Researchers at Hewlett-Packard say they have developed a way to put glasses-free 3D video on mobile devices with a wide enough viewing angle to allow viewers to see objects more fully just by tilting the screen.

Glasses-free 3D in itself is not unique – companies such as MasterImage 3D and Stream TV have demonstrated the technology on tablets and flat-screen TVs at consumer electronics shows. Nintendo’s 3DS handheld allows video game play in 3D without glasses, but it requires players to look straight into the screen with their noses centred.

But HP’s researchers have found a way to make images viewable from angles up to 45 degrees from centre in any direction: up, down, side-to-side or diagonally.

That means, for instance, that viewers can see a person's face with one ear blocked from view, but reveal it by swivelling the screen.

Their findings will be published in the scientific journal Nature today.