Apple to test 2018 iPhone pipeline after last year’s TrueDepth snafu

It was rumored to be one of the dragging factors that kept the iPhone X from getting out to customers with the other iPhones last year.

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VR pros and enthusiasts, rejoice: the 17-lens Samsung 360 Round camera is ‘only’ $10,500

If you're a little more serious about your VR content creation than what the Gear 360 can handle, check out the professional-grade Samsung 360 Round.

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iPhone 8’s Face ID explained and demonstrated

The final version of iOS 11 has been leaked in a "golden master" and now we're dissecting the software interface and hardware behind "Face ID."

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Source says there’s iPhone 8 panic at Apple, and not the good kind

Software engineers are tipped to be on a scary slope to delays for major features like facial recognition and wireless charging on this $1,000+ iPhone.

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Latest round of iPhone 8 speculation details ‘3D-sensing’ front camera, RAM and ROM options

In addition to no screen bezels or home button, the redesigned face of the groundbreaking iPhone 8 should bring a 3D-capable selfie cam to the table.

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Microsoft’s 3D strategy suggests a lot about its mobile strategy

A few weeks back, Microsoft had an event in which they unveiled some really neat things. Now, I’m not here to talk about The Surface Book, though it is nice, nor the Surface Studio, though I admittedly want one pretty hard. Rather, I want to talk about how Microsoft likely tipped its hand for the future. It looks very highly likely that Windows 10 mobile isn’t long for this world, at least in its current form. Allow me to explain.

Microsoft started off by showing off its new upcoming update to Windows 10. Windows 10 Creators Update will feature a wide range of creator’s tools, including the pronounced use to 3D modeling in Paint among other programs. You remember Windows Paint right? I remember vividly coloring in pixel by pixel in Windows Paint long before I had any concept of Paint Shop Pro, or anything Adobe’s ever made. But one announcement Microsoft made seemingly telegraphed its intentions going forward.

microsoft-paint-3d-doodleNot just Windows

During the demo of 3D fun that we were shown, our Creator presenter showed off 3D scanning capability on an app installed on an HP Elite X3,  because someone had to buy one I guess. But the next item dropped was the kicker. The app that was scanning 3D objects with the greatest of ease was going to roll out to all mobile phones in the future including Android and iPhone, presumably..

Just think about that for a second. Microsoft has this really great tech that pairs off well with its operating system, and it’s releasing it to the masses without batting an eyelash. Of course, we don’t know the full details just yet – whether it’ll be Windows 10 Mobile first, everyone else second, etc. But the fact that Microsoft is getting out in front of everyone and sharing this tech on competing platforms tells me one of two things is happening.

On the bright side

The more optimistic view of this is that Microsoft realizes that other platforms are already well on their way to doing this. Sometimes friend/sometimes competitor Lenovo rolled out very similar tech with Project Tango (cross) and the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. It’s possible and likely that Microsoft simply wants to get ahead of the game in this respect. 3D and augmented reality are coming very quickly over the horizon and the first companies in this industry will likely benefit the most. It’s possible Microsoft simply wants to get in everyone’s heads about this stuff before we start thinking about it in earnest.

Let’s face it, 3D models with Buffy and Missy on the beach are cute, but there’s no real practical application for them…yet. This industry has a long way to go to establishing itself and Microsoft clearly wants to be one of the first boots on the ground. Industries aren’t always defined by who is best, but often by who is first. Microsoft can make up a lot of ground in the mobile and computing industry in general if it is one of the early pioneers of this future.

microsoft-paint-3d-minecraftBe everywhere, not nowhere

Of course, it likely also means that Microsoft wants to be the first in this industry on all platforms because it recognizes that its own platform won’t gain the traction it needs to be a leader. If this tech were cool enough, and it looks like it might be, it could potentially help pull a platform up by a lot. If Microsoft were to stay exclusive to Windows 10 Mobile and release this 3D Centric Creator Update, it might have some chance of reviving the platform. Not much of a chance, but a chance. Rather, Microsoft is taking the safer bet by going all in on the successful platforms, which means it has little faith in its own. This is a bit sobering and sad, but I’m not sure I see another way to interpret these events.

That being said, if Microsoft can help shape this future of ours, there is still every reason to continue to be somewhat active in the mobile space and stay fresh in the minds of those who are paying attention to technology. Because when the time comes to ramp up Windows (whatever number they’re on) Mobile in the future, it will already have some column inches waiting for it. Windows 10 Mobile may not be dead, but it’s clearly less important to Microsoft than ever before. There is some reason to hope for the future – the far future – but for right now, Microsoft is playing things safe, as it probably should.

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Apple reportedly teams up with LG Innotek for ‘3D camera’ on iPhone 8

The world’s largest information technology company by revenue couldn’t so comfortably dominate the smartphone profitability ranks if it took big gambles through the wide-scale adoption of experimental features every year.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t dream of an “unapologetically” revolutionary iPhone 8 next year with a borderless OLED screen, all-glass design, wireless charging support, and even 3D camera functionality.

Hopefully, the latter part will be a little less gimmicky than what condemned Amazon’s Fire Phone to public ridicule and rapid oblivion. If it pans out to begin with, considering we’re still light on specifics, and the Korean media’s rumor looks impossible to substantiate for the time being.

All we “know” is Apple has purportedly “united forces” with LG Innotek, the exclusive supplier of iPhone 7 Plus dual camera systems, to “enable 3D photographing” on “new products starting from the latter half of next year.”

At least one, but likely two of the three iPhone 8 versions coming in 2017 should again adopt rear-facing dual cam setups, presumably with enhanced “bokeh” effects in tow, facilitated by a new Portrait mode and mystery depth-of-field upgrades, aka 3D features.

First, it’ll be interesting to see if perhaps next spring’s LG G6 brings back 3D photography goodies after the Optimus 3D family’s missteps a while ago.

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ZTE Axon 7 Max supports naked eye 3D viewing, 3D photo-taking with dual 13MP cams

Is the 3D content creation and consumption gimmick making a comeback both on phones and computers? Could Microsoft and ZTE finally unlock the technology’s full potential, turning it into something practical and mass-appealing?Unfortunately, we still know too little about the soon-to-be-updated Paint 3D graphics app, while the Axon 7 Max is official and already up for pre-order in China, but ...

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ZTE Axon 7 Max leaked in retail details before launch, could be another HTC EVO 3D

One Chinese e-commerce market has listed the ZTE Axon 7 Max up for sale before the company got the chance to even launch the thing. But hey, a day out from the event isn’t terribly bad, right?Anyways, the specs are just as big as the rumors made them out to be… well, big if you don’t count the octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor. There’s 4GB of ...

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Windows 10 Creators Update officially coming ‘early 2017’ with 3D creation focus

According to Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group, Terry Myerson, at a currently ongoing New York City press event, there are over 400 million people around the world already using the platform’s build 10 just 15 months after its initial manufacturing release.Since July 2015, Windows 10 only got one semi-major makeover in both desktop and mobile incarnations, dubbed simply the Anniversary Update, with the so-called “Redstone 2” rumored for a spring 2017 rollout for a while now.Of course, this will actually ship to Windows 10 devices for free ...

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Is a Nexus 3D camera a good idea?

Oh boy. Remember this thing? The HTC EVO 3D was one of two smartphones, alongside the LG Optimus 3D, that featured two very unique and very niche features: a dual camera setup on the back of the phone, and an autostereoscopic display for viewing 3D images, similar to what’s found on the Nintendo 3DS. Neither phone was met with very favorable reviews, and they quickly died out and vanished into obscurity.

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Here’s how Amazon could do a 3D phone and not fail

Rumors are surfacing about Amazon playing with the idea of finally bringing a smartphone to market. Why wouldn’t they? They’ve already got some basic eBook readers, and some devices that should rightly be called “tablets”. They don’t have a phone, not yet anyway. So what’s this we’re hearing about an Amazon 3D phone? According to sources that don’t want to be named, not only is Amazon working on a phone, but it might include a 3D user interface as well. I know what you’re saying: we already had 3D phones, and they flopped — big ...

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