Camera

Microsoft likely unveiling new Lumia devices at September 4 IFA event

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 11, 2014

Apple's chief rival Samsung has already blocked out a Galaxy Note 4 related slot at the upcoming IFA trade show for consumer electronics in Berlin, Germany and now software giant Microsoft has sent out invites for an IFA event of its own.

It's scheduled for Thursday, September 4, and we're expecting some nice new Lumias with major upgrades in the camera department — and maybe even a rumored Lumia 'selfie' phone. Photography and camera performance have always been the hallmarks of Nokia's design.

High-end Lumias such as the 41-megapixel Lumia 1020 are widely recognized and regarded as the best smartphones for mobile photography. But mobile photography is just as important to Apple so it'll be interesting seeing what new hardware and software features are Microsoft and Nokia have in tow...

Flir One case that gives your iPhone thermal imaging capabilities goes on pre-order

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 1, 2018

An accessory maker called Flir at CES back in January announced its novel case promising to give your iPhone true thermal-imaging capabilities.

Based on technology that was formerly reserved for the military, the Flir One case brings high-end thermal imaging to your iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s, giving the iconic smartphone Predator-like vision.

The case is coming to Apple retail stores in the United States, Canada and Europe in August and today the company has started accepting pre-orders...

Rumor: iPhone 6 to adopt Sony’s 13-megapixel Exmor IMX220 camera sensor

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2017

Most of the iPhone 6 rumors floating around the blogosphere seem to point to Apple passing on the megapixel race. The firm instead appears to focus on advancing mobile photography using a number of hardware and software techniques to produce better-looking images.

These range from optical image stabilization to using larger pixels and enhanced filters for better low-light performance to providing a wider aperture to let more light in.

And just as the pundits have started to accept that the iPhone 6's back camera will be eight megapixels comes a new report alleging that Apple will switch to a Sony-made 13-megapixel module in its upcoming iPhone refresh. Interestingly, the same unit is expected to appear on the Sony Xperia Z3 handset...

Microsoft updates OneDrive with camera backups in the background and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 25, 2014

The free OneDrive app for the iPhone and iPad (formerly SkyDrive) has just gotten a lot better with features like photo backups in the background and other perks that allow you to do more from your phone.

And thanks to proper support for Microsoft's mobile Office apps, getting your photos and videos into OneDrive to import them into your Office projects on the iPhone and iPad is a trivial affair now.

That's the gist of a blog post Microsoft somewhat hastily put together today to counter a Google Drive app update and a plethora of announcements that have been coming out of Google I/O since this morning...

Optical image stabilization could be exclusive to the 5.5-inch iPhone

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

There has been a myriad of rumors surrounding the oft-rumored iPhone 6 and what kinds of features we can expect in the next-generation smartphone. We've heard about potential flagship features, ranging from NFC and wireless charging to a thinner and rounder chassis, while one lesser-mentioned improvement could be optical image stabilization. But if a new prediction is accurate, the feature could be limited to the 5.5-inch iPhone.

According to Pacific Crest Securities analysts John Vinh and Kevin Chen, optical image stabilization could be exclusive to the 5.5-inch iPhone to help Apple differentiate the larger iPhone with the 4.7-inch model that is also expected to be released. The analysts claim that a $4 to $5 premium on optical image stabilization over traditional auto-focus solutions could be the underlying decision behind this move…

Photography apps can now tap the full range of manual camera controls in iOS 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 19, 2014

Don't you hate it when your favorite camera app from the App Store is unable to provide the full range of manual controls supported by your iOS device's camera hardware?

Responding to developer feedback, Apple has now addressed that particular customer pain point by opening up manual camera controls in iOS 8.

That's right, developers of photography apps such as Instagram, ProCamera and Camera+, to name a few, can finally implement the full assortment of camera controls in their apps using the official iOS 8 SDK APIs...

Camera+ maker launches no-frills photography app, MagiCam

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 18, 2014

Camera+ is still my favorite go-to photo editing software on both the iPhone and iPad so you could imagine me jumping with joy learning that Taptaptap, the Camera+ developer, has just released a brand new photography software.

Framed as a bold, new experience in iPhone photography, MagiCam is focused on snapping photos and transforming them into gorgeous, eye-catching shots with little or no effort on your part.

You can grab it for just 99 cents in the App Store and I have a video of it in action right after the break...

Rumor: improved iPad Air model with A8 chip and 8MP iSight camera enters production

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 11, 2014

According to a questionable report published Wednesday by ETNews, Apple in a repeat of 2013 is set to release an improved iPad Air model. It will have the same design as the current iPad Air, the story has it.

Most of the changes deal with the innards, such as a more power efficient and slightly faster A8 chip and an eight-megapixel camera on the back, a bump up from the five-megapixel iSight module on existing iPads.

The front-facing FaceTime camera should also see a resolution increase, going from a rather paltry 1.2-megapixel module on current models to a slightly better 1.5-megapixel one...

New in iOS 8 Safari: use your device’s camera to scan in credit card info

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

As folks continue to comb through the recently released iOS 8 beta, a new feature has been discovered in mobile Safari. When the updated browser detects a credit card field within a webpage, it offers to let the user scan their card with their device's camera.

Scanning your credit card automatically enters its information in the appropriate text fields, saving you from having to enter it manually. It takes just a moment, and it doesn't appear that websites will have to do anything special to enable the new feature...

Free edition of the premium Camera Fx8 app now available in the App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 6, 2018

Camera Fx8 by Apalon Limited is great if you want to liven up your photos by adding creative borders and apply fun effects. Having gone temporarily free a week ago, the iPhone and iPad download is now a paid download again, setting you back 99 cents for the iPhone and iPod touch app.

But as fine folks at Apalon Limited want everyone to experience Camera Fx8, they've decided to release a free version in the App Store so everyone can now check it out before buying the full edition...

iOS 8 introduces time-lapse videos

Joe Rossignol ∙ June 2, 2014

Apple has added an interesting new time-lapse video feature to the stock Camera app in iOS 8, useful for capturing things like the sun setting or the bustling of a busy city street. The new mode functions by snapping photos at dynamically selected intervals, and then grouping those photos together into an accelerated sequence. The result is a short video showing what you recorded over a predetermined amount of time…

FlipCam: a quicker way to switch between the front and rear-facing camera

Jeff Benjamin ∙ May 30, 2014

FlipCam is an extremely simple jailbreak tweak that does one thing and one thing only. FlipCam allows you to quickly switch between the front-facing camera and rear-facing camera using a long press on the camera viewfinder.

At times I find that the button used to switch between views is in a difficult to reach spot, because it's located in the upper right-hand corner of the Camera app interface. FlipCam makes it easy to switch between each camera view, because the viewfinder is always within reach. Take a glance at our video walkthrough after the break for more information.