Apparently, somebody in Sony’s camera-phone department didn’t get the megapixel memo. While pixel-counts in real cameras have been shrinking in favor of bigger, better, more sensitive pixels, cellphone cams seems to be squeezing in more and tinier photo-sites.
The sensor is the 16.41 Megapixel Exmor R, a tiny back-illuminated CMOS sensor designed to boost the spec-sheet of any phone it is stuffed into. Exmor is Sony’s photo-processing engine, used in its cameras and seen here in a cellphone-cam for the first time.
In better news, Sony has also come with the “industry’s smallest and thinnest” lens module, which could lead to better camera in things like the iPod Touch. These modules have auto-focus and are designed for the new Exmor sensors.
But back to those pixels. Sony is actually proud that it has the smallest pixels in the world: 1.12μm, if you’re counting (and we are). It has mitigated the light and color-bleeding problems of jamming so many tiny photodiodes so close together by inventing “a unique formation of photo diodes optimally designed for fine pixel structure.” What this means is less noise and higher sensitivity. Here’s a picture:
That picture is taken under perfect lighting in a studio. Don’t expect results like these in the streets at dusk.
I suppose I secretly like these crazy announcements. In squeezing ever more pixels into ever tinier spaces, Sony makes advances that will make proper cameras better. And it’s not stopping, either. Sony ash just invested 40 billion Yen ($485 million) in the Kumamoto Technology Center to make more CMOS chips.
Sony commercializes world’s first 16.41 Megapixe sensors for mobile phones [Sony]
See Also:
- Panasonic Lumix Phone, 13 Megapixels, Touch Screen
- Altek Leo, a 14 Megapixel, HD-Shooting Camera Phone
- Samsung CL80 More Like a Cellphone Than a Camera
- iPod Touch Camera Is Less Than One Megapixel
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