DoCoMo's glasses-free 3D LCD panel could make the 3DS look decidedly first-gen

At E3 this past summer, we got our first taste of the Nintendo 3DS, and early impressions were good: compelling 3D effect sans glasses from its Sharp-sourced parallax barrier LCD. But, as soon as we moved the thing it became clear that the viewing angle on the effect is woefully slim. This is a problem DoCoMo is said to have at least reduced with its glasses-free LCD, relying on eight lenticular lenses to offer a 30 degree viewing angle -- on the horizontal plane. Vertically you still have to be perfectly aligned, but the company hopes to remove that restriction before products based on this tech are released in the next year or two. It's a bit early, but we're already having flashbacks to young LCD manufacturers battling to deliver the widest viewing angles while maintaining full contrast. Hopefully that means in the not-too-distant future everyone will have 180-degree 3D LCDs -- and they'll all be dirt cheap, too.