Normally, images of beautiful things are going through camera lenses, but you can’t deny that there’s something uniquely beautiful about the lenses themselves. The contrast of the colors on black, the sharp-yet-simple linear designs. It should be no surprise they make super slick bracelets.
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Nokia has posted some sample images from its new half-camera, half-phone Lumia 1020. Since we weren’t allowed to shoot and keep any photos of our own during yesterday’s hands-on
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Android on a point-and-shoot? Last year we learned that it could be done. But with some features that duplicate the functionality of a smartphone without an ability to make calls, Samsung’s Galaxy Camera was a confusing mix of form and function. It was very much a first-generation device, and while they may have regretted it later, some curious early adopters did drop $500 for the soon-to-be-obsolete hybrid. The cumbersome compact, with its massive 21x lens and power-hungry 4.8-inch touchscreen, may not have won over the photography community, but Samsung’s 2013 approach has a much better chance at success.
With a design that’s based on the Galaxy S4 Mini, the Galaxy S4 Zoom adds a fair amount of heft to accommodate the feature that sets it apart from every other smartphone on the market: a 10x 24-240mm optically stabilized lens. But it’s still pocketable, believe it or not, and it functions quite well as a phone. While the Galaxy Camera was first and foremost a camera, the Zoom’s primary function is as an ordinary Android smartphone — albeit one with a larger sensor and a powerful lens. Can it replace both devices? And will you want it to? Shoot past the break for our take.
Gallery: Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom review
Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile, Samsung
Today we’ve had our first look at the Nokia Lumia 1020 – a device with a 41-megapixel back-facing camera more than ready to take on the already revealed Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom. Where not too many years ago it was considered amazing to see a camera present in a cellphone, here in 2013 we’ve got not just cellphones, but smartphones, bringing on camera constructs far more powerful than most standard pocket-friendly point-and-shoots! Now both Nokia and Samsung have machines with as much focus on the smartphone as on the photography power they possess – so what’s the difference?
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom works with a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor with an f/3.1-f/6.3 24-240mm 10x zoom lens. This produces results that we’ve just begun to test in our first Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom hands-on with photo examples posted this week. It’s appearing here to be an extremely well-balanced shooter with the ability to take fine photos on its back as well as its front (where a 2 megapixel shooter sits).
Meanwhile the Nokia Lumia 1020 works with a 41-megapixel sensor branded PureView by the company working with an f/2.2 ZEISS lens. The Nokia device works with an up-to 6x digital zoom setup, but claims said zoom will result in no loss of quality due to the machine’s ability to collect so much more image information in the first place.
You’ll have to check out our SlashGear 101: Nokia Lumia 1020 Oversampling and the 5MP “Sweet Spot” until we can get some photo experience with the machine out in the wild. We’re expecting results at least as fine as those produced with the original Nokia 41MP machine, the Nokia 808 PureView.
The physical shape of each of these machines puts the line between camera and phone at a new level of blurry, each in their own way. While the Nokia machine literally has the back-facing lens set in landscape, letting you know that the back side is not a portrait-facing sort of situation, the Samsung device has a similar aim – the Samsung logo may be set in portrait, but the rest of the back is clearly a standard camera and lens looking aesthetic.
The fronts of both machines, too, are set to look like smartphones on their own. The Samsung Galaxy S4′s final size comes in at 125.5 x 63.5 x 15.4 mm while the Nokia Lumia 1020 is thinner – yet taller and wider 130.4 x 71.4 x 10.4 mm in total. NOTE: You’re seeing the Samsung machine here next to the Nokia 808 PureView here, the 808 resting atop the comparably thin Nokia Lumia 1020.
You’ll need a lot of space for all the photos and video you’re going to be capturing. For the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom you’ve got a rather modest 8GB of space built-in, but you’ve got a microSD card slot capable of working with up to 32GB cards. Meanwhile the Nokia Lumia 1020 works with 32GB of internal storage right out of the box, but has no microSD card slot. It’s a tradeoff or a bonus either way – depending on your perspective!
The key factor in deciding between these two machines for you may very well come down to the operating system that backs them up. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom works with the newest version of Android, Jelly Bean 4.2.2, while the Nokia machine has Windows Phone 8. Both machines have a rather healthy amount of backup from their respective manufacturers as both machines are heavily invested in the operating systems they roll with, and both work with extremely unique systems under the hood.
While we’ve gotten our first taste of what the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is working with thanks to our first hands-on on the review bench (as linked above) and through our original Galaxy S4 Zoom hands-on, it’ll be a bit before we get as involved with the 1020 as we want to be before we make any judgements on the Nokia machine. For now you’ll have to take a peek at our first Nokia Lumia 1020 hands-on to see what you make of it!
Nokia Lumia 1020 vs Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom: war of the camera phones is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
More interviews? Don’t mind if we do. Nokia’s got plenty to talk about on the Lumia 1020 front, and it also has plenty of people to do the talking. After a sadly brief interview with CEO Stephen Elop, we thankfully got to spend a bit more time with the Matt Rothschild, the company’s head of sales operation for North America. Like Elop before him, Rothschild seemed visibly excited to show off the company’s latest flagship device, locking it into the camera grip in front of him, which was itself screwed into a magnetic Gorilla Pod. “The next time you’re at one of these,” he said with a smile, “you’ll be shooting it on a Lumia.”
As his Australian accent betrays, Rothschild’s done his fair share of traveling, a fact that’s certainly given him a bit of a global perspective on what truly is a global company. We kicked things off by asking the executive how the North American market stacks up to the rest of the globe. Rothschild seems positive on that front, suggesting that, in spite of having stumbled a bit over the past few years (our words, not his, incidentally), Nokia is in a good position to offer an alternative to a smartphone field so dominated by the likes of Samsung and Apple.
Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile, Nokia, AT&T
Nokia came forth today with its new Lumia 1020
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We had a, um, sneaking suspicion something like this might be happening — but we wanted to see it in person, just to make sure. After an accidental tip off, Nokia and AT&T are finally ready to show off the latest flagship Lumia for real. Meet the Nokia Lumia 1020, complete with all 41 million of those reasons we’ve been hearing about for a while now. That, naturally, is a not so subtle reference to the second-gen PureView 41-megapixel sensor, packed with what the company’s calling the “largest back side illuminated sensor available on a smartphone.” Around the front, you’ll find a 4.5-inch 1,280 x 768 pixels (at a 16:9 aspect ratio) AMOLED PureMotion HD+ display protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and — the company adds — offering super-sensitive touch, even when the user’s got a pair of gloves on (not that we’re thinking about such things in mid July).
The image-focused Windows Phone handset also features six-lens Zeiss optics, manual shutter, xenon flash for different light levels and second-gen optical stabilization. On the software side, you’ll get a Nokia Pro Camera app, so you can manually adjust flash, focus, ISO, white balance, shutter speed and exposure — you know, like on a real camera. On the video side of things, you’ll be able to shot 1080p at 30 frames a second with 4x zoom (and 6x in 720p), while the built-in mics promise high quality even in loud settings. Using the app, you can also reframe photos, zoom, change orientation and more.
Gallery: Nokia Lumia 1020
Check out all the news from today’s Nokia event at our hub!
Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Peripherals, Mobile, Nokia, AT&T
It’s time to jump in on the next generation of Windows Phone camera power thanks to none other than the Nokia Lumia 1020: the company’s fabled combination of PureView power and the shape of the 900. What does that mean to the lay person tuning in with us for this “Zoom, Reinvented” event? It means we’re in New York City for Nokia’s push that’s sure to show off at least the likes of the machine called Nokia Lumia 1020, a smartphone with Windows Phone 8 and a 41 megapixel camera on its back.
This device has all but leaked in full at this point, and with good reason. We’ve been looking forward to the technology shown off in the Nokia 808 PureView (ages ago, it would seem), with the slightly more standard Windows Phone environment. Here we’re getting a body that’s nearly as thin as the company’s recent hero phones in the Nokia Lumia 928, 925, et all.
The device itself is said to work with a 4.5-inch AMOLED display on one side, an f/2.2 lens and optical image stabilization on the other. And 41 megapixels of power, of course. There’s also said to be a Pro Camera app inside exclusive to this machine, giving the camera the abilities it needs to bring it well above the rest of the fray.
Inside there’s the capability for wireless charging – an add-on case will take car of such needs. There’s 2GB of RAM, a processor that’s at least dual-core and straight from Qualcomm, and there’s a grip shell, as well! This machine certainly won’t be going without a full-on multi-tiered collection of accessories right out the gate, that’s for sure.
SlashGear will be covering the event the whole way through – starting at 11AM Eastern Time (4PM in London, 8AM PT) and ending when Nokia says it’s ending. Stay tuned straight through our Nokia tag portal this instant!
Nokia Lumia 1020 “Zoom, Reinvented” event: we’re here! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Kodak may be in deep trouble financially, but it seems they’re trying to get their pennies in order and their balance back. Today, we’re seeing leaked photos of an upcoming Micro Four Thirds camera from the company that aims to put Kodak back into the photography spotlight. No official name has been determined for this new snapper, but it seems it’ll be called the S1.
It doesn’t appear to be the same one we saw back in January, either. Final specs are still a mystery, but based on the photos, we can get an idea of some of the things we’ll be working with when this bad boy eventually pops out on store shelves. The camera will have WiFi capabilities, and the overall body of the device seems pretty compact — nothing too surprising in the looks department.
The kit lens looks to be an Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, which also comes standard on Olympus PEN cameras as well as discontinued E-P series shooters. The camera will have a generously-sized LCD screen on the back, although we’re not sure if it’ll be touchscreen or not. Seeing as how there’s already plenty of physical controls on the camera, it’s not likely we’ll see a touchscreen on this one. It will, however, be able to pop out at an angle for easy viewing in live mode.
As many other Micro Four Thirds cameras, the S1 will be able to shoot in manual, as well as either shutter or aperture priority. Of course, there’s also an automatic mode for the novices, and you’ll also be able to record video, which we’re guessing will be 1080p, but we can’t be too sure at this point.
Based on the photos, it looks like there will be a matching flash for the camera, but we’re not sure if that will be available separately or if it will come with the camera. Again, no specs have been leaked for the camera, nor do we know about price, but come next year, Kodak fans should be able to grab one of these.
VIA: 4/3 Rumors
Kodak Micro Four Thirds camera leaks, tipped for 2014 arrival is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The Chinese-developed IOE3-Kanban camera features a 100-megapixel charge-coupled device (CCD) chip capable of producing 10,240 x 10,240 pixel images. The light and compact camera should greatly boost success in the fields of disaster monitoring, aerial mapping and intelligent transportation systems where ultra-high-resolution imaging is key.
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