Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Windows Mobile Device + Train Set = Fun

Posted by Rocco Augusto in "Smartphone Talk" @ 10:50 PM

http://www.coolsmartphone.com/news4135.html

"If you read my blog then you'll probably realise that I can be a little nuts at times. Every now and then I like to do some weird things with my Windows Mobile... Yesterday I decided to do something a bit more bizarre and plonked my HTC phone onto the carriage of a toy train set. "What?" I hear you cry. Well, I was helping my nephew with his train-set while Emily gave our son a bath, so I decided to film it because it was, quite possibly, the longest track we'd ever made... Yes, it's a little nuts, but this is what happens when you have kids ;)"

Tired of sitting around and twiddling your thumbs while we all patiently wait for the release of Windows Mobile 7? Well here is a little something to pass the time and maybe even give you a chuckle. Gears from CoolSmartPhone.com has attached his Windows Mobile HTC handset to a electronic train set and has sent it down one of the longest toy train tracks I have ever seen constructed. It just goes on and on and on. You can see one of the videos above. To see the second clip point your browsers this way.

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Tags: windows mobile, smartphone, camera, htc, train set

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Tracy and Matt's Christmas Competition (Part Deux)

Posted by Rocco Augusto in "Smartphone News" @ 02:05 PM

http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php/2007/12/20/christmas_competition_number_2

"This time the nice people at eXpansys have kindly given us one of the just-released HTC S730's to give away as part of our Christmas promotion. To enter, you simply have to head on over to the eXpansys website to find the answer to our competition question below. Once you have the answer come back and submit it to us using our Feedback Form - remember to give us your name and email address with your entry. We'll choose a winner at random on the 9th January 2008 and will accept entries up to the 8th January, you've got plenty of time to enter. One entry per person please, we'll only accept entries via our feedback form."

Those wacky whippersnappers, Tracy and Matt, are at it again! This time they're giving away the sleek and sexy HTC s730, one of HTC's latest Windows Mobile Standard devices. This handset sports a slide out QWERTY keyboard, fairly large 2.4" QVGA screen, a front facing camera for video conferencing, 256MB Flash, 64MB ROM, HSDPA and Quad-band GSM/EDGE data connectivity. To win this handset, all you have to do is go and drop Tracy and Matt a line via their feedback form and answer this super easy question - "How big (in inches) is the screen on the HTC S730?"

NOTE: All replies must be sent to Tracy and Matt via the feedback form on their website!

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Tags: competition, christmas, camera, edge, tracy, quad-band, hsdpa, htc, s730, 3g, matt

Friday, November 2, 2007

Motorola Q9h Unboxing Teaser

Posted by Rocco Augusto in "Smartphone News" @ 06:07 PM

I have fantastic news. I just sat down by my desk after a nice hearty lunch to find my brand new Motorola Q9h waiting for me. This is not the AT&T version, so their are a few tiny differences compared to our recent offering from the "Powers That Be" in AT&T Headquarters. For one, the packaging is different and as well as the name and nowhere throughout the packaging is the word "Global" used. Not a big deal, but I figured it would be nice to clue everyone in on this before I show the images.

Now that we have taken care of the disclaimer, it is time for a quick sneak peak at the unboxing on this surprisingly nice handset!

(Figure 1: The packaging that my brand spanking new Motorola Q9h arrived in!)
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Tags: screen, email, camera, motorola, activesync, bluetooth, keypad, qwerty, unboxing, q9h, windows mobile 6

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Motorola, Kodak Collaborate on Camera Phones

Posted by Jerry Raia in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 12:00 PM

http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=3394

"Speaking from the JPMorgan Technology Conference on Monday, Kodak President Antonio Perez has stated that the company will be bringing a 5MP CMOS camera sensor to Motorola handsets by the end of the year. "Our CMOS sensors have been well advancing for many years. And now we will have the ability to embed the sensor in the phone with all the richness we have with our imaging software. It will allow us to make the sensor, the most important part of the camera, able to manage the light, color, and the like," said Perez."

I wonder at what point the MP's won't make much difference anymore. The optics on most phones leave a lot to be desired. When you consider that a good camera lens can cost thousands of dollars, the little piece of plastic in the phone is kind of lacking.

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Tags: , camera, motorola, phones, kodak, collaborate

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Next-Generation Camera Modules Coming Soon

Posted by Rocco Augusto in "NEWS" @ 05:06 PM

http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=1881

"Samsung Techwin recently announced a new camera module for phones, which they will start producing in bulk next year. The entire package is 9 mm thick and features a 3 Megapixel sensor with autofocus and 3x optical zoom. In addition the new camera is also supposed to be more shock resistant and consume less power than current high end modules. While Samsung's new camera uses more traditional technology, Taiwan's Creative Sensor is set to commercialize liquid lenses. The company is set to produce autofocus cameras for phones based on Varioptic's technology next year as well"

Hopefully they are improving image quality as well. While a 3 Megapixel camera would be fun to have on my phone, if it produced the same subpar quality images as the current cameras we have in handsets today, then I really wouldn't see a point to having it there at all. Then again, I'm a sucker for new technology. Bring on the camera phones!

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Source: Pocket PC Thoughts

Tags: camera, coming, soon, next-generation, modules

Saturday, July 22, 2006

HTC STRTrk Approved by FCC; Cingular May Soon Launch the Smartphone With and Without Camera

Posted by Kris Kumar in "HARDWARE" @ 02:36 PM

https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout=500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=461586&fcc_id='NM8STAR'

The first clam-shell Smartphone from the HTC camp has been cleared by the FCC and is now ready for the US launch. Even though this Smartphone is now available in some markets in Asia and the Middle East, HTC has requested the FCC to keep the product photos and user guide confidential till August 25 2006. The only reason for that would be to keep the carrier branding a secret; but an earlier news leak about Cingular's future product road map showed the HTC STRTrk positioned for August/September launch. Does that mean that around August 25th Cingular will launch this RAZR inspired beauty? So are you eagerly waiting for the launch? If you are then there is one good news, this clam-shell model will be available in two flavours - with and without the camera. :) The FCC test report confirms the two models.

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Source: phoneArena.com

Tags: launch, smartphone, camera, cingular, with, soon, without, approved, strtrk, fcc;

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Massive RAM Savings with Sccalado's CAPS Software for Camera Phones

Posted by Mike Temporale in "NEWS" @ 07:00 AM

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32970

"In th headlong rush to provide higher and higher resolution cameras inside mobile handsets, manufacturers have ignored a major problem � how to provide enough memory to process the pictures. Swedish software vendor, Scalado reckons it has solved this problem with its CAPS (CAmera Phone Solution) software. The company claims that it can reduce required memory consumption by up to 50 times. In a typical cameraphone scenario, Scalado estimates that in order to process two megapixel pictures, handset manufacturers would be forced to provide 12 MB of free memory. By comparison, using the company's imaging software, the handset would only require around 0.44 MB."

Scalado's CAPS software is something that the device manufacturer would have to integrate into their handsets, so there's no telling if or when we might see something like this on a Windows Mobile device. I'm always interested in finding ways to improve the camera's performance on the Windows Mobile platform. So far, it's a less than pleasurable experience. :(

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Tags: software, caps, savings, camera, with, phones, massive, sccalados

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

Large Majority see Cell Phone as Primary Camera and MP3 Player

Posted by Mike Temporale in "NEWS" @ 08:15 AM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5048966.stm

"Camera phones could replace digital cameras as the main gadgets people use to take pictures, a study suggests. It found that 44% of people already use their handset as their main camera. The days of the MP3 player also look to be numbered, as 67% of those questioned said they expected their phone to replace their portable music player. The survey, commissioned by handset maker Nokia, comes as the number of mobile phones in use around the world approaches 2.5 billion."

The survey goes on to say that 89% of Americans prefer to have two separate devices when it comes to cameras and phones. I'm guessing it's only a matter of time before we slip into the "norm". As much as we would like to keep two devices, the majority of users out there don't seem to feel the same way. I wonder what Canon and Nikon have to say about this? Or, for MP3 players; What's Creative's thoughts? We all know Apple is trying to jump this divide, but they haven't had much luck so far. And what's next? We're already seeing TV added to the list. I'm not really sure what the next big thing will be.

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Source: CoolSmartphone

Tags: phone, cell, camera, player, large, majority, primary

Monday, May 15, 2006

Samsung's 10 MegaPixel Camera Phone - Would you Still Carry a Point & Shoot?

Posted by Mike Temporale in "HARDWARE" @ 10:45 AM

http://www.akihabaranews.com/news-11727-Live+shots+of+Samsung%27s+10MP+cameraphone.html

Samsung keeps going one better on their camera phone technology. Last time I heard is was 6 or 8 mega pixels. Now, it's all the way up to 10. 8O The question still remains, would you leave your Point & Shoot camera behind if you had a camera phone that sports a 10 Mega Pixel camera? Tough call for me. It really depends on the quality of that image. I'm guessing it's pretty good for the average everyday situations. I'll still grab a better camera for the big events in life. ;)

User submitted image

In case anyone is wondering; No this is not a Windows Mobile phone, but it could be. It would be super nice if it was! For now, we'll have to sit around and dream of the what future just might hold for us. ;)

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Tags: phone, camera, &, carry, megapixel, still, samsungs, would, shoot, point

Monday, April 17, 2006

Microsoft Research's Photo2Search: Finally a Good Use for a Phone Camera?

Posted by Jason Dunn in "ARTICLE" @ 03:30 PM

http://research.microsoft.com/displayArticle.aspx?id=1434

"There�s a new restaurant in town. Wonder what people are saying about it? Take a photo...Photo2Search works like this: Seeking information about something seen, a user takes a photo of the object and sends the photo, via e-mail or Multimedia Messaging Service, to a Web-based server, which searches an image database for matches. The server then delivers database information�whether it be a Web page featuring the object in the photo or information associated with the object�to the user, who can act on the information received: read a menu, enter a gallery, book a hotel room, make a purchase. Sounds simple, right? The devil, as always, is in the details."

This is one of those examples of research that will likely take years to come into the mainstream, but holds fascinating possibilities for gaining useful data from the combination of a portable device and a camera. When I'm out shopping for something I'm often wishing I had more data about a product. Imagine something such as this linking into a product review service so you could easily read a review about the product you're about to buy. That would be excellent!

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Source: BetaNews

Tags: microsoft, phone, camera, finally, good, researchs, photo2search

Thursday, March 2, 2006

New Camera Phone Picture Management Software - Shozu

Posted by Mike Temporale in "SOFTWARE" @ 12:30 PM

http://www.digitaldad.com/digitaldad/2006/02/do_you_shozu.html

"I've been rooting around looking at photo services lately. My new phone (T-Mobile SDA) has a decent camera and I've been travelling a bit so the issue of what to do with my camera phone pix is a real issue. The current solution means syncing my phone to my PC and then doing something with the pix - email them, uploading them to Flickr, etc. A tedious process which frankly leaves the vast majority of pictures on phones. Shozu is a service brought to you by Cognima, a small UK compnay that has been around for few years. ...Shozu, which provides a "zero-click" way to get pictures off your phone and onto a service. First, you download the app for your Windows Mobile phone. Set it up to point to your photo service of choice (Flickr, Buzznet, Webshots, etc.). Next, every picture you take will get zapped up to the service automagically - no muss, no fuss. You can add titles, tags, etc."

It's hard to avoid camera phones now. They seem to be in every phone, and if it's not in your current phone, chances are good that it will be in your next. The Shozu service is a lot like the Splash Blog but it uses your own Flickr account as a file store. If you already have an online picture gallery, it sounds like Shozu is a great solution to capture and log your pictures.

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Tags: software, phone, management, camera, picture, shozu

Monday, February 20, 2006

Toshiba Develops Bar Code Reader Technology for Camera Phones

Posted by Kris Kumar in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 02:00 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060215/ap_on_hi_te/japan_mobile_blogs

"Checking out the Internet buzz about a DVD, book or candy while on the go will become as easy as taking a snapshot of the bar code on a product. Toshiba Corp., a Japanese electronics company that makes DVD players, laptops and nuclear power plants, has developed mobile-phone technology that searches for product reviews on up to 100 Web journals, or blogs, in 10 seconds. Just use the phone's digital camera to snap a photo of the bar code of a product you're thinking about buying. The technology can decipher if the blog chatter is positive or negative and tallies the count to show if a product is getting rave reviews or being trashed by consumers. That's useful if you're in a store about to buy an item."

User submitted image

This is the kind of technology I would like to see on my Smartphone, so that I can finally start using the otherwise useless camera on my cell phone. I have used the camera on my Smartphone a few times to take snapshots of the product labels so that I can carry out detailed research once I get home, but the technology demonstrated by Toshiba is the way to go. Another product that can help increase the use of the camera on the cell phones, at least for me, is the Whiteboard Photo Image Capturing software from PolyVision. I tried it recently but the quality and the resolution of the photos from the Cingular 2125 makes it tough for the otherwise awesome software.

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Tags: toshiba, code, camera, technology, reader, phones, develops

Thursday, November 3, 2005

Samsung Releases 8 Megapixel Camera Phone

Posted by Mike Temporale in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 09:45 AM

http://www.telecomskorea.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3016&Itemid=2

"Samsung Electronics today unveils the world's first 8-megapixel camera phone (model name : SPH-V8200). i-Tae Lee, President of Telecommunication Network, Samsung Electronics, demonstrated the SPH-8200 model at Analyst Day on Thursday. President Lee said, �Increasing the number of pixels while realizing digital camera-quality is a main task of developing handset camera module.� �The new phone offers image quality of premium digital camera and will be available in domestic market with in November.�, he added. As for the future of mobile handset, President Lee predicted, �Mobile phones will become the hub of all IT devices, being developed into �All in One� device that incorporates functions necessary for a variety of human activities"

8 Megapixel! By gosh that's a lot of picture. I hope that the quality of the image sensors has also improved. Otherwise an 8 megapixel image is no better than a 5. megapixel image and pretty much worthless to the world. :wink:

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Source: PicturePhoning.com

Tags: phone, samsung, camera, releases, megapixel

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Consumers want Camera and Music, Not Smartphones

Posted by Mike Temporale in "ARTICLE" @ 11:15 AM

http://www.160characters.org/news.php?action=view&nid=1774

"A quarter of all U.S. Internet households are willing to use a high-resolution camera phone as their primary camera, according to the report "Mobile Market Intelligence" from Parks Associates to be publsihed in November 2005. The report also found consumer interest in mobile music applications, although photo applications are more popular among U.S. Internet households, with 52% (10.2 million homes) intending to buy a mobile phone with an integrated camera and only 30% (5.9 million homes) planning to purchase a mobile phone capable of downloading music."

Surprisingly, only 21% are thinking of buying a smartphone. This is a huge opportunity for the marketing folks. We need to reach that other 79% (the music people and the camera people) and help them to understand that they don't have to decide between the two products. They can have both music and a camera if they bought a Windows Mobile Smartphone, or just about any smartphone for that matter. I realize that there are no high resolution camera phones right now, but they are coming - at least I hope they are. ;) So, Windows Mobile Marketing guys, it's time to step up and educate the 80% of people that don't know what they are missing!

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Source: PicturePhoning.com

Tags: music, , camera, smartphones, want, consumers

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

The Hidden Camera Killer

Posted by Mike Temporale in "NEWS" @ 10:00 AM

http://news.com.com/Crave+privacy+New+tech+knocks+out+digital+cameras/2100-7337_3-5869832.html?part=rss&tag=5869832&subj=news

"Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with an inexpensive way to prevent digital cameras and digital video cameras from capturing that secret shot. The technology they've devised detects the presence of a digital camera up to 33 feet away and can then shoot a targeted beam of light at the lens, according to Shwetak Patel, a grad student at the university and one of the lead researchers on the project. That means that someone trying for a surreptitious snapshot of, say, a product prototype or an amorous couple gets something altogether less useful--a blurry picture (or a video) of what looks like a flashlight beam, seen head on.'

User submitted image

Instead of forcing people to leave their phones at the door, or choose a phone without a camera (which is getting very hard to do), this product will blast a beam of light at any camera it finds in the room. It's still early, but I'm sure they can scale this up to handle a couple dozen cameras at once. It's a good step forward, and hopefully we can finally see the end of the embedded camera issue. :) Here is a link that shows you more details about how this technology actually works.

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Source: PicturePhoning.com

Tags: killer, camera, hidden

Friday, August 26, 2005

Credent Shuts Down that Windows Phone�s Camera, Bluetooth, et al.

Posted by Jerry Raia in "NEWS" @ 12:00 PM

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000027055971/

"We know how wary enterprises can be of potentially subversive technologies such as cameras, Bluetooth, mass storage, etc., infiltrating the workplace�in fact so much so that most business-class devices have taken to making two versions, one with and one without a camera, for instance. Enter Credant�s Mobile Guardian Enterprise Edition software solution; short of blocking people�s phones from entrance, this is one of the only policy enforcement techniques we�ve seen that makes sense and might actually work."

This sounds like an interesting solution to a festering problem. My question is do you want your company to install software on your own devices? I don't think I would like it. How would they keep track of that anyway? What would stop me from having my phone in my pocket and using it if it rings? Are the office police going to run up and grab me and see if my phone has the software installed?

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Tags: windows, down, , camera, phones, that, bluetooth, shuts, credent

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Low-end Cameras to be Replaced with Camera Phones

Posted by Mike Temporale in "ARTICLE" @ 09:15 AM

http://www.mobilepipeline.com/168600390?cid=RSSfeed

"Cameraphones will steal most of the market for low-end photography from low-end standalone digital cameras, according to a study released Wednesday by ABI Research. "We believe that within the next two years, the quality of a mobile phone camera will be such that people won't need low-end standalone digital cameras," ABI researcher Henneth Hyers said in a statement. "This will dramatically impact camera sales." Hyers noted that 1.3 megapixel cameraphones are about to become common and five megapixel cameraphones will be available."

I think this is a fairly accurate assessment of where the market is heading. I don't see camera phones replacing a standalone camera anytime soon, but I will certainly curb the need for a low-end digital camera. What do you think? Are low-end standalone digital cameras on the verge of extinction?

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Tags: camera, with, phones, cameras, low-end, replaced

Sunday, July 31, 2005

What Do You Use Your Camera (Phone) For?

Posted by Kris Kumar in "THOUGHT" @ 05:00 AM

http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=2533

"Most of today's mobile phones as well as all Smartphones (except the first generation phones) but also many Pocket PCs and Pocket PC Phone Editions have a camera today - in different qualities. From QCIF to 1.2 Megapixel and some (regular phones) even have 2 Megapixel cameras with auto focus instead of widely used fixed focus technology. As always, if you have something new, you have to find the cases you want to use it for. An MP3 player is easy, listening music on the go and a camera seems to be a low-brainer too, snapping photos - but in which situations do you snap pictures and what do you do with the shots?"

Arne Hess over at the::unwired has shared his thoughts on the many uses for the camera on his Smartphone and is inviting readers to share theirs. Given the quality of the photos from the camera phones, I treat the photos as disposable photos. While shopping if I come across an interesting product, I take its snapshot as a reminder and to grab the make-model information, so that I can research it when I get home. Everytime I have taken photos of my family or friends with that camera, I have been pretty disappointed. I liked Arne's idea of taking the photo of the parking lot. That is a cool use for the camera phone. 8) What do you use your Smartphone camera for? Did you use it this weekend?

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Tags: camera, your, what, (phone), for

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Camera Phones Outpace Digital Cameras

Posted by Jerry Raia in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 07:30 AM

http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=1451

"Cover your ears, camera manufacturers - according to a newly published Mobile Imaging Report (published by Future Image), sales of camera phones will dwarf sales of digital cameras in 2005. Tony Henning, managing editor of the Mobile Imaging Report, told the Sydney Morning Herald, 'More than 300 million camera-phones will be sold during 2005, compared to about 85 million digital cameras.'"

I would think this would only affect the sale of lower end cameras as we are approaching 2 megapixel phones. So at what point would you give up a digital camera for a camera phone? I'm not talking high end cameras but just the pocket models.

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Tags: digital, camera, phones, cameras, outpace

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

Bug-eyed Lens May Mean Slimmer Camera Phones

Posted by Kris Kumar in "NEWS" @ 04:30 AM

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7332

"The multitude of lenses that make up an insect's eye is providing inspiration for a new generation of super-slim camera phone. Conventional camera lenses cannot be shrunk below a few millimetres in thickness before reducing the field of view. But a compound lens, made from hundreds of tiny "micro lenses", can be made around one-tenth of the width, while retaining the same field of view and quality of image. ... Br�uer told New Scientist that in theory it should be possible to make compound lenses just a few hundred micrometres in thickness. This could make it possible to install a camera into a smart card that could then perform simple image recognition tasks, he says."

Wow, it's amazing how science and technology is able to miniaturize things. 8O According to the article, micro lenses can be used for only applications that require low quality. :-( Hmm, isn't that one step forward and five steps backward?

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Source: engadget

Tags: camera, phones, lens, bug-eyed, mean, slimmer

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Tuesday, June 6, 2006

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Monday, February 20, 2006

Thursday, November 3, 2005

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

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Friday, August 26, 2005

Thursday, August 11, 2005

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