Journal bostonidealist's Journal: 3D Is A Gimmick, Eye Tracking Is Not 1
Ahead of Amazon's likely announcement of a smartphone, there's been a lot of attention paid to the possibility that the phone will feature 3D user interface elements. While almost all "3D" display technology available at the moment is gimmickry, the possibility that the device will feature accurate focus and gaze tracking has serious implications for interface design.
Many modern digital cameras, including camera applications in many smartphones, have basic face detection, which enables cameras to attempt to auto-focus on human faces. There have been several demonstrations of using the front-facing camera on the iPhone, for example, to track a user's face and use these data to re-render "3D" scenes on screen or allow the user to control an application by moving his/her head relative to the iPhone's surface. These implementations are rudimentary and are limited by the relatively low resolution of modern smartphones' front-facing cameras. Separately, the autostereoscopic "3D" displays on the Nintendo 3DS and other devices like the HTC EVO 3D don't use cameras to track a user's perspective at all; the display technology in these devices create the illusion of depth by hiding alternate pixels on the screen from each of the viewer's eyes.
While these other examples of 3D technology have been confused in much coverage and online discussion, the evidence is that the core of what Amazon will be doing with its smartphone is completely different. At its core, the Amazon smartphone will likely employ accurate infrared gaze tracking. This can be used for "3D" rendering, but it can also be used for lots of other applications and hasn't been available in a major mainstream consumer electronics device before.
Compare the level of mental focus and attention required to move your head or hands around vs. moving your eyes. Most people don't even think about re-focusing their eyes or looking from one object to another. An interface where a user could stare at an icon to launch a program, read to the bottom of a page in an e-book and have the e-book's page turn automatically, or have a webpage similarly scroll automatically based on a user's progress reading the page's content would seem magical.
It will be interesting to see how sensitive and accurate Amazon's implementation of gaze tracking is and how it is integrated into the phone's interface. There are plenty of questions about battery life and other costs as well, but given the descriptions of infrared sensors in the device (coupled with the strong possibility that Amazon will subsidize the price of the phone and the data plan), it seems Amazon may be ready to shake up several industries more than many expect.
Eye-tracking (Score:1)
Is it real pupil tracking though? They mention navigation by tilting the smart phone.
If it was eye-tracking, you could move a cursor around with your eyes, and if your gaze reached the bottom of the window, it would automatically scroll down (eye-scrolling video demo at 0:22: http://youtu.be/2q9DarPET0o?t=... [youtu.be]).
But it does say that Amazon uses infrared, and the eye-tracking companies like Eye Tribe and Tobii do require infrared.
I do hope Amazon helps to make touchless gestures more mainstream.
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