Geo Tagging With 5MP and 8MP Camera Phones
December 5, 2008
We come across innumerable photographs in the photo albums belonging to the past generations. Such photographs invoke the nostalgia of the viewers. They are reminded about the heritage that was handed over by the past generations for the benefits of the present. But unless there is someone to guide the viewers, it usually proves difficult to identify the persons, periods and occasions portrayed in such photographs. However, the past generations maintained some sort of continuity through personal communications for the benefit of the future generations. The process continues to a certain extent even today.
The progress made in the fields of science and technology contributed many innovative ideas to locate missing links. Geo tagging of photographs is one such contribution developed in the recent past to preserve the precious memories for the benefit of the posterity. The method adopted, is to add or attach geographical details to the photographs as and when they are taken. Geo specific data like location, latitude and longitude are provided to identify the photos. Facilities are available to provide more specific details like time, date and place, where they are being captured. Software also is available to mark the exact place, street and country along with other specific details. Latest innovations make it possible to provide details like shutter speed, aperture, focal length of the camera lens, etc.
In many models of digital cameras, facilities are provided to attach data to the photos automatically. In the absence of such inherent facility in the camera, a Global Positioning System receiver will have to be used. Invariably the GPS in the phone is used to geo tag the high resolution photos taken in the digital camera phone. The 5 mega pixel and 8 mega pixel camera phones with GPS capability can easily geo tag the pictures as and when they are clicked. Geo tagging can, not only provide the location and other details as mentioned earlier, but also help to locate the photos uploaded to the computer. The GPS data offered by the system will be stored in the image file of the camera.
The Geo tagging is a value added facility of the modern 8MP or 5MP camera phones. Even though, the dedicated digital cameras have their modern versions with tailor made software to geo tag the photographs, as and when they are taken, the similar facility in the innovative camera phones is definitely a remarkable feature considering the portability, versatility and user friendliness of such devices. No wonder the 8MP and 5MP camera phones are much sought after by the consumers these days, thanks to the technological up gradations adopted by the manufacturers.
Say ‘8′ For Imaging. Samsung Innov8 GT-i8510 vs Sony Ericsson Cyber Shot C905
September 16, 2008
Mr Salisbury looked tense even though he had a sumptous lunch this day that included lobsters in wine sauce and bacons that were his favourites. His mood-change is understandable for he, definitely was in high spirits today morning at the commencement of the fourth day’s play in the Lords Cricket Ground, when he called on us for an appointment. Two days to go and Smith’s South Africa was trailing by a huge three hundred odd runs margin. And now things do not look so pleasing for him as well as England with a couple of Proteas batters raising sort of a counter-attack that is definitely ruining England’s party, also Mr Salisbury’s. Now or later at some junctures these communication-devices must be detailed to him, for he had asked for a small session. More, he was the one who insisted on this particular place and no time had to be wasted as well now.
‘Mr Salisbury, this would be the ideal device for you if you are looking for a high-end mobile phone that stresses on imaging predominantly. For, Samsung Innov8 GT-i8510 Mobile Phone is a flagship device of Samsung that comes with a built-in 8MP camera. Methink this one is a better device than the Sony Cyber Shot C905 Mobile Phone that you mentioned last day over the phone. Remember, Cybershot C905 just has an 8MP camera in it and nothing more.’
‘Please go on’, spoke Mr Salisbury rooting his eyes on James Anderson who was running in and there was no sign of restlessness that was shrouding his body language, in his words.
‘Yes Mr Salisbury, more you have a couple of options here as far as the device’s memory is concerned. Two different versions of the same model that comes with 8GB and 16GB internal memory features. Mind you again, the Cyber Shot C905 phone just has a paltry 160MB of on-board memory to boast. Additionally, the Innov8 mobile phone comes armed by an advanced A-GPS that geotags captured images automatically. So you know the place where a snap was taken using this digital camera of the Innov8. Apart from this your mobile phone shifts its display orientation too automatically using a built-in accelerometer.’
‘Right word usage outsmarts a right argument and this was said by Joseph Conrad, not me. Even the Sony Cybershot C905 has this device called accelerometer and GPS as well. more I was informed that it came with a screen punctuated by touch-controls at its edges to help it spring to life with intuition and also face recognition software in its camera to focus on the subject rather than on the background other than a couple more of novel features in image stabilisation and smart contrast’, Mr Salisbury’s words were greeted by an ovation, which but was to cheer Smith’s hundred much against the agenda of Mr Salisbury and England. Anyway this man definitely knows something and above all, he speaks well too.
‘You may continue’, Mr Salisbury permits.
Have to be more cautious as well as shift to a non-biased platform for this man is obviously well-versed here.
Yes Mr Salisbury, the Sony Cybershot C905 is definitely not a weakling to lean on. It too comes with some of those unique features that you explained better than anyone else. This model definitely scores over Innov8 with its built-in xenon flash that powerfully illuminates dark subjects for optimised image capturing in darker conditions. Here, the Innov8 has only a dual LED flash. The screen features of both the models more or less look alike with TFT of 240 x 320 resolution upheld by both gadgets.
‘That’s sensible, though one cannot rate these devices by simply looking at the specification tables for these devices are much like English cricketing weather. You see, these bowlers who seem innocuous right now can change into lions with their tails up, living upto those logos on their blazers but only once the Sun goes under cover to allow the ball a colossal swing. Anyway what has the Innov8 to counter the HSDPA-Wi-Fi combination touted by the Cyber Shot C905 in its connectivity part?’
‘The Innov8 really excels in this sector, Mr Salisbury. Especially with a better combination boasting of GPRS, EDGE and 3G (UMTS), apart from the HSDPA and Wi-Fi factors to effectuate fast communication data download. Moreover, it is equipped with a dual band HSDPA/UMTS device apart from being a quad band GSM mobile phone as well. In the short distant data transfer part both the models fare alike with only Bluetooth to highlight. The operating system that adorns the Innov8 is a 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 of the Symbian OS S60 V9.3 that gives you a great internet surfing as well as Email experience. Meanwhile the Cybershot C905 has packed all its punch in its imaging sector with a galaxy of features more to amuse you here, like PhotoFeeds, PhotoLight, Photo Flash, Picture and Video blogging, Photo-Fix and PictBridge printing apart from a smart autofocus aspect.
Ovation again. This time acknowledging the other batsman’s half-century, Neil McKenzie’s to be precise. Once again eyebrows of Mr Salisbury gets frowned.
‘Allright, do you have optical zoom in any of these devices?’
‘Negative, Mr Salisbury. Sorry for disappointing you.’
‘No problems. How about the multimedia aspects?’
‘Sure Mr Salisbury, the Innov8 presents a remarkable multimedia player that supports a range of formats like AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR, WMA, MP3, Real Audio along with WMV, MP3, DivX, H.263 Video plus MP3 of H.264. The Sony Cyber Shot too has a built-in music player that realises various audio formats like MP3, WMA, eAAC+, AAC+ and AAC. And more, you would also love to hear something on the power features of these phones.
‘Sure.Go on. I think I will give you more attention for I do not think that England is going to have a positive result at least in this test though cricketing results cannot be assessed until the last ball is bowled, much like your mobile phones.’ Mr Salisbury’s words sounded more like a chunter.
‘Sony Ericsson C905 CyberShot Quad Band GSM Mobile Phone offers a great battery life of nine hours of talktime and 380 hours of standby as Samsung Innov8 8MP camera Mobile Phone also does not trail much behind with 8.5 hours of talktime and 13 days standby. Do any of these amuse you Mr Salisbury?’
‘Cannot say now. For this is quiet early with two 8MP camera phones. I would like to get a public opinion first on how these sensors would behave being stacked with huge 8megapixels. Otherwise, that would seem like opting to bowl first on a typical Asian sub-continental wicket where the pitches tend to become minefields, say as early as after day two.’
Ovation again. But this time acknowledging a swerving beauty from Anderson that ended an enterprising essay from the South African skipper culminating into the ever-waiting hands of Kevin Pieterson, much to the delight of an exuberant Mr Salisbury.
The 8 Mega Pixel wars
September 9, 2008
At the outset, mobile phones were used purely for the basic purpose of making phone calls. Gradually, with the advancement in technology, the mobile phone manufacturers started incorporating innovative features making mobile phones highly sophisticated and useful devices. One of the features, which revolutionised the concept of mobile phones, was the introduction of camera in mobile phones. This became a rage and now even the basic models of any mobile brand have a camera incorporated in them.
The mega pixels war can be dated back to the very advent of camera mobiles. It is widely perceived that more the mega pixels, the better the clarity of the picture. A one mega pixel camera has a resolution of 1280 x 960. 2 mega pixels give a fairly nice picture with a resolution of 1600 x 1200. A 3 mega pixel has a resolution of 2048 x 1536 and a 5.3 mega pixel gives a resolution of 3008 x 1960. A 6 mega pixel device can surpass 35mm quality in image detailing. An 8megapixel camera approaches the quality of the professional medium format camera.
However, the fact is that the resolution factor solely cannot justify the best of the picture quality, as it is
only worth with active back-ups from lens and aperture features. Since the mobile cameras of the day do not provide an optical zoom facility in them (Motorola is planning to launch a camera with optical zoom feature), the distant subject detailing quality has to be met with a lesser, digital zoom factor of the mobile phone cameras. You know well that with the digital zoom feature image quality gets disintegrated gradually with increased zoom levels as it remains standard with the optical zoom feature.
Moreover, there are also other factors that affect the detailing capabilities of the camera mobile phones with the highest of resolution. For example a 5megapixel camera of a thin mobile phone would definitely trail in its picture detailing capability just for the thinness of the device. The flash type too proves to be a deciding factor in the final results obtained from a camera mobile phone. Considering today, a number of mobile phone models offer xenon flash in the place of the conventional LED flash.
Companies providing 8MP camera
Sony Ericsson came out with the first 8MP camera phone with the Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber Shot. The camera of this phone has an incredible 8.1 mega pixel sensor, Xenon flash and 2.4” QVGA screen. The camera lens is mounted on the rear of the handset. The camera comes along with features like auto focus, 16x digital zoom, image stabilisation, face detection and red eye reduction. The camera combined with the built-in GPS allows geotagging of photos. For video capture, the C905 has an image stabilizer plus a video light. It also has an optional TV out cable for viewing video clips on TV. Another interesting and useful feature provided here, is the PictBridge functionality that allows direct printing of images from the phone to the printer, without an intermediate device.
Samsung launched its 8MP camera phone with the name ‘Samsung Innov8 i8510’. The phone provides an auto-panorama mode along with flash and face detection features. It also has a video recorder that captures clips at 30 frames per second.
LG is planning to come up with an 8MP camera phone as well that would have xenon flash along with face recognition and image stabiliser. The proposed LG KC910 Mobile Phone would also be able to capture 30fps video. According to the rumour mill, Motorola has joined the bandwagon and is ready to launch an 8MP camera phone with optical zoom and touch sensitive display.
When you intent to buy a camera mobile phone, it’s quite natural that much of your decision will revolve around the mega pixel part. See that you do not compromise on other features in order to get a higher mega pixel. The 8MP war is on. Try not to be a victim of this race.
