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All posts tagged "camera"


Thursday, April 12, 2012

HTC Titan II Camera Samples

Posted by Adan Galvan in "Windows Phone News" @ 05:00 PM

http://www.wpcentral.com/playing-ht...nd-maco-samples

The HTC Titan II has a few differences when compared to the Lumia 900. Custom HTC software and a larger 4.5 inch screen are two of the big ones. However, the stand out feature for the Titan II has to be the 16MP camera. While many may feel this is overkill for a smartphone camera, you have to appreciate the fact that HTC went all out in hopes of making the phone unique. For most, the quality of the camera will determine whether or not spending $199 (vs. $99 for the Lumia 900) is worth the extra expense. Luckily, WPCentral has stepped up and provided some great low-light and macro shots to help us make a decision. Hit the link for the samples and let us know what you think.


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Quad Camera: Burst Mode For WP7

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 07:00 PM

"Quad Camera for your Windows Phone is another special effects tool for your Windows Phone camera. Quad Camera gives your camera the ability to shoot in burst mode, frame all the images together and gives you the ability to create some rather interesting photos. From action sequences to unique portraits, Quad Camera is another app that will extend your camera's capabilities."

I use burst mode extensively on my point and shoot - with an active daughter, single shots might turn out better, but it's a lot harder to get that perfect photo. That's obviously something I've missed with WP7's onboard camera. Now along comes this app that offers at least a limited way of getting that perfect shot. Quad Camera is available for a hair under a dollar from the Marketplace.


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Hipstar: Vintage Camera Effects App

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 09:00 AM

http://social.zune.net/redirect?typ...4c-00237de2db9e

"Now any image you take with your Windows Mobile 7 Phone can look like it was taken with a vintage camera. Light leak and vignette effects add depth and dimension, and color filters alter the mood of any photo!"

Photo "enhancing" programs have been around on mobile phones since onboard cameras started getting good enough to actually take decent pictures, maybe about 5-6 years ago. MobileMatiq's unique take on this with Hipstar is to allow you to "age" your photographs, so they'll look like you took them in the 1970s...or even further back. I used to be a huge WWII history buff, and some of the Hipstar samples look pretty convincing to me. Hipstar is available for $1.99 through the WP7 Marketplace.


Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Additional Windows Phone 7.5 Features Leak

Posted by Brad Wasson in "Windows Phone Talk" @ 06:30 PM

http://www.wpcentral.com/more-windo...rts+(wpcentral)

"Smart DJ - Found on the ol' Zune HD, it's described as thus "If you have a Zune Pass, you'll hear a mix of music from your collection and from the Zune catalog if you're near a known wireless network. Otherwise, if you don't have a Zune Pass or if you aren't near a known wireless network, the Smart DJ mix will just include songs from your own music collection.". Basically it rivals iTunes Genius and is something us Zune'ers have been wanting for awhile."

While they may not be the "hotest" features we can expect to see in the Windows Phone 7.5 release, they will certainly appeal to some people. In addition to the Smart DJ feature referenced in the quote above, another feature is reported to be the ability to turn off the shutter release sound when you are using the camera. Whether that is legal or not is open to some debate (hit the Read link and then scroll down to the comments).


Sunday, April 24, 2011

Quick Tip: Auto Upload Pictures To SkyDrive

Posted by Richard Chao in "Windows Phone News" @ 10:08 AM

Did you know you have 25GB of free storage in the cloud courtesy of Microsoft? One good use of all the storage is for backing up pictures. If you take a lot of pictures on your phone, make sure your phone is set to auto upload to SkyDrive.

The uploaded picture is not full resolution so you will still want to allow your Zune software to sync your phone to the desktop but it is useful for those times you accidentally delete a picture or lose your phone.

1. From your phone, go to SETTINGS.

2. Swipe to the APPLICATIONS tab.

3. Select PICTURES + CAMERA.

4. Make sure the "Auto upload to SkyDrive" is on.

5. Click on "Choose an option" to select the privacy setting of uploaded pictures. (I recommend "ME" since you can always change it on a per picture basis later. This will help you avoid embarrassing releases of private or sensitive pictures.)

6. Click OK.

7. To test, take a picture... go to your SkyDrive. Click on Photos > SkyDrive camera roll. Your pictures should be there.

If you want full resolution backups via Flickr, look at this Microsoft Answers post.


Monday, February 7, 2011

Green Screen Photo App: Fun Stuff!

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Software" @ 10:00 PM

http://mobilitydigest.com/green-scr...ilable-for-wp7/

"You know when you watch the news and they use those green screens to put the weather behind the newscaster? Want to do it on your phone? Green Screen lets you take a photo and green screen it. You can cut the foreground picture and put it on top of a new background photo to make a new image. This free app automatically creates the green screen effect, can scale, rotate and move images to match the background, rotate portrait/landscape and save photos locally."

This neat app is free - but it would be even cooler if/when Microsoft allows camera access for third-party apps. The developer claims this app will be able to work with live photos. Slick!


Thursday, October 28, 2010

Maximum PC Camera Showdown Pits Phones Against Each Other!

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Android Articles, Resources & Developer" @ 12:00 PM

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fe...ameras_put_test

"Let's face it: here at Maximum PC, we're all about competition. It's in our blood. From CPUs to video cards to motherboards to sandwich shops, we live to pit like products (or foodstuffs) against one another. In fact, we recently published an all out showdown between four warring phones and mobile platforms in our quarterly Maximum Tech issue which we're sure you read. That story (as many of our published stories sometimes do) encouraged us to dig a little deeper, and perform a little more testing. The cameras attached to these complex microcomputers are becoming increasingly powerful-many, in fact, are fully capable of taking very sharp and professional looking photos. But are these phones capable of holding their own against more sophisticated equipment? And which phone does it best?"

The above shot, despite being of cute little Android robots, was taken with an iPhone 4. The article it came from, over at Maximum PC pits many of the top phones against each other specifically in the area of camera quality. Thinking of buying a phone and the camera is a big factor? Then take a look and be informed!


Monday, October 25, 2010

Camera Limitations Hamper Windows Phone Development

Posted by Adan Galvan in "Windows Phone News" @ 05:00 AM

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-2...bj=BeyondBinary

"Microsoft's tight design rules require all Windows Phone 7 devices to have a pretty nice camera on them; they must tout at least 5 megapixels and video capture to boot. Unfortunately, Redmond's new phone operating system has limitations that mean developers can't fully take advantage of the lenses."

Although the Windows Phone 7 development environment is often praised, the actual SDK seems to be lacking in some crucial areas. Although developers can use the camera to retrieve photos from the camera, advanced functionality such as streaming video is currently not implemented. This means that messaging apps like Fring would be unable to utilize the camera for video calls (if the current batch of phones had front-facing cameras). In addition, apps such as those that offer augmented reality overlays would be impossible to implement. Let’s hope Microsoft will quickly update the SDK with an API to allow this type of functionality.


Wednesday, March 31, 2010

LookTel Leverages Windows Mobile to Assist the Blind

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Software" @ 08:30 AM

http://gizmodo.com/5505999/smartpho...s-for-the-blind

"We've seen software and applications designed to assist visually impaired individuals in the past, but nothing's been quite what we're shown in this video. The LookTel software actually allows phones to recognize and audibly identify objects almost instantly."

Technology is at its best when it enables us to do new things, and this is a great example of Windows Mobile enabling the blind to leverage technology to improve their daily lives. LookTel allows blind users to point a Windows Mobile device equipped with a camera at an object, and the optical character recognition built into the software will read the label on the container and speak it aloud. Custom labels can be made for containers without labels, and the software can be trained to recognize those labels. It's a really neat system that demonstrates the power of technology to fill a need.


Thursday, February 18, 2010

New OmniVision Sensor Gives Mobiles RAW Shooting Power

Posted by Pete Paxton in "Windows Phone News" @ 07:00 AM

http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=5549

"At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, OmniVision Technologies announced a new image sensor that will bring RAW shooting capabilities to mobile devices. The new 5-megapixel sensor, based on OmniVision's backside illumination (BSI) technology, can offer the user the ability to work directly with the RAW image data, which should allow for enhanced post-processing to tweak an image after the shot. The new sensor chip is sized to fit the constraints of current mobile phone designs. Besides its RAW shooting potential, OmniVision's new sensor, called the OV5647, can also shoot HD video. The sensor can record 720p video at 60fps, or 1080p video at 30fps. The sensor chip is currently sampling and OmniVision will start mass production in July 2010."

Generally when I think of camera phone devices I think of taking shots when I don't have my point and shoot or my SLR. And of course video is absolutely because you have nothing else to take it with. Now RAW image data and 1080p video? Tons of video will be taken and we'll have the goods to take it with. And now we can take quality pics and enhance them after their taken. I wonder which Windows Phone 7 will be the first to get a camera like what OmniVision is bringing to the table? It also makes me wonder what the price will be. 2010's shaping up to be a great tech year!

Tags: camera

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Travelling with Pharos: A Review of the Traveler 117

Posted by Don Tolson in "Pocket PC Hardware" @ 09:00 AM

Product Category: 3.5G GPS PDA Phone
Manufacturer: Pharos USA
Where to Buy: Expansys [affiliate]
Price: $479.99 USD
System Requirements: Runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
Specifications: Qualcom MSM7201-90 processor running @ 400Mhz, 128M of RAM, 256M of ROM, 2.8in VGA TFT screen w/LED lighting, Quad band GSM/GPRS, triband UMTS/HSDPA up to 7.2Mb/s, 2.0 megapixel rear camera + 0.3 megapixel front camera for video calls, 802.11b/g, GPS, USB 2.0, BT2.0+EDR, microSD slot w/SDHC compatibility, stereo audio and TV out via 2.5mm jack. 1410mAh Li-Ion replaceable battery. Weight is 136g (4.8oz) with battery. Dimensions: 113m (4.4in) x 58mm (2.3in) x 15mm (0.6in) Full specifications are available here.

Pros:
  • Beautiful, crisp, clear VGA screen;
  • Great battery life;
  • Standard 2.5mm headphone jack, which also doubles as TVOut.
Cons:
  • Stylus is too small to be usable;
  • Trackball needs to be more precise/consistent in action;
  • SD card access is difficult and cover could break with use;
  • 2 megapixel, fixed focus camera is not up to current expectations.

Summary:

The Traveler series is a new lineup of GPS-enabled 3.5G smartphones from Pharos, makers of the Ostia navigation software. Pharos has very kindly provided us with units to review the entire new lineup, so you'll be seeing the rest of the family over the next few months. Based on the numbering, you might think of the Traveler 117 as the entry unit to the series, but it includes an impressive array of features and a very sleek, professional design. What surprised me the most was the VGA screen and the substitution of a trackball for the 5-way navigation D-Pad!

Read more...


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.


Thursday, July 3, 2008

Camera Comparison: HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch Pro, Samsung Omnia, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1

Posted by Darius Wey in "Pocket PC Hardware" @ 06:00 AM

http://www.theunwired.net/?item=rev...mera-comparison



Our pal, Arne, over at the::unwired, has stress tested the cameras of four of the latest and greatest Windows Mobile devices: the HTC Touch Diamond, the HTC Touch Pro, the Samsung Omnia, and Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1. If camera quality means a lot to you, hit the link to see what Arne has to say.


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