Ask Gadgetator: 3D on Tablets

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This question comes from "technologyftw" and deals with 3D on phones and tablets.

Question: What do you think of 3D on the G-Slate? Should tablets move towards head-tracking 3D or the kind of 3D on the Evo 3D and Thrill 4G. -technologyftw

Answer: 3D itself seems sort of gimmicky. It’s great in theaters, and okay on a 50 or 60 inch television. Smaller than that, just doesn't really work well. The most obvious reason that 3D gets better as it the picture gets bigger, is because 3D really needs to fill your field of view.

In real life, your entire vision is seen in 3D. This seems natural. Once you get it down even to a theater size, It seems less natural, because the 3D you are seeing onscreen is different that the 3D that the chair in front of you is. “Artificial 3D” is more 3D seeming than what you see in real life. Therefore the sudden change from artificial to natural 3D can look unnatural.

Television 3D is worse. With a theater, at least it fills up the majority of your field of view. With a TV, it only fills up a small part of your field of view, so the transition between artificial and natural 3D is less natural looking.

Once you get down to the 3 or 4 inch screens on a phone, or even the 9 or 10 inch screens on a tablet, the 3D just won’t look as good. It barely fills your field of view, and therefore just doesn’t look natural.

Movie theaters, 3D is good, TV’s, it’s okay, but on a phone or tablet, 3D is just a gimmick to make you buy the product.

My answer to your question is that tablets should not move towards head tracking or any other kind of 3D, and should stick with the good old two dimensions that we have grown to know and love.