Let's Talk Tech
I talk a lot. I explain a lot. Sometimes you just need to shut up and let the camera do the “talking”.
The Lumia 1520 camera is almost identical to the one found in the Lumia Icon, so I never did my normal real world benchmark. I did get inspired to walk around my neighborhood though to show off what Nokia’s 20MP shooter can do with HD video.
The Google Camera was recently unleashed on the Play Store for any phone running KitKat. It provides a consistent and super simple interface for photos and vids no matter what phone you use.
For being so streamlined, it does pack some handy features like PhotoSphere, HDR, exposure control, and panorama modes. Google is now rolling an update which will allow users to take still photos while shooting video.
While shooting a video, just tap the screen and it’ll grab a 2MP screenshot. Super simple.
This isn’t exactly mind blowing on its own, but this update process is what’s exciting. It’s a small update for one app, and users are getting it directly. We aren’t being forced to wait for a full OS update which may or may not be sent down from the carriers.
And for folks curious how the Google Camera app works, we have a full hands on review below!
The Zoom series is alive and well.
Announced last night, Samsung took the wraps off their follow up the Galaxy S4 Zoom. Dubbed the Galaxy K Zoom, Samsung has aggressively updated the build for their camera focused, zoom lens phone.
On tap is a 20.7MP 1/2.3″ BSI sensor tied to a 10X zoom lens (24-240mm) with optical image stabilization. The focus is a little tilted to the camera side of the equation, as the rest of the phone specs are somewhat mid-range. Continue reading “The Samsung Galaxy K Zoom Camera/Phone Hybrid is Official”
Time for another installment of the most comprehensive camera test on the internet!
We’ve already discussed some of the improvements Samsung has made to their camera in our brief comparison between the GS5 and the One M8, so now let’s see those improvements in action!
Samsung stepped up the sensor size on the Galaxy S5, and it’s now similar in size to cameras like those found on the Lumia Icon and 1520. Let’s see how it compares to the rest of the smartphone landscape running through our real world tests!
Continue reading “Camera Test: Video Samples from the Samsung Galaxy S5 on AT&T”
Let’s get this out of the way right now. The One M8 camera is good. Maybe it’s even “very good”, but over the last year we’ve seen some excellent cameras bolted onto the backs of our phones by companies like Sony and Nokia.
The M7 was my favorite camera on an Android phone of last year, and was only bested by the likes of Nokia. It lost the resolution battle with only a 4MP sensor, but the combo of larger “UltraPixels” and Optical Image Stabilization made it one of the best devices to shoot on in indoor and low light environments. Outdoor pics were very good, low light pics were gorgeous, and video was nicely smoothed out by the stabilizing hardware.
My expectations were tremendously high for the M8.
Another handy Google announcement. After updating Youtube, Google is also making their stock camera available on Google Play!
If you’re familiar with a recent Nexus or the Moto X camera, Google is now allowing ANY phone running Android 4.4 (KitKat) to download the app for free. It’s helpful consistency if you’re considering switching to a different manufacturer for your next phone or tablet, you wont have to re-learn the camera UI. It’s also nice knowing that your camera software can be updated like a regular app instead of waiting for a full OS or ROM update to get carrier approval.
Here’s our full hands on feature walk through and review!
Google Camera (Google Play) Continue reading “Google Camera App available for all phones running KitKat – Full Review and Feature Walk through!”
With a camera which performs VERY similarly to the Lumia 1520, we finally run the Nokia Lumia Icon through our real world camera test bench.
Bright scenes, Macro, exposure transitions, low light, and we spend some time to focus on the audio! Let’s check out this Icon!