Amazon has unveiled the Fire Phone. It runs a modified version of Android, and it will launch exclusively for AT&T’s network. The screen is a 4.7″ IPS LCD (they tested from 4.3″ to 5.5″, and decided 4.7″ worked best for single-hand use), with an emphasis on brightness. It runs on a quad-core 2.2GHz processor with 2GB of RAM, and an Adreno 330 GPU. It has a rear-facing, 13-megapixel camera using an f/2.0 five-element lens with image stabilization. There’s a dedicated physical button on the side of the phone that will turn it on and put it into camera mode when pressed. The phone comes with dual stereo speakers that produce virtual surround sound. Amazon wants the phone to be distinctive for its ability to provide video content, both from a hardware and software perspective. The Fire Phone runs Mayday, Amazon’s live tech support service for devices. They also demonstrated Firefly, software that recognizes physical objects using the phone’s camera, as well as TV shows and songs it hears. It runs quickly, often identifying things in less than a second (and it pulls up an Amazon product listing, of course). It can even recognize art. Firefly has its own dedicated physical button on the phone, and Amazon is providing a Firefly SDK to third parties who want to develop with it. Another major feature of the Fire Phone is what Amazon calls “dynamic perspective.” Using multiple front-facing cameras, the phone tracks the position of a user’s head, and uses that to slightly adjust what’s displayed on the screen so content is easier to see from the new angle. It allows for gesture control of the phone — for example, you can tilt the phone to scroll a web page or move your head slightly look around a 2-D stadium image when browsing for available seats. Putting your thumb on the screen acts like a mute button for the head tracking, so it isn’t confused when you look up from the screen or turn your head to talk to somebody. It’s an impressive piece of software, and they’ve made an SDK available for it. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Amazon Announces ‘Fire Phone’
Sony has announced a couple of new cameras early this morning, including the A7 and A7R, both mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras with a twist that’s unprecedented for that type of device – a full-frame sensor is housed within each. That makes these the smallest, lightest full-frame cameras with swappable lenses to boast full-frame power, and with a 36.4 megapixel sensor on the A7R, and a 24.3 megapixel one in the A7. Of course, it’s the sheer size of those sensors that makes all the difference here. Full-frame blows away the APS-C and micro four thirds sensors found in most MILC systems, like Sony’s existing NEX line or the Olympus OM-D models, in terms of their ability to capture light and deliver better over all image quality through accurate and rich color and contrast capture. The new Sony A7R also omit an optical low pass filter, which results in better resolution and detail rendering. Both of these new cameras have a new BIONZ X processor, a hybrid AF system that uses both phase and contrast detection for quicker focus, an OLED Tru-Finder hybrid optical viewfinder and a 3-inch rear screen that can be tilted, another first for a full-frame. ILCE-7_tilt_low ILCE-7R_wSEL35F28Z_top ILCE-7_front ILCE-7_rear ILCE-7_wSEL2870_right View Slideshow Previous Next Exit Both camera models also boast both NFC and Wi-Fi for easy pairing and direct transfer of photos to devices, and they’re built for pros, with dust- and moisture-resistant magnesium alloy cases. They take a new full-frame E-mount lens, of which Sony is release five in time for launch, and they also work backwards with standard E-mount lenses designed for the NEX series, albeit with some cropping. There will also be an adapter for Sony’s A-mount lenses, which work with their non-mirrorless DSLR range. The A7R and A7 will both go on sale in December, for $2,300 and $1,700 for body-only, respectively. There will also be kits available with some of the new lenses. Sony’s new full-frame interchangeable powerhouses aren’t cheap, but they aren’t crazily expensive, either – on par with the new lower cost line of full-frame DSLRs, in fact. Sony has been absolutely blazing a trail through the digital photography world these past few years, with its RX- line of powerful pocket cameras , and even the innovative (if odd) Q- series cameraphone lens attachments . The A7R and A7 look to be a continuation of that trend, but we’ll reserve final judgement until we get some hands on time with these new photographic monsters. 
Sony has named a new flagship in its Android-powered Xperia smartphone line up which focuses on beefing up camera capabilities. The 4G Xperia Z1, roundly leaked under the moniker ‘Honami’ but officially confirmed today at Sony’s IFA press conference in Berlin, is a follow up to the 5-inch, quad-core Xperia Z unboxed at the start of the year at CES. The Xperia Z1 has a 20.7MP camera on its rump (vs the 13.1MP on the Xperia Z) coupled with a 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS CMOS image sensor, Sony’s G Lens (27mm wide angle, f2.0 aperture) and Bionz image processing engine which Sony users in its standalone cameras. There’s also 3x “clear image zoom” — with Sony claiming its optical zoom delivers “zero distortion”. Sony is making big boasts for this lens combo — claiming it offers “best in class imaging” and is the “ world’s leading camera in a smartphone ” (Nokia may however disagree; its Lumia 1020 smartphone has a 41MP lens ). NB: Sony’s odd wording here — “camera in a smartphone” — can be explained by its simultaneous attempts to extend phone camera smarts via a hardware add-on lens system that clips onto any phone , including the Xperia Z1. Sony is preloading a series of camera apps onto the Z1 to extend its camera capabilities on the software side — including Social Life, a camera streaming app to broadcast what’s going on around you to Facebook; a Timeshift burst mode to take multiple images so you can choose the best shot from several; a visual search app called Info-Eye to get more info on snapped products/landmarks; and an augmented reality app called AR Effect to overlay customised animations onto images. Sony is clearly following in the footsteps of rivals’ strategy here, including Nokia (with its PureView imaging push) and Samsung , which has also focused on making its own suite of imaging apps for flagship devices such as the Galaxy S4. But as well as making its own apps, Sony’s hoping to get developers working for it on the camera front too. “It’s built with an open SDK and we’re already working with a talented group of app developers that will extend its capabilities, ” it said today. Elsewhere, the Xperia Z1 looks to be a slightly beefed up version of its earlier sibling, with the same size 5-inch 1080p display — albeit this time including newer Sony screen tech that it has also brought to the Xperia Z Ultra phablet. Sony’s Triluminos screen tech apparently supports a greater range of colours with natural shades. The Z1 also features Sony’s X-Reality technology for improving the viewing experience of low res video. The Xperia Z1 runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean at launch. Under the hood it has a 2.2Ghz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset. There’s also 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage –expandable via a microSD card slot — and a 3, 000mAh battery. Design wise, the Xperia Z1 shares the look and feel of the rest of Sony’s Xperia range — with clean lines and blunt edges, although Sony says it’s evolved the design, most notably by adding a one piece aluminium casing to all the plastic. Oh and the Z1 is also waterproof, as is its predecessor. To ram that point home, Sony apparently thought it was a good idea to entertain IFA attendees by getting some ladies to cavort with some phones in some water . As sexist displays go, it’s pretty impressive — even by tech industry ‘booth babe’ standards — so well done Sony for alienating ~50% of potential buyers. It better hope the other 50% gets so distracted they end up buying two phones apiece. On the size front, neither the Xperia Z1 or its numeral-less sibling is the largest handset Sony makes, although their five inch displays sits on the cusp of phablet territory. The Sony enormo-phone award goes to its palm-stretching Xperia Z Ultra : a 6.4 inch phablet that’s so large Sony sells a Bluetooth handset accessory for it so you can comfortably take calls. Sony said the Xperia Z1 is due to hit shelves “starting this month”. 
