The prospect of a MeeGo-running N9 may have left you salivating, but now Intel and Nokia have opened a lab working on 3D graphics for mobile phones and other devices.
The companies said the research could look into technologies previously only seen in science fiction, such as a rather far-fetched sounding 3D hologram of the person you're talking to on the phone.
We're picturing the scene in Star Wars where Luke Skywalker opens up R2D2 and sees a 3D hologram of the lovely Princess Leia. We imagine the reality will be somewhat less glamorous when we're calling in sick.
And it's not that this type of technology has never been worked on before. Our sister site silicon.com reported that Indian company Infosys has patented a system of capturing and displaying holograms on mobile handsets -- but this was in 2008, with no sign of any real product yet.
Opened at the University of Oulu, Finland, the research lab has the fancy moniker 'Intel and Nokia Joint Innovation Centre'. Despite the announcement, the companies have no current plans to build any specific device together.
The first thing the two companies will be working on will be creating more natural 3D experiences on mobile devices, in the more achievable sense of integrated graphics. Intel and Nokia said that it would fit in with the work they're doing on MeeGo.
This is the new open-source platform they've partnered on aimed at smart phones and netbooks, which aims to be an alternative to the iPhone and Android operating systems. It clearly has a huge mountain to climb, but the Joint Innovation Centre might be something of a base camp.
Would you love to see 3D holograms displayed on your phone? And what do you think of MeeGo, the Intel and Nokia OS partnership? As usual, let us know in the comments.
Image credit: Wookieepedia