'Smart Glass' Could Produce DSLR-Quality Smartphone Photos

Newly developed "smart glass" technology that mimics the shutter capabilities of a traditional camera could improve the pictures you snap on your smartphone. Researchers in Germany have developed a camera component for smartphones that helps adjust light, exposure and focus.

Traditional cameras have what photographers refer to as an aperture — overlapping blades around the inside of a lens that move mechanically to change the size and focus of the lens. The aperture is sometimes referred to as an "iris." Much like the iris of the human eye, it controls how much light enters the mechanism, which affects the image that is eventually produced. When it comes to cameras, the amount of light that touches the camera's sensors affect the overall focus of the picture you take.

Because of their size, smartphone cameras currently don’t have aperture mechanisms. "There is no technology today that can realize an iris aperture for smartphone cameras," said Tobias Deutschmann, physicist at the Technische Universitaet Kaiserslautern in Germany and lead-author of the study.

As a result, camera phone pictures won’t have the same quality or focus as pictures taken by a DSLR camera, for instance.

"The [smartphone] cameras would benefit from an iris, because it allows [the camera] to change the depth of focus, which is not possible right now, and would further close the gap in functionality between smartphone cameras and conventional digital cameras," Deutschmann told Live Science. "In addition it would be an option to create larger optics for the smartphones to increase the picture quality in bad light situations, like at night, while the iris would decrease the amount of light that reaches the sensor in bright environments."

Deutschmann and his colleagues developed a mechanism to make up for the need for better focus — a "micro-iris." The thin device, made of electrochromic material sometimes referred to as "smart glass," can be placed on the smartphone camera lens. Electrochromic material controls how much light passes through itself by changing its transparency in response to light or heat. Smart glass has been used in sunroofs, windows and skylights, and the material changes in opacity from transparent to translucent when heated or when voltage is applied to it.

In rearview mirrors, smart glass tints the mirror to reduce light glare. In architecture, smart glass is being employed in buildings as a way to cut energy costs, Green Tech Media reports.

But in smartphone cameras, the smart glass in the micro-iris could function as an aperture — it can adjust how much light enters the camera, preventing too much exposure and helping to focus the image. The micro-iris is also incredibly low-powered, requiring only 1.5 volts of electricity, which means handheld smartphones are well-suited to handle it, the researchers said.

Deutschmann said the smart glass is still in its early stages of development, which means the idea works in principle but isn’t quite ready for commercial products just yet. Future research will look at how well electrochromic materials can control camera focus — an important parameter that will determine whether smart glass will be a key feature for next-generation smartphones.

This article originally published at LiveScience.

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Report: Samsung's First Tizen Smartphones Are Coming to Russia and India

It looks like the first Tizen-based Samsung smartphones are finally getting closer to release.

The Korean electronics giant is preparing to launch a Tizen-based smartphone in Russia and India, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Russian release will reportedly coincide with the Tizen Developer Conference, which takes place in San Francisco this June. Samsung will hold a launch event in Russia that's similar to its global Galaxy launches, WSJ reported.

Tizen is an open-source, Linux-based operating system led by Intel and Samsung. Like Samsung's previous Bada effort, Tizen is focused on emerging markets and low-cost devices.

Samsung's efforts to bring a Tizen-based smartphone to the market have been beset with delays. The first Tizen release was originally planned for 2012, which then became 2013. After 2013 came and went with no Tizen release, Samsung delayed the release of its first Tizen phone again in January.

Meanwhile, carrier partners — including Japan's NTT DoCoMo — have lost interest. Because Tizen is designed to run on a variety of devices, a few Tizen-based products have hit the market, including Samsung's Gear 2 smartwatch.

A Google-free OS

Samsung already controls 65% of the Android-device market, so why should it even bother with Tizen?

Two words: Ecosystem control.

Because it uses Android, Samsung's current mobile-device strategy relies on Google. Although Samsung can make some changes and tweaks to the interface, and offer its own unique applications, fundamental aspects of the OS must remain in Google's control. What's more, the future direction of the platform is shaped by Google, not Samsung.

With Tizen, Samsung has the opportunity to build its own platform. Not only can Samsung customize this platform in ways that Google won't let it (say, put in a different default mapping client or make changes to the interface), it also has the potential to build its own app ecosystem — one that Samsung, not Google, can profit from.

So why Russia and India? Samsung already has a strong presence in these markets, and as WSJ noted, the company is hoping users will be swayed by the Samsung brand (and low price point), rather than access to Android and Google apps.

It also aims to capture users in India and Russia who don't have smartphones. Like Facebook, Samsung hopes they will become life-long customers.

In that vein, the point of Tizen isn't to steal business from the 1.5 billion users who already have smartphones, it's to attract the next 2 billion smartphone users.

It's a strategy that could pay off. As long as Samsung ensures that the most-used applications (i.e. WhatsApp, Facebook) are available, it could be enough to take over the lowest end of the smartphone market. These users could then graduate to more expensive, premium Samsung smartphones in the future.

This tactic is similar to what Nokia is trying to do with its Android-based devices. The difference (aside from built-in support for existing third-party Android app stores), is that Samsung is an aspirational brand in a way that Nokia is not.

Will anyone care?

Of course, this is Samsung, so execution will be essential. The company is famous for having great ideas that don't necessarily take off because the experience isn't seamless.

What's more, Chinese and Taiwanese phone makers are increasingly pushing down prices of higher-end, Android-based smartphones. This ruins some of the appeal of a Tizen-based Samsung device, at least in regions that already have some 3G infrastructure.

It's possible that Tizen's true value might not be realized for several years. In the meantime, Samsung's strategy of basing its non-smartphone connected devices on Tizen, might have more of an impact.

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First Motorola Smartphone Under Lenovo Will Be Revealed in May

Despite recent major changes at Motorola, it seems the company still has a few surprises in store — namely a new class of smartphone.

Following in the smartphone footsteps of the Moto X and Moto G, the new, as yet unnamed smartphone is set to make its debut next month, according to an emailed invitation that Motorola sent.

Motorola will officially give some members of the public a peek at the new phone on May 13.

The handset, which is the first Motorola device under the stewardship of its new owner Lenovo, will reportedly focus on improving the mobile-Internet experience. However, if the company lives up to its history, it will likely also offer an interesting new design take on the smartphone.

Further details are scarce at this point, but just knowing that Motorola has a potentially exciting new smartphone up its sleeve is reason enough to keep paying attention to the company, despite concerns that it could soon whither under its new Asia-based parent company.

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OnePlus One Smartphone Is a Customizable Beast

Tech startup OnePlus debuted its first smartphone called the One, combining a sleek and customizable appearance with some really powerful specifications.

Launched under the company mantra, "never settle," the OnePlus One sports a 5.5-inch, full HD screen, a quad-core, 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU with an Adreno 330 GPU, 3GB of RAM and 16/64GB of storage.

The 13-megapixel camera on the back has a Sony Exmor sensor as well as dual-LED flash, and can take 4K video. The device also has a 5-megapixel camera on the front, NFC, LTE, GPS, Bluetooth 4.1, built-in stereo speakers and a 3,100 mAh battery. It weights 162 grams. Its 8.9mm frame is slightly rounded, which makes it just 4.6mm thick at the edges.

Put all that together, and you get a smartphone that can — on paper — hold its own against any other flagship on the market. OnePlus calls it the "2013 flagship killer".

What sets the OnePlus One apart from most flagships is its magnesium-based case with easily interchangeable covers. The company will offer variants ranging from wood, bamboo, kevlar and even denim.

On the software side, the One runs CyanogenMod 11S, a custom Android ROM based on Android 4.4. The CyanogenMod software is highly customizable, but there's another reason why it's been chosen for the One. The phone's maker OnePlus is headed by Peter Lau, previously vice president of electronics manufacturer Oppo, which used CyanogenMod as the basis for its N1 phone. Oppo actually built the OnePlus One as well, and the two devices are pretty similar when it comes to specifications.

The OnePlus One will be available from the second quarter of 2014 in the U.S., Canada, the UK, certain parts of Europe, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The 16GB variant will cost just $299 unlocked. On April 25, OnePlus will run a special "Smash" competition in which you can get One for just $1.

Image: ONEPLUS

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The YotaPhone Is Half Smartphone, Half E-Reader

The YotaPhone, a smartphone from Russia’s Yota Devices, has your run-of-the-mill screen on one side and an energy-saving e-ink screen on the other. But based on a new prototype we saw, the next iteration of YotaPhone is even better.

You still have a regular Android smartphone on one side, but you can send images, texts and other info to the e-ink screen on the back, which is easier on the eyes and uses a lot less energy.

The new version, which will be available in Q4 this year, is bigger and doesn't have that slightly unusual “lump” in the middle. It also gives you a myriad of new ways to interact with the e-ink screen on the back. It’s now a touchscreen — the original YotaPhone only had a touch-sensitive area near the bottom — giving you the ability to scroll through articles and even “like” them on Facebook.

This is the device's front side, with the same image as on the back (above). Barcelona, Spain, Feb 24, 2014.

The new screen also has an improved resolution, meaning you can send an image from the front of the screen to the back, and it’ll look surprisingly good.

Regarding the stuff you can send to the back of the screen, the new prototype seems nearly limitless. You can have live updates from a soccer game, weather information or notifications for missed calls, emails and SMS messages. You can even feed it data from a wearable device.

Though the concept needs a little time to get used to — spinning the phone around can cause inadvertent touches on the main screen — because it’s a drastically new direction for the smartphone. It does, however, have a huge number of use cases. Perhaps you just want to have your photo on the back of your smartphone. Or you’re out of battery and want to conserve as much as possible. Or you’re an avid reader who likes e-ink screens but doesn’t like to carry around an e-reader.

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Leaked Photos Show Larger, Rounded-Edged iPhone 6

Just after Apple confirmed the iPhone 5S' successful debut, rumors of the latest version of the device have begun to surface — this time with images.

In a blog post published Wednesday, blogger Sonny Dickson posted what he claims are images of the iPhone 6. Dickson wrote, "We’ve gotten our hands on some great photos of the iPhone’s rear casing in Space Grey."

The casing (picture below) has all the signature iPhone design elements, such as a camera and flash port, as well as the familiar Apple logo. But that's where the iPhone similarities end, as the larger size and rounded-edge frame shown in the photos are far more reminiscent of the iPad than any previous version of Apple's smartphone.

Earlier on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post released a report that described Apple's next iPhone in similar fashion. Citing industry insiders, the newspaper reported that the iPhone will come in two sizes: 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches, respectively, and will hit stores in September.

The SCMP also said sources claim that Apple will discontinue its cheaper iPhone 5C, but will keep the iPhone 5S in production using cheaper materials.

If that portion of the report turns out to be accurate, it would represent the first and biggest mobile-device misstep on Apple's part in the entire history of the iPhone. Pulling the iPhone 5C from the market so soon after its release would amount to Apple admitting that it made a huge mistake by rolling out the cheaper device alongside its flagship smartphone.

For its part, Apple hasn't officially announced the iPhone 6, or discussed any plans to discontinue the iPhone 5C.

Image: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

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A Liquid That Makes Any Pair of Gloves Touchscreen-Friendly

Touchscreen gloves are an essential accessory for smartphone addicts battling the winter chill, but the options for consumers are fairly limited. Purchasing a pair of attractive, touchscreen-compatible mittens usually means paying a pretty penny or sacrificing aesthetics for something a little easier on the wallet.

Nanotips, which is currently funding on Kickstarter, proposes a third solution: Use a conductive, polyamide liquid solution to add touchscreen capabilities to any pair of gloves.

The project has received an enthusiastic Kickstarter backing, racking up more than five times its funding goal of $10,000 CAD, or roughly $9,070.

The solution uses conductive nanoparticles to mimic the electrical conductivity of human skin, just like a normal touchscreen glove. Creator Tony Yu claims the solution will work on any material, from pricey leather to canvas gloves, for construction, golfing, cycling, skiing and snowboarding.

Yu hit upon the idea after purchasing an expensive pair of motorcycle gloves without touchscreen capabilities. Rather than buy a new pair — "touchscreen leathers are expensive and they wear down really quickly," Yu says — he searched for a solution that would integrate with his current gear.

The resulting conductive liquid is applied to the gloves' thumbs and forefingers by swiping an applicator, not unlike applying nail polish. As it dries it soaks into the fabric or forms a conductive film on each fingertip, depending on the material.

"It wasn't so hard to get a product that would interact with a touchscreen device," Yu says. "The hardest part was making it last long enough."

The Kickstarter campaign offers two separate touchscreen solutions, Nanotips Blue and Nanotips Black. The Blue solution covers standard fabrics, such as knits, while the more durable Black treats leathers, rubbers and other thick materials. Each solution leaves behind a slight color residue, however. Blue dries to a translucent blue, while the more versatile Black is, well, black. Yu is still experimenting with creating a fully transparent solution. He also warns the Black solution may alter the texture of certain fabrics.

At $22 CAD (or $20) for a single bottle, the solution is fairly inexpensive, although consumers can purchase actual touchscreen gloves for roughly the same price. The solution lasts for a few weeks (Blue) or months (Black), depending on wear, and can be re-applied. Blue treats an average of 15 fingers, while Black treats up to 30.

The Nanotips Kickstarter campaign ends Feb. 25.

Image: Nanotips

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