,â says Bamford. The technology offers the benefit of âaccelerating usersâ experiencesâ on phones, he adds.
HTC has already made some forays with recent devices, such as its Windows Phone 7-based HD7, which features â3D animationsâ of the weather.
HTC may be the most prominent smartphone maker to express interest in 3D, but itâs not the first.
Sharp earned the title of first 3D smartphone earlier this month with its âGalapagosâ phones, which are scheduled to debut in Japan and come to the U.S. in 2011.
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