| Over the years, the “Red Book” has become the authoritative reference for each new version of the OpenGL API. Now we have the “Gold Book” for OpenGL ES 2.0—a cross-platform open standard ushering in a new era of shader programmability and visual sophistication for a wide variety of embedded and mobile devices, from game consoles to automobiles, from set top boxes to mobile phones.
Mobile phones, in particular, are impacting our everyday lives, as the devices we carry with us are evolving into full mobile computers. Soon we will be living in a world where most of us get our pixels delivered on these personal, portable devices—and OpenGL ES will be at the center of this handheld revolution. Devices such as the Apple iPhone already use OpenGL ES to drive their user interface, demonstrating how advanced graphics acceleration can play an important role in making a mobile phone fun, intuitive, and productive to use. But we have only just started the journey to make our handheld computers even more visually engaging. The shader programmability of the new generation of mobile graphics, combined with the portability and location awareness of mobile devices, will forever change how we interact with our phones, the Internet, and each other.
OpenGL ES 2.0 is a critical step forward in this mobile computing revolution. By bringing the power of the OpenGL ES Shading Language to diverse embedded and mobile platforms, OpenGL ES 2.0 unleashes enormous visual computing power, but in a way that is engineered to run on a small battery. Soon after this graphics capability is used to deliver extraordinary user interfaces, it will be leveraged for a wide diversity of visually engaging applications—compelling games, intuitive navigation applications, and more—all in the palm of your hand. |
