What Project Natal means for Windows Mobile

June 1, 2009 | By Surur

I spent about 2 hours today watching Microsoft’s E3 presentation, looking out for more information about the integration of the ZuneHD with the Xbox 360.

Unfortunately no mention at all was made the hardware device, and only passing mention of the Zune service was made. However what initially appeared to be a complete waste of time turned out into one of the coolest tech demos I have ever seen.

Microsoft revealed Project Natal, which appears to be a game changer, not just for video games, but for all user interfaces in general. Powered by stereoscopic speakers, microphones and a good pile of software, the device is able recognize fine motions and do full motion capture, recognize faces and even voices, and with the right software respond accordingly.

See the demo video below here:

So what does this mean for Windows Mobile? Not much directly, but it, like Windows 7 and the ZuneHD, shows that Microsoft can still make excellent and exciting products, something which allays their stodgy image. It also tells us that Microsoft can make excellent user interfaces, which promises a lot for Windows Mobile 7.

If ZuneHD and Project Natal is cool, imagine Windows Mobile 7…

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged windows mobile 7

nuke1

Although I’ve mostly stuck to MS in most spheres, I think MS is really proving itself to be innovative. I hope the camera or motion sensor is very acute and precise for the more finer games. May consider selling PS3 if Sony is unable to bring forth something as innovative and yet intuitive.
wreiad

rembember the concepts?
Craig S

They’re on a roll this year
lennard

pretty cool, I had read about it, but it actually caught me off guard. I like that it allows you to controll the dashboard navigation with just your hands, no controller needed. when this comes out I’ll definitely buy my mother an xbox with project natal for her living room and hook it up with netflix and zune video, she should have no problem waving her hands around to navigate through it…..hahaha, I can see her loving it. and I’m getting one for myself too.
KG

This article was EXACTLY what I was thinking about when watching the E3 press conference/keynote. Zune UI is beautiful, as well as Xbox 360…Windows 7 is beautiful and Media Center is also beautiful. Windows Mobile 7 will definitely look beautiful and be very innovative.
http://www.j2i.net Joel Johnson

wow, and I thought the Minority Report interface was nice.
ishy

by far the coolest thing at e3 so far. shame word on the street is it won’t hit until 2010 and cost around $200
bornotty

microsoft’s gonna take over the world by 2020.. =D
Soundwave

Do you have any idea how long it takes before your arms get tired if you play a racing game like that. Start waving your arm in front of you for a couple of minutes and you’ll all find out why user interfaces like seen in the minority report and a lot of touch interfaces for things you repeatedly use are completely useless. It all looks cool and intuitive, but we’ll be using click and point devices forever unless we get some brainwave mindreading stuff. waving and touching a screen from 9 till 5 will make carpal tunnel syndrom grow exponentially

nuke1

Which is why we have the prime example of the Wii being a big failure. Not.

I suppose you don’t drive? Because moving something is easier then just flailing your hands in the air…

Soundwave

I drive a lot, play videogames on 360, Wii and PS3 and as interaction designer my job is to design graphical user interfaces for both normal screens as well as touchscreen devices, so I think I do know a lil bit what I’m talking about. When using the Wii you actually hold something which makes the experience more real than what you see in the Natal Vid. Don’t get me wrong, I love innovative stuff like this. but just because something looks cool and futuristic doesn’t make it better all the time. There’s a reason why there’s not so many games on the Wii which you can play while leaning back in your chair, have a beer and go on for hours.
When your job requires you to sit behind a desk using a computer all day long, either for text editing, programming, or designing, you will always need some form of input ‘device’ untill in 2315 when were all in the matrix/beehive/collective mind thingy where we just plug in our brains and just ‘think’ what we want to see on the screen.
PS
It’s still an instant buy for me when this shit ever hits the shelves

KG

I thought of that also…no way I’d play a racing game for LONG without using a wheel or a controller. The Xbox experience with Natal is all systems go…you wont use your arms for long anyway…and the voice commands are excellent. All is all, project natal reeks of win.

nuke1

Don’t get me wrong, for the avid gamers, the controller remains. And many games I’d like the controller. I’d even go so far as saying the WASD-and-mouse option is the best for FPS games as of yet.

But there’s many games where I would just like to gesture with hand motion. It’s easy!

bornotty

well yea.. i think it’ll be optional.. controllers and motion sensor..

wreiad

NO seriously did everyone forget this?
http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=4380
Chris

I think MS is one of the most innovative companies around. Call me crazy, but I think they are even more innovative than Apple. HOWEVER, what they suck at doing is trickling down all of these innovations into convenient friendly packages that talk to each other.

Look at Zune, XBox, MS Live, Surface, Vista, and Winmo. They are all disparate entities, tied together by some very loose strings. Live can now sync with winmo, but only some services are integrated, not all. Live can only recently sync with Outlook and it is nowhere near as tightly integrated as Exchange. Myphone only syncs with Winmo, but not Outlook. Zune and Windows Media Player Mobile are as far as could be from each other to the point that they even use different desktop software (ie Zune Desktop vs Windows Media Player) and you can forget about the two devices communicating via wifi “squirts”. XBox has Media Center Functionality but Winmo does not. Vista can work with some Live features, but it breaks down when you want to sync Live tasks or calender (I believe) and of course winomo does the same. Surface is one of the best touch experiences available, but it looks like it doesn’t integrate with ANY other MS products… Sigh, I really have to faith in MS bringing this Xbox Natal demo anywhere near Winmo.
mutant

it’s instant buy for me. I have very first gen xbox 360 and still loving and playing it. Just bought PS3 as well. But if this come out, xbox360 will be my primary game machine+multimedia.
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