News Upcoming Sony superphone with a 1/1.6" 20MP camera.

Here's some rumors about Sony's upcoming phone. It's rumored to have a 1/1.6" 20MP camera. That's bigger than a LX7, XZ-2 or S110. Combine that with a quad core CPU clocked faster than anything else around and a 5" 1080p screen. If it's waterproof like the current Xperia this one device could end up replacing 3 things for me. Sony is on a roll with the RX cameras. Hopefully they are sprinkling some of that magic here. It's rumored to be the project at Sony involving every division.

Sony “Honamiâ€￾ 20MP flagship Xperia leaks - SlashGear
 
No viewfinder.
No hotshoe.
No tripod socket.
A "lens" the size of a contact lens.
DoF from the end of your nose to the Moon - and back.
The handling of a sliver of a fortnight-old bar of soap.
Superceded in weeks by the next wunderkind - from the same manufacturer

No interest... No sale...

Sent from another Galaxy
 
No viewfinder.
No hotshoe.
No tripod socket.
A "lens" the size of a contact lens.
DoF from the end of your nose to the Moon - and back.
The handling of a sliver of a fortnight-old bar of soap.
Superceded in weeks by the next wunderkind - from the same manufacturer

No interest... No sale...

Sent from another Galaxy



*yawn*
 
I like direct control, so I'll always have a camera giving more and faster control - but as an always-with-you camera for shots that you just stumble upon, I think smartphone cameras are really well suited, and they're getting better all the time - it wouldn't surprise me if this camera had a lens that's good enough to rival the results from LX7 / XZ2 / G15 etc, at least at its fixed focal length. That makes for a pretty interesting "photo diary" proposition.
 
Smartphones won't replace my compact. OTOH, I like to have as nice a phone camera as possible because, in reality, there are many occasions when it is simply the camera I have.
 
I don't even use a smart phone, so it doesn't concern me.

But cell phone cameras suddenly strike me as being similar to CD players (as compared to a really good camera being like analog LP playback). It took awhile for CD recording and mastering (and decent players in the home) before CDs started being even close enough to comparing to the quality you could get from a decent turntable. We are nearly at that precipice now. With this new Sony (and that Nokia Lili shoots with) and to some extent that last iPhone. They're getting good ENOUGH that most won't care about the difference.

But despite CDs being good ENOUGH, I still sell a LOT of LPs to people who prefer the experience of analog playback. Nothing wrong with CDs (or cell phone cameras). They will continue to play music and take photos. But proper cameras will still remain for those who wish to be more engaged in the photographic experience. Long live cell phone cams. Long live proper cameras. Viva la difference!
 
My arm is permanently attached to my Nexus 4, but I rarely use the camera on it (like never). I really do like the idea of having a decent camera on a phone (esp. w/Android OS).
 
I have a work-issued blackberry, and haven't had a "personal" cell phone for 6 years. The cameras on these things can make anything look like dog crap - it's almost uncanny how bad the images look. It's just not what they're for I guess. It would be nice to have a decent image machine in my pocket, for sure, because even I sometimes find myself without a camera on me (it's rare but it happens). But it would NEVER replace a high quality compact of some sort. Things like RX1's and X100's are just small enough already to pretty much be bringable everywhere that is worth taking photos of.
 
What I'd love is a single button that switches the phone from whatever it's doing instantly into a camera. So, if I'm playing Angry Birds and then out of the corner of my eye I see Bigfoot riding a unicorn, I can press a single button and have the camera on. Right now, I have to hit home then swipe to the right page then click on the camera app then ...... wait....for....app...to...load....and then the unicorn is gone.

Heck, that button can then be the shutter release too.

Does anyone know if any cameraphones or phonameras behave like this?

Has everyone seen this video?

[video=youtube;Nn-dD-QKYN4]
 
Well, the blackberry does THAT part right. Dedicated button on the right side that launches camera (and also once every 5 or 6 times it completely wrecks the operating system and forces a hard reboot that takes 9 minutes to get the phone back up and running - FUN!) and then doubles as the shutter button. So Z-grade, blurry, chromatic-aberated-purple-fringe-tastic photos are just a click away for me.
 
What I'd love is a single button that switches the phone from whatever it's doing instantly into a camera. So, if I'm playing Angry Birds and then out of the corner of my eye I see Bigfoot riding a unicorn, I can press a single button and have the camera on. Right now, I have to hit home then swipe to the right page then click on the camera app then ...... wait....for....app...to...load....and then the unicorn is gone.

Heck, that button can then be the shutter release too.

Does anyone know if any cameraphones or phonameras behave like this?

Has everyone seen this video?

Many smartphones already do this. The best implementation I've used was on my Dell Streak 5 phone. It had a dedicated shutter button that worked exactly like a shutter button on a camera. Half press focused it and a full press took a shot. It put it into camera mode pretty much instantly no matter what else it was doing. My HTC smartphone also does this although it's not as quick to get into camera mode as my Dell was. It takes it a second or two.
 
Many smartphones already do this. The best implementation I've used was on my Dell Streak 5 phone. It had a dedicated shutter button that worked exactly like a shutter button on a camera. Half press focused it and a full press took a shot. It put it into camera mode pretty much instantly no matter what else it was doing. My HTC smartphone also does this although it's not as quick to get into camera mode as my Dell was. It takes it a second or two.

I've been buying the wrong phones - iPhone and now Motorola Droid RAZR HD MAX.
 
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