Mobile phones to get Wii-like control

 

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Posted on 9 Jan 2008 at 07:21

GestureTek has announced plans to bring its Wii-like motion control to mobile phones in the UK. Unlike Nintendo's technology, which uses an accelerometer to detect motion, GestureTek's EyeMobile is software that uses your phone's existing camera. The background environment is monitored, and any movement by the phone can be translated into movement on the screen. This means no special hardware is required, making for cheaper handsets.

"There's no advantage to using dedicated hardware, and that accelerometers just add cost," said Francis MacDougall, CTO and co-founder of GestureTek. "Our software will run on any current handset and doesn't add to the price of the phone."

EyeMobile has already been launched in Japan on the NTT DoCoMo network, where it's popular for mobile gaming. We tried a demonstration handset at CES in Las Vegas, and where impressed by the smoothness of the control. GestureTek is hoping to have similar success in the UK when it partners with O2 and translates the existing Japanese titles.

As well as simple movement, EyeMobile can also detect shakes and flicks. These can be used for more than just gaming. We saw a picture-viewing application, where the flick zoomed in, and the movement was used to scroll around the image. The company is also in the process of integrating its technology into a web browser that could rival the Apple iPhone's for ease of use.

EyeMobile can be integrated easily onto existing handsets, as it's just a simple software installation, and it doesn't have to be pre-installed by your mobile operator.

"If you download a game it has the technology inside it already," said MacDougall. "We're also looking at making the technology available as a standalone download."

GestureTek's technology should be available in the UK later this year, and more details of its web browser will be announced at the 3GSM mobile conference held in February.

Author: David Ludlow in Las Vegas