
Show HN: Hotspot 3D – Compare Phones with WebGL - binkies3d
https://www.hotspot3d.com/
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allanbreyes
Nice touch, especially on two subtle items:

1\. The centers of rotation aren't fixed, i.e. when you see the side profile,
they're much closer together. I think this makes it easier to compare them
side-by-side, especially when trying to compare thinness.

2\. Rotation is restricted to only two axes (vs. all three). It's surprisingly
difficult to control a 3-axis gimbal with only 2 axes on a screen. For those
who aren't familiar with 3D CAD/modeling, try orienting this gimbal simulation
[0] in an arbitrary angle (or doing a barrel roll). Restricting it to two axes
also keeps the models from going into orientations that probably aren't very
useful for the user.

I don't know the first thing about "3D UX," but I thought they were good,
albeit subtle, interface decisions.

[0]
[http://www.ctralie.com/Teaching/COMPSCI290/Materials/EulerAn...](http://www.ctralie.com/Teaching/COMPSCI290/Materials/EulerAnglesViz/)

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binkies3d
Thanks for the nice words: it is actually pretty tricky to get this right.
What works on "paper" often feels very weird in reality. Restricting the
navigation in this way allowed us to minimize the chance that you get lost in
a weird pose and it also makes sure that the phones will always stay within a
certain region of the screen.

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binkies3d
Hi, I'm one of the team at Binkies3D over in Holland. We just launched Hotspot
3D today. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it. :)

Whilst there are websites that let you compare the specs of phones, we wanted
to compare the shape and size. There are currently 19 phones on Hotspot 3D,
but we actually have the models for many more. We just chose the most popular
ones for now.

It's especially difficult to tell the difference between 'plus' models without
a physical reference, so that is where this idea came from.

The phones themselves are around 1.5MB each and are rendered using our own
custom engine in webGL. The java-script itself is only 40kb, and works on
mobile as well.

Thanks for taking a look, and I would love to hear any feedback or comments
you have.

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mappu
I love the lighting effects. Is that a diffuser umbrella showing up in the
reflection?

Is it possible that the Hotspot version will ever contain a comprehensive
catalog, or would that dig into sales of the main product? Could you add a
back-catalog to Hotspot without impacting sales?

Can you handle phones with moving parts? e.g. QWERTY sliders like the Xperia
Mini Pro, or addons like "Moto Mods" or the Essential PH-1 360 Camera.

Are you in discussion with any of these "websites that let you compare the
specs of phones"? That sounds like a great match.

1.5MB sounds a bit large when most phones have quite simple geometry. Where
does the file size come from?

~~~
binkies3d
That is indeed a diffuser umbrella :) If you count all color separably we
currently have over 1500 phones in our catalog. We plan to add these to
Hotspot and also make sure that new phones are available on the Hotspot
website close after launch. We will probably announce new releases on our
Facebook page.

Moving parts is something we have experience with but have not included in the
current version.

1.5MB might indeed sound a lot if you compare it to a single image. On the
other hand if you look at a regular 360 viewer this takes often about 10MB of
data. Also we want the phones to look really (really) good. This means that we
need to put quite a lot of detail into things like corners and buttons.

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bastijn
I’m confused. I wanted to reply some people I know from college did the same
and turned it into a company, Binkies3D [0]. Only to notice the user who
shared the article after. This is the same thing? Judging by your Twitter it
is. It’s been a while! Nice to see you finally managed to find the right
market :).

On-topic. Still awesome to flip around. I like how the compare mode is made to
smartly position the two phones based on viewing angle so they align best for
the comparison you likely want to make for that angle.

[0] [https://www.binkies3d.com/](https://www.binkies3d.com/)

~~~
binkies3d
We are the same company, although I started working here about 6 months ago.
This is a brand new site we have just launched. The phones themselves, we did
already have a few of them, but the P20 models just got announced by Huawei
today.

The core team is about 10 people, and we do projects like this every now and
then. :)

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confounded
Why is this flagged?

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amingilani
My thoughts exactly, and what's even more confusing is that I can't vouch for
it[1]. Almost as if [flagged] were part of the title. But it isn't, since when
viewing it without logging in (through incognito) the [flagged] is a lighter
color than the rest[2].

[1]: [https://cl.ly/qTJu](https://cl.ly/qTJu)

[2]: [https://cl.ly/qTHm](https://cl.ly/qTHm)

~~~
grzm
The "vouch" link only appears for [dead] submissions and comments. If you
believe a submission has been flagged in error, you can email the mods via the
Contact link in the footer.

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pimlottc
This is pretty cool! I would love it if you could create custom-sized objects
by inputting basic dimensions (l x h x w). It's hard to grasp the size of e.g.
different powerbanks just by reading the numbers.

~~~
binkies3d
Have you tried comparing it to the credit card? The size of these kinds of
cards are pretty standard internationally.

~~~
pimlottc
Sure, but that's not as helpful as if you could compare two powerbanks
directly, or comparing it to your phone.

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mendeza
I’m sooo impressed with the quality of the models! Have you considered
showcasing using farious AR platforms, like ARKit or snapchat’s Lens studio? I
am developing stuff on lens studio and I think it’s a great way to advertise!

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binkies3d
We would love to :)

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MightySCollins
This is done so well. I currently work at a phone comparison company and
permalinks would allow us to tweet about the difference in sizes etc. Pictures
just aren't as cool. Nice work

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mikhuang
Loading was really really slow for some reason. I'm in SF, could that have
anything to do with it?

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brokenmachine
It's very quick on my phone in Australia, so it has to be your PC, lol!

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pjmlp
It looks very nice.

Congratulations, one of the few times I see a worthwhile use of WebGL beyond
games.

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binkies3d
Thank you for that very considerate compliment!

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brokenmachine
Great stuff, looks great and works great on my phone too.

Just needs more models in there...

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binkies3d
We will :) Please follow one of our social channels so we can keep you up-to-
date.

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twhitbeck
A nice-to-have option would be switching to isometric perspective.

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binkies3d
Can you explain what would offer this to you: we are happy to learn and take
this into consideration!

