The amazing science behind the Nokia 808′s mammoth 41MP camera sensor explained

In terms of mobile imaging, the Nokia 808 is a revolutionary device. Not only is it capable of taking images of up to 38MP, but it can also make use of a technology called oversampling, which means that out of 7 adjacent pixels of information it captures, it outputs to memory a single resulting pixel, which hopefully, is picture perfect.

There are three outright advantages to this oversampling thing: amazing image quality, lossless zoom, and superior low light performance.

Maximum resolution matters

The Nokia 808 can capture 4:3 images at up to 38MP and 16:9 images at up to 34MP thanks to the multi-aspect sensor. The difference in aspects also means a difference in the effective viewing angle, which in 35mm equivalent is about 28mm in 4:3 aspect capturing and 26mm in 16:9 aspect capturing.

At 1/1.2″, the sensor size is impressive even for a point’n'shoot camera, and is more than double the one found on the N8. And if you gotta know, that means an estimated pixel size of 1.26 microns for each pixel, which is about the same size modern-day 8 megapixel cameraphones use. It’s only that there are 5 times more pixels on this baby, hence the size.

Yes, the 41MP sensor of the Nokia 808 is really something, but you won’t be actually able to take 41MP photos. Here you can see all the different image aspects and their respective resolution. The sensor has a total active surface of 7728 x 5368 pixels, which does amount to 41MP, but depending on the aspect ratio you choose, it will use either 7728 x 4354 pixels for 16:9 images or 7152 x 5368 pixels for 4:3 images/videos.

Actually, the default shooting resolution in PureView mode (the pixel oversampling one) is 5MP in 16:9 aspect ratio, but you also have options for 2MP and 8MP. You can turn off PureView mode and shoot in the camera’s maximum resolution, in which case you will turn up with quite large image files as evident from our gallery with full-res samples.

Pixel oversampling is like miniaturization but prettier

But enough about maximum resolution, let’s get back to image quality. The Nokia Team have given a lot of thought to how to improve the image quality on size-constrained mobiles. With ever decreasing pixel sizes, the challenge for engineers is quite clearly to overcome the negative effects like high digital noise levels and the resulting poor low light performance. Enter pixel oversampling.

Oversampling is different from mere cropping as it doesn’t simply use part of the sensor to produce a lower resolution image. Instead, it still uses the full sensor, but downsizes the resulting image to say, 5MP on the Nokia 808. The benefit of this is that this process of downsizing removes digital noise, while preserving the same level of detail you might get by shooting with the best 5 megapixel camera.

But there’s more to having such a huge sensor.

And it goes all zoom-zoom

Since the Nokia 808 captures so many pixels and is able to produce lower res photos, it’s only natural that it tries to tackle one of the other most wanted features in cameraphones – the lossless zoom. Instead of focusing on the traditional ways of delivering image zooming such as digital interpolation or optical magnification, the Nokia team went for the highest resolution sensor ever found on a mobile.

Everybody has tried regular digital zoom, it’s no good. Some have even attempted optical zooming, but it’s way too bulky, noisy and even slow and prone to geometrical distortion. The only viable solution was the 2x digital zoom that was offered by the N8 in video mode (via pixel binning) but even that involved interpolation of sorts. But to be able to offer any zoom levels in still images, you need to have a solid sensor with a huge amount of extra pixels compared to the nominal output resolution. And lots of processing power.

To meet the immense processing requirements (over 1 billion pixels per second and 16x oversampling), the Nokia team developed a special companion processor to the sensor that handles pixel scaling before sending the required number to the main image processor.

Once that’s out of the way, you get lossless zooming with the same effective viewing angle – in 35mm equivalents, it’s 28mm in 4:3 aspect ratio and 26mm in 16:9. And depending on the resolution, you get a variety of zoom levels. In 5MP stills, for instance, you get around a 3x zoom.

I’ll let the Nokia team deliver their explanation of this new zoom method, they simply nail it in rather simple words:

With the Nokia 808 PureView, zoom is handled completely differently — like nothing that has been done before. We’ve taken the radical decision not to use any upscaling whatsoever. There isn’t even a setting for it.

When you zoom with the Nokia 808 PureView, in effect you are just selecting the relevant area of the sensor. So with no zoom, the full area of the sensor corresponding to the aspect ratio is used. The limit of the zoom (regardless of the resolution setting for stills or video) is reached when the selected output
resolution becomes the same as the input resolution.

For example, with the default setting of 5MP (3072 x 1728), once the area of the sensor reaches 3072 x 1728, you’ve hit the zoom limit. This means the zoom is always true to the image you want.

The level of pixel oversampling is highest when you’re not using the zoom. It gradually decreases until you hit maximum zoom, where there is no oversampling.

Here’s an example of the amazing level of detail the Nokia 808 allows with its high-res shots.

In video, at FullHD 1080p resolution you get 4x lossless zoom, at 720p HD video you’ve got 6x lossless zoom, and for nHD (640×360) video there’s the impressive 12x zoom. And you can bet video quality will be great, since the 808 encodes the video in up to 25Mbps worth of bitrate.

The Nokia 808 camera has some other impressive specs too

Even without these amazing features, unseen before in a mobile phone, the Nokia 808 has some serious imaging potential. You’ve got a Carl Zeiss certified lens, the xenon flash, a relatively large F2.4 aperture, and a Neutral Density filter for those high-intensity lighting scenes.

The added mechanical shutter minimizes the disadvantages of a rolling shutter such as the vertical stripes that appear in the highlights of high-contrast images also known as smear, as well as the wavy “Jell-O” distortion that sometimes appears if you move the camera while shooting.

Also, the large sensor size and the longer focal range of 8.02mm in combination with the large aperture delivers more blurry background (a nice bokeh) in closeup shots as opposed to most regular cameraphones, which is exciting on its own.

Wrapping it up

As Nokia puts it, the Nokia 808 presents a “quantum leap forward in cameraphone performance”. Indeed, it introduces concepts we’ve never thought possible on a mobile phone. It’s not about the piles of megapixels but rather what you can do with them, such as producing picture perfect low-res images or lossless zooming in both stills and videos (including after-the-fact zooming and cropping). It’s one helluva camera and we bet it will be able to challenge most point-and-shoots on their own turf. Too bad they’ve picked Nokia Belle as the OS of choice. But we remain positive, as today Nokia representatives promised on stage at the MWC 2012 that this technology will get implemented in future products as well

Intex brings feature rich phone for Rs 3,690

It has a lot of games preinstalled and allows users to read ebooks as well.

Indian mobile phone manufacturer Intex has launched a new touchscreen phone loaded with many interesting applications.

The new Intex Sense comes with a 3.2 inch touchscreen display with the new Intex Sense interface. Intex Application Store - WStore is preloaded in the phone alongwith 41 international and popular games (Doodle Jump, Angry Birds, Gears of War, Need for Speed, Gogo Box, Guns & Glory etc).

While there is excitement and engagement for gaming freaks, the phone is also a good option for avid book readers as it has some famous books stored in it, ranging from classics to fiction, and from thriller to general science, etc. Additionally, the user can save up to 500 books in the phone's secondary storage.

It has a reasonably large inbuilt memory of 79 MB. A 4 GB microSD card is free with this phone, and will help you download more apps and save data.

Intex Sense is feature rich with miscellaneous and mainstream features like audio equalizer, sound recorder etc. making it a very effective sound data management device. The torch light with dual LED being offered in the phone will help rural customers too. It has a dual camera; the back camera is of 3 megapixel; while the front camera is of 1.3 megapixel.

Social network access is made easier with direct links to major sites like Facebook and Twitter. Language support is in English and Hindi. Other features include a motion sensor, dynamic wallpaper, messengers, king movie and sketch notes etc. You can enjoy talktime of 4.5 hours and standby time of 380 hours, according to the company.

Commenting on the launch, Sanjay Kumar, general manager, mobile business, Intex Technologies, said, "When paired with numerous features and exciting applications such as weather forecasts, vocabulary, movies and books, Intex Sense offers a unique experience that is simply unmatched in the market at this price point."

Attractively priced at Rs 3,690, the phone is available in retail stores in black and white colours.

Nokia's first 4G phone - Lumia 900

The single core 1.4 GHz Snapdragon processor handset will come in the second quarter for 480 Euros (Rs 31,675 approx.)

Nokia has unveiled its new flagship Windows Phone 7.5 smartphone, Lumia 900, at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. The new Nokia Lumia 900 is an improvement over the existing Lumia 800 in several areas.

Lumia 900 is the first LTE network supporting Windows Phone device from Nokia and will be available exclusively through AT&T. Lumia 900 comes in cyan, white and black colours.

The smartphone sports a 4.3 inch ClearBlack Amoled display with WVGA 800 x 480 pixel resolution. Under the hood, it houses a single core 1.4 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8055+MDM9200 mobile chipset coupled with 512 MB RAM and 16 GB on-board storage. At the rear lies an 8 megapixel camera with LED flash and f/2.2 aperture. This camera can easily record 720p HD video at 30 frames per second. There's also a secondary camera in the front for video chat.

Lumia 900 comes with the same polycarbonate unibody chassis with non-removable battery. Thankfully, the company has packed an 1830 mAh battery, which will hopefully make the phone last longer.

Nokia has added a bunch of applications developed in-house such as Nokia Maps and the new Nokia Reading application that offers support for reading ebooks.

Nokia Lumia 900 is expected to be made available worldwide in the second quarter of this year for 480 Euros (Rs 31, 675 approximately).

First batch of the Apple iPad 3 shipping already, say reports

Apple have officially sent out invites to a select few media members, regarding an announdement scheduled to take place on the 7th of March at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The invitation came in the form of an image showing a tablet, and a calendar on it with the date set to March 7th. There was a caption, alongside that read, “We have something you really have to see. And touch.” The announcement is expected to centre around the upcoming iPad 3 tablet and since we have the tentative timeline of the unveiling, all that is left is the official launch date of the product. As per a report by Install or Not, it appears that the launch date may not be too far off, as they cite a report from a Chinese forum called WeiPhone, stating that a shipping document reveals that several iPad 3 units are already on their way from China to Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City.

Beyond HD coming soon

The report states, “The iPad 3 units are will be delivered by Foxconn, the Apple supplier beginning March 9. The translation of the shipping document states, “In order to prevent the cargo from being dragged on the airport ramp for too long, as well as shortening the time the cargo stay on the airport ramp, we hereby require XXXX to schedule all the XXX cargo planes from February 26 to March 9th to XXX slot.”

Speaking about the date of availability, the report states that the iPad 3 could be available to the public from as soon as late March and preorders of the tablet could start from as early as March 7th. This comes in as good news for those looking to purchase the iPad 3 and have put off buying, or just wanting to upgrade from the present generation iPad 2. 

The iPad 3 is expected to have some interesting features, such as a Retina Display screen that supports a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels, 4G LTE capabilities, an improved camera, a quad-core A6 processor as well as a slightly redesigned casing. 

Let us know if you plan on being an early adopter and getting the iPad 3 before it officially launches in India.

Apple event scheduled for March 7 in San Francisco

Early this month, it was reported that Apple was preparing to host an event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, in San Francisco on the 7th of March. This report came courtesy of iMore and they claimed that reliable sources had informed them regarding the same. This report coincided with a report by AllThingsD, which although, reiterated the fact that Apple would be holding an event in the first week of March, did not come out clear on the specified date. For all Apple fans and any of those interested in knowing when the iPad 3 may be being unveiled, March 7th should now be circled on their calendars, because a report by CNET states that Apple has sent out invites to members of the media about an event scheduled on the exact same day.

The calendar says it all

As per the report, the invitation only comes as an image with a caption that states, “We have something you really have to see. And touch.” This definitely indicates that Apple will be showing off their new iPad and gathering from the caption, a Retina Display tablet should be figuring in the announcement. The report by CNET goes on to say, “This big feature rumored to be coming to this year's model is a display that packs four times the number of pixels as the first and second-generation models, bearing resemblance to the so-called Retina Displays found on the company's recent model iPhones and iPod Touches. Other expected features include a speedier processor, better cameras, and the possibility of 4G LTE networking.” There have been numerous reports in the past indicating that Apple would have all these features and more in their upcoming tablet.

The last bit of information that came about is that the brand was working on 2 separate chips, namely the A5X and the A6. There have been rumblings in the past that the upcoming tablet would feature a quad-core processor, but various other reports are rubbishing these claims.

As of now, we have to just wait for a few more days and see what Apple wants the world to see and touch. Let us know your thoughts on what may feature in the next iPad or do you think Apple may have a surprise in store for the world?

Fujitsu announces new range of LIFEBOOK notebooks in India

Fujitsu India announces a range of over ten notebooks with configurations specifically designed for commercial customers. These products are now available ex-stock in India, at price-points starting from Rs. 21,995 (taxes and levies extra). The wide range of Fujitsu LIFEBOOK notebooks and tablet PCs are now available for purchase, along with their ESPRIMO PCs that showcase Fujitsu’s green philosophy through patented 0-Watt technology that reduces energy costs by up to 70%.

Their new range is now available ex-stock in India

If you’re looking for an all-rounder notebook then the LIFEBOOK LH531 is the perfect choice for an all-purpose notebook. Weighing only 2.2 kg, this 14-inch notebook is small and light enough for every trip and at the same time big enough to check emails, surf the web, edit pictures or watch a movie conveniently. With the optionally integrated Blu-ray Disc drive one even can enjoy high-definition entertainment at its best. This lean notebook boasts an HD anti-glare display with LED backlight, integrated 1.3 Megapixel webcam and digital microphone, Anytime USB Charge to charge phones/media devices even when the system is turned off. The LIFEBOOK SH531 is a more compact solution. It sports a 13.3-inch display and weighs 1.9kg. If you’re looking for something more productive, then the Fujitsu LIFEBOOK AH531 offers an anti-glare 15.6-inch LCD that’s perfect for outdoor working. Thanks to integrated WLAN, Bluetooth and embedded 3G/UMTS helps the user connect and work remotely. 

The Fujitsu LIFEBOOK A531 is a more budget friendly notebook with its 15.6-inch outdoor-friendly anti-glare LCD and integrated WLAN, Bluetooth and optionally embedded 3G/UMTS. All the above notebooks are completely configurable by the user and Fujitsu offers CPU from Intel’s latest Core i3, i5 and i7 range along with a combination of RAM and other features.

Microsoft unveils Windows 8 for public test

Microsoft Corp unveils the first widely available test version of Windows 8 on Wednesday, giving the public the first chance to try out the slick, new-look operating system it hopes will restore the company's fading tech supremacy.

Windows 8, as the first Microsoft operating system compatible with low-power microprocessors designed by ARM Holdings Plc , will run on tablets as well as desktops and laptops.

"The operating system has begun to be seen as largely irrelevant," said Sid Parakh, an analyst at fund firm McAdams Wright Ragen, which holds Microsoft shares. "This is the release that will have to prove its relevance all over again."

Tablets and smartphones and cloud computing have made Bill Gates' vision of "a computer on every desk and in every home" seem quaint, and Apple Inc and Google Inc and Amazon.com now set the agenda for the computing industry. Still, all of those companies' fancy new hardware devices need basic operating software, and Microsoft is betting there is still more than a little room for Windows.

"The big increment here is that it'll be viable on the ARM platform, that there'll be a tablet form factor -- that kind of makes it a big deal," said Dan Hanson, a portfolio manager at BlackRock, which holds 5 percent of Microsoft's shares through various funds. "Microsoft correctly identified the relevance of the tablet form factor over a decade ago. This operating system may allow them to finally execute."

A refreshing look

Windows 8 will come in two main flavors -- one that works on the traditional x86 chips made by Intel Corp for desktops and laptops, and a new version for the ARM microprocessors that have become the standard for tablets, smartphones and other portable devices. Microsoft says it is aiming to get machines running on both the ARM and Intel platforms into the market at the same time but has not set a target date. In both versions, Windows 8 features a completely new interface, borrowed from what Microsoft calls the "Metro" style of the current Windows Phone software. It features blocks or 'tiles' that can be moved around the screen or tapped to go straight into an application.

The tiles update in real time, so you can see if you have emails, voice messages or Facebook notifications at a glance. If PC and laptop users do not like the new format, they can revert to the old style with a click of the mouse. The key for any operating software -- be it Apple's iOS for iPhones and iPads, Google's Android software for smartphones, or Windows -- is to attract the support of the software developers who build applications, and on that score Windows 8 is off to a decent start.

"The biggest hurdle our designers have had is trying to get inside the mood of a Metro user, where less is more," said Paul Murphy, business development manager at Aviary, which makes a photo editing tool that can be integrated into iOS and Android apps. "That was and still is a challenge, but I think now that they've been at it for a couple of months, they actually really like it. They appreciate the simplicity of the design."

Developers who have already created apps for Microsoft's Windows Phone are finding it easier to adapt to Windows 8, said Ryan Lowdermilk, who hosts a popular podcast for apps builders.

"Porting your code over, people are finding that to be pretty straightforward. But as far as finishing that last mile where some of this newer technology for Windows 8 comes into play, they are finding little hiccups and bugs here and there."

The Windows 8 release has to be good, and soon, say industry experts.

"Now that the tablet market is being defined by the iPad and the (Amazon) Kindle, if they come out with a buggy first version, they won't get a second chance," said Michael Cherry, a former Microsoft engineer who now works at independent research firm Directions on Microsoft. "They can't afford to disappoint customers."

More control...

Microsoft has not put a timetable on the final release, but Windows unit head Steven Sinofsky has said new versions of Windows should be no more than three years apart, which would put a Windows 8 debut around October 2012. The public will get its first good look at Windows 8 on Wednesday, when Sinofsky launches the "Consumer Preview" at an event in Barcelona. Everybody will be able to download a test version of Windows 8 that will run on PCs and laptops based on Intel chips. But they won't get to try out Windows 8 on an ARM tablet until later this year.

Initial buyers for Windows tablets are expected to be consumers, as most business users have not yet even moved onto Windows 7. But the long-term success of Windows 8 will depend on Microsoft's core business customers. A Windows tablet that works seamlessly with Microsoft's Exchange email system and Office applications would be a godsend for corporate technology managers, who have been bending over backward to put their CEO's iPads -- "executive jewelry," as one analyst puts it -- onto their company's email and security systems.

Microsoft's killer punch is Office. After months of silence, Sinofsky confirmed earlier this month that the world's most popular suite of work applications, including the newest versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, will come installed on tablets running the ARM version of Windows. That's a big and potentially risky departure for Microsoft, which has in the past sold Office separately.

They will not be in the new "Metro" style, but they will be optimized for touch. That would give Windows tablets a unique selling point over iPads and Android tablets. Even a wildly successful Windows 8 might be less profitable for Microsoft than its predecessors, simply because the company won't be able to charge nearly as much for software that runs a $400 tablet than it could for software running a $1,500 PC.

The Windows unit averages about $80 per PC sold now, but will likely get half that from tablets, Sanford C. Bernstein analysts estimate. Wall Street is expecting a bump in Windows sales for at least 12 months after the release, fueled by consumer demand for tablets but does not foresee a spike matching the hot-selling Windows 7.

Analysts are estimating a 12 percent jump in Microsoft's earnings per share for each of the next two fiscal years, which is better than the flat expectations for this year, marred by lackluster PC sales. But it is not exceptional for a company that posted nearly 30 percent increases in earnings per share for the last two fiscal years. Gross profit margins, while still comparatively high, are expected to drift slightly lower. Several analysts have recently raised their outlook for next year's earnings, helping the stock rise to a four-year high on Tuesday, partly buoyed by building interest in Windows 8.

"The next four to six quarters will be extremely important for Microsoft," said Parakh at McAdams Wright Ragen. "They have to prove they too have a competitive product, not just on traditional desktop PCs and laptops but on the tablet and even phones. And this is their chance."