Samsung has just developed a mobile phone camera built with a Kinect-style depth sensor.
Samsung’s new camera adds a Z pixel to the R, G and B you get in standard cameras. That Z part is a chunky old beast compared to normal camera tech, but does allow the cam to scan what’s ahead of it for depth, painting nearby objects lighter than those off in the distance.
What does this mean for Samsung phones? Any number of things. The most exciting use of this Kinect-style technology would be for gesture-based smartphone control.
Wave your hand in front or round the back of your handset to unlock it, or to open up certain apps, for instance.
It could also be used to develop more intelligent camera systems. Remember Sony’s Cyber-Shot dock that span round taking pictures of people at parties? Samsung could well equip its next line of Galaxy phones with that kind of body-recognition tech for taking pictures.
Source: Electric Pig
