The HTC Evo 3D is coming to the UK, and to go with it, the HTC Watch movie rental app will begin serving up 3D movies. You’ll even be able to output these to a 3D TV, we’ve confirmed: is this the end for big ol’ standalone 3D Blu-ray players?
At a briefing to press last week, HTC’s director of commercialisation product management Graham Wheeler said that the HTC Watch movie streaming service, which comes preloaded on the HTC Sensation, HTC Flyer tablet and HTC Evo 3D would offer 3D movies on the latter for download and rental.
These 3D movies will be viewable on the Evo 3D’s auto-stereoscopic screen without the need for glasses, or output to a 3D TV via an HDMI cable and an MHL adaptor.
HTC expect big name titles to be available on the HTC Evo 3D in 3D: although Wheeler didn’t name studios, he did say that recent release The Green Hornet would come preloaded on the phone in certain regions, a sign that Hollywood is interested.
Google offers new release movies for streaming in 2D on Android phones via its Movies app, but the service is currently only available in the US.
Wheeler also said that while no games that make use of the 3D display on the HTC Evo 3D would be pre-installed, HTC “expects this to help launch 3D games” on Android.
Wheeler was also confident that the HTC Evo 3D will be the first of many 3D phones from the Taiwanese company, despite the lukewarm consumer reception to the Nintendo 3DS, which uses a similar glasses-free screen to the HTC Evo 3D.
“I do personally expect more 3D to come in future for HTC,” he told Electricpig. “But future products are for future announcements.”
The HTC Evo 3D will be out in Q3 this year.
Would you buy a phone to rent 3D movies easily? Is it all just a big gimmick? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
