iPhone goes 3D with Palm Top Theater

The iPhone is going 3D with a nifty little device called the i3DG Palm Top Theater, putting tiny little three-dimensional videos in your hot, sweaty hands.

The device clips on to your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. It contains three transparent mirrors, each reflecting a section of the video to create a 3D effect. Videos have to be specially divided into three sections, with each 3D layer separated into its own piece of video. It's based on the illusion known as Pepper's ghost, first demonstrated in the 1860s and used by magicians to make objects appear, disappear and morph together.

Palm Top Theater is on exhibition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam taking place in January 2011, where visitors will watch 3D films on the device. A workshop will also allow filmmakers to make their own tiny 3D masterpieces. Hit play on the video below to see the Palm Top Theatre in action.

If this was ever to go on sale, we could see it being really cool for gaming -- imagine a 3D game controlled by tilting the phone from side to side or up and down. It's not quite a Nintendo 3DS, but it's still pretty cool.

This is a neat little implementation of 3D, which requires no glasses. There aren't many glasses-free devices on the market at the moment, apart from the Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3 and Real 3D W1. Sharp reckons it will launch a 3D smart phone before the end of 2010, and Toshiba claims it has a glasses-free 3D telly also set to debut before the year is out.. We're not keen on glasses-free 3D televisions -- and it seems you lot aren't bothered either.