Hasta La Gadget!

Prior to its announcement, it was rumored that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3′s camera will tout optical image stabilization. OIS is a feature which, quite simply, reduces blurring when the camera is being used to take a photo or record a video. Samsung’s new phablet doesn’t come with OIS, unfortunately, though there a number of manufacturers who offer the feature in their flagship smartphones, manufacturers like HTC, LG and Nokia. At some point in time, Samsung is expected to catch up with its rivals, but a new report by Korean publication ET News suggests that might not happen with the Galaxy S5.

Samsung is expected to release the Galaxy S5 in January next year, presumably because Galaxy S4 has not met its internal sales projections. The smartphone is said to have an Exynos 6 64-bit processor with a whopping 4GB of RAM, but that’s not confirmed yet. The Galaxy S5 camera will presumably not have optical image stabilization because Samsung’s supply partners are unable to manufacture enough components to meet Samsung’s demand. Samsung sells millions of units of its flagship devices, so suppliers might have a hard time keeping up, if this report is to be believed. The company has previously been rumored to be interested in developing its own camera modules, a step which might become absolutely necessary to take if Samsung wants to bring OIS to its future devices without having to depend on independent suppliers.

Galaxy S5 Camera Might Not Have Optical Image Stabilization [Rumor] original content from Ubergizmo.

While we’re still scratching around with Ultrapixels and OIS, scientists in Singapore claim they’re working on something that could change the entire field of photography. Researchers at the Nanyang Technological University have developed an image sensor made out of graphene that’s 1,000 times better at capturing light than traditional CMOS or CCD sensors, all while using 10x less energy. These new sensors may initially be used in surveillance equipment and satellites — when they do eventually end up in regular cameras, however, they’re promised to be five times cheaper than the sensors they’re replacing. Combine this with the work being done on graphene batteries, and we’re that much closer to the perfect smartphone.

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Via: C|Net

Source: Science Daily

Nokia is continuing its trail of breadcrumbs to the official Lumia 928 launch, with today’s drop including this rendering of the phone in white and a video meant to show off its optical image stabilization chops. The phone pulls off some high quality video recording attached to a remote control helicopter flying through the forest, as it attempts to keep blur to a minimum. It also shows off a flash that, to our eyes, looks like the xenon bulb featured in the 808 PureView. There’s no comparison to other devices this time around, so you’ll just have to imagine what other phones could capture in similar circumstances (or, do the test yourself and send us the video — whatever works). Check out the demo after the break to see the results yourself, or hit the source link to sign up for more info.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

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Source: Nokia

Saying that the HTC One has piqued our interest is an understatement. The handset, which was announced today in London and New York, combines ultra-refined design with a uniquely tweaked Android experience, something we’ve covered in our hardware and software posts. Still, it’s the UltraPixel camera that’s raising the most eyebrows. We briefly played with the shooter and witnessed the new Zoe functionality first hand. It’s clear that HTC is making a bold move with the imaging technology used on this phone, but what does it really mean in terms of specs and performance? Let’s dive into the nitty gritty after the break.

HTC picked the word UltraPixel to brand its latest camera, just like Nokia coined the term PureView for its devices last year. The idea behind UltraPixels is to combine a physically large sensor with big pixels capable of gathering more light. With the HTC One, the company chose a 1/3-inch BSI sensor with 2µm pixels which absorb 330 percent more photons than the 1.1µm pixels typically found in modern handsets. This is combined with a fast 28mm f/2.0 autofocus lens similar to what’s available on the One X, but slightly recessed for protection. Better yet, this shooter features optical image stabilization (OIS) just like the Lumia 920 — it’s able to compensate for motion in 2 axes (pitch and yaw) up to 2,000 times per second. With big 2µm pixels (that’s Fujifilm X10 territory), a fast f/2.0 lens (vs. f/2.4 on the iPhone 5 and f/2.6 on the Galaxy S III) and OIS, the HTC One is poised to excel at low-light photography. A single LED flash is provided for those extremely dark circumstances.

We’re pretty sure you’ve noticed the giant elephant in the room by now — the lack of any mention of pixel count. That large sensor packs just four megapixels (!) and while anyone who knows digital photography understands that’s plenty, it’s still a daring move in a market driven by the megapixel myth. We’ll take four million 2µm pixels over eight million 1.1µm pixels any day, but we think it’s going be an uphill battle for HTC to educate the average consumer. The HTC One packs a new image signal processor (ISP) called ImageChip 2, which enables continuous autofocus in less than 200ms, and provides real-time lens compensation plus noise reduction. It also supports 1080p HDR video recording at near 30fps and 720p at 60fps with a dynamic range of about 84dB. The ISP implements a buffered capture cycle with pre- and post-shutter recording, for functionality similar to Scalado’s Rewind / Remove, Nokia’s Smart Shot, Samsung’s Best Face and BlackBerry’s Time Shift.

All this camera technology culminates with one particularly cool feature: Zoe. Named after the Greek word “life” and hinting at old zoetropes, this feature captures a 3-second 1080p 30fps H.264 video clip along with a 16:9 2688×1520 JPEG picture each time the shutter button is pressed. In burst mode, the HTC One is capable of taking 4-5 full-size stills per second while recording 1080p video. The resulting 3-second clips become animated thumbnails for your photos in the gallery. When you’re ready to share your memories, smart content editing, cutting and sequencing software is used to create and upload a Zoe — a professional-like highlight reel with images, clips, effects and music that remixes your content on the fly, complete with theme and music track synchronization. There are six themes and six music tracks to choose from, and you’re given the option to deselect photos or videos. Once uploaded, the result can be shared via Zoe Share, which generates a standard URL that’s valid for 30 days — think of it as Vine on steroids, but less permanent.

In addition the the main shooter, the HTC One comes equipped with a 2.1 megapixel front-facing module with f/2.0 wide-angle (88-degree) optics that supports 1080p video capture. Dual HDR microphones provide distortion-free stereo audio recording in a wide variety of conditions, including loud venues. Unfortunately, our time with the UltraPixel camera was too short to formulate a solid opinion, but based on our experience so far, HTC’s latest shooter is poised to delight both shutterbugs and casual users alike. On thing’s for sure: we can’t wait to take the company’s latest imaging flagship for a spin.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile, HTC

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Nokia’s video showcasing the Lumia 920’s Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) might’ve given the impression it was filmed with the new PureView-toting device, but a reflection of a film crew spotted by PocketNow in the trailer (27 seconds deep) hinted that wasn’t the case. The folks in Espoo have confirmed that the footage was indeed captured using a different camera. “Of course, hindsight is 20 / 20, but we should have posted a disclaimer stating this was a representation of OIS only,” the company’s Heidi Lemmetyinen penned on the Nokia Conversations blog. “This was not shot with a Lumia 920. At least, not yet. We apologize for the confusion we created.” You can catch the offending video and a shorter, but accurate clip comparing a prototype of the PureView handset with a competing device after the break.

Continue reading Lumia 920 PureView trailer was filmed with a different camera, Nokia apologizes for the confusion

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Lumia 920 PureView trailer was filmed with a different camera, Nokia apologizes for the confusion originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 21:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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