Tag: camera

Example footage from the new HTC RE camera

Yes, the new pipe camera that HTC launched just the other day doesn’t have an in-built viewfinder. Although you can use your phone as a viewfinder and although it has a 146 degree wide-angle lens, some are questioning just how accurate the “point and hope” shooting will actually …

HTC RE Launched – An innovative handheld camera

Back in September we noticed this, and James guessed it to be an add-on camera. I thought it would be a selfie-camera of some kind but now we’ve got the full details – it’s called the RE. Instantly I’m taken back to Religious Education lessons from school, but …

Weekend deals – The Galaxy S4 Zoom

Fishing around, I actually found a news item we ran last year for this very same phone. The S4 Zoom, at the time, was a steal at just £442.80. Since then, the K Zoom has appeared so it’s knocked the price of the original phone down quite a …

BT Smart Home Cam review

Things must be going well here at Coolsmartphone. People don’t just want to send us phones to review any more, they want to send us security camera kit too. This one is clever (and we agreed to review it) because it works with your smartphone or tablet. There’s …

Garmin VIRB Elite review

GoPro cameras are, as you’ll have probably seen here on Coolsmartphone, a cool way to record your sporting activity. However, when I asked GoPro to load one of their cameras to review, they said… basically, no. The people at Garmin however, did loan me a device, and it …

What’s on the end of your stick? Oh, it’s your phone.

Yes, you really are seeing this. That “joke picture” circling around the internet featuring a guy holding his phone on the end of a stick is an actual product. It’s called the Me-Shot Deluxe and, to be fair, is a bit more than just a big stick. A …

AirDog – A camera-equipped copter that’ll follow you round

This man knows how to make Kickstarter videos. He walks towards the camera like Hugh Laurie in House. Nice style. He basically wants you to invest in an aerial sports drone. If you’ve got enough cash and a penchant for outdoor sporting activity, this could be your thing. …

The READYACTION in … err.. action

Those posh sports cameras are good, but they do tend to cost quite a bit. The Garmin Virb I looked at a short while ago can be around £200+ and, whilst it produces excellent footage, it’s quite a bit of cash. This then is READYACTION – a body …

Apple hire the head of the “Pure View” camera team

Ari Partinen, the man who introduced Nokia’s “PureView” and had been the head of the company’s photography unit since 2007, has been hired by Apple to work on its iPhone camera systems. We all know that Nokia has been famous for both it’s camera software and hardware. And …

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom announced

Samsung have today added a new range to their ‘Galaxy’ portfolio – the new K Zoom. This replaces the S4 Zoom, which has been available for a while. This new device is much thinner than the S4 Zoom and boosts the specifications even higher. It features a 20.7 …

Google release their Android camera app

Google have been slowly and surely releasing the core Android apps onto the Play Store. Like the keyboard, Calendar, Gmail, Google Search and a load of others. The latest is the camera app which has only previously seen updates during Android version updates. It’s a whole lot easier …

I’m a special effects MASTER!

I’ve been lucky enough to travel to the latest phone launches and see some pretty smart innovations lately. Camera technology on the latest high-end smartphones is getting better all the time, but inside there’s some clever software tweaks that are doing some pretty amazing things. As a quick …

Camera samples from HTC One (M8)

I’ve just back home and I’m checking out some of the photos I took whilst in London. They were snapped on the brand new HTC One M8 so we can see if the camera is all it’s cracked up to be. These are some of the very first …

The all new HTC One dual camera purpose is finally revealed

The as of yet unannounced all new HTC One has been leaked a lot recently. It seems no NDA is worth the paper it’s written and that no one is trustworthy anymore. The latest leak is to do with the dual rear camera which many people have been …

Sony Xperia Z2 – Low light camera test

Here in Barcelona Sony have a set of boxes with small holes in. You pop the Z2 camera onto the hole, take a picture and see how it compares with your current handset. When you focus on the shot there’s pretty much nothing to be seen, so you …

Record your driving with an Eye Witness from Garmin

Yes, I know we don’t normally cover this sort of thing, but I’m putting this squarely into the “interesting” category. You may have seen or heard of on-board cameras in cars, particularly in the US, that continually record footage as you drive. In the event of an accident, …

Justin Bieber wants you to have a selfie

Yes, I am actually writing this. I can see my fingers moving but the fact that it’s actually forming a story is rather strange. A selfie is, from what I’ve seen, a shot of yourself that you take either … a) From above by extending your arm and …

Samsung Flagships to have 16MP camera

With the launch of the Note 3 and Galaxy S4 only just fading from the memory, Samsung have revealed during an Analyst Day that their new range of flagship handsets will ship with a 16MP Isocell camera. The Isocell allows for better low light photography, something that all manufacturers …

LG G2 vs Note 3 – camera comparison

Phablets, or just ‘big phones’ if you prefer, aren’t normally associated with great cameras, but the flagship models from both Samsung and LG both have fairly capably 13mp shooters. Therefore, it would be fairly rude not to compare them. Some stand out specifications are as follows Note3 13mp …

HTC One max – Is the camera lacking? We don’t think so

Yesterday we finally saw the official details for the HTC One max. A couple of items have already been pointed out, and the questions we’ve had so far are… – Where’s Beats Audio? Well, simply put. It ain’t there. BoomSound is, so you’re gonna get some rather potent …

Rideye – A black box bike recorder

Yes, it’s time for your daily dose of Kickstarter action. This time it’s my beer fund. If you choose to invest, you’ll get no return on your money but you’ll be able to read some really long and rambling news articles. Yay. No, seriously, it’s this – the …

Apple iPhone 5S Camera and Touch ID promo videos released

Two key elements of the iPhone 5S announcement last night was the improved camera and the fingerprint scanning home button called Touch ID. Apple have posted two videos on their YouTube channel showing both off. First up the camera video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK0_OVn_uxA Next Touch ID http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJkmc8-eyvE

Sony DS-QX10 and DS-QX100 clip-on cameras manual leaks with specs

Earlier in the week we posted an intriguing article about a pair of clip-on 18MP optical zoom Sony camera attachments for mobile phones. We spoke about them at length on the podcast and couldn’t decide whether they were practical, silly, a hoax, or all three! Today we’ve got …

Nokia Pro Cam lands on 925 and 920

Are you using a Nokia Lumia 920 or 925 and jealous of all the camera functionality of the new Lumia 1020? Well whilst you might not be able to replace the camera lens to get those 41 megapixels, the great news is you can now get the software …

That meteor shower thing. Want to capture it?

So, I’ve told you how to see the International Space Station easily, now let’s move onto that meteor shower everyone is talking about. Yes, you’ll be needing your phone again. Yes, you’ll be stood in your garden at night using the camera on your phone. Yes, it’s possible …

Sony and Honami lens camera pictures leak

Sony make a lot of the cameras on their phones, but now they have gone a step further with lenses that clip onto various phones. There are two lenses rumoured which are both G lens branded; this has become synonymous with quality in the digital camera world. The …

Sony Xperia Tablet Z – Camera and software overview

It’s no secret, I love this thing. I’m using it right now to write this very story and it has a lot of the features that I also love about the iPad. Firstly, the design. Somehow this tablet is better than the Xperia Z phone. It’s beautifully built …

Hyundai HD Daylight sunglasses review

Sunglasses … with a frickin’ hidden camera. Honestly, it’s like something out of Austin Powers. I don’t know where to start. Back in 2002 I was happy to review a phone that had a colour screen. Now I’ve got a pair of sunglasses which look and feel like …

Time to sell the standalone camera?

For years now many have said that a phone camera will never replace a normal standalone digital camera. However, has that now changed with the introduction of smartphones such as the Nokia 808 PureView, Samsung S4 Zoom and the 41 megapixel Lumia 1020? These new advanced low-light optics, …

Nokia Lumia 925 tours New York

Recently I went on a holiday I have always wanted…. a week in New York. I was also lucky enough to have a Lumia 925 on me at the time (big thanks to Nokia Connects). The camera is really good at low-light photos and the PureView technology meant …

Oppo said to be working on a camera

The jury is still out on whether people want a dedicated camera or a smartphone with a camera. Oppo are apparently following in the footsteps of smartphone manufacturers like Samsung and are working on a fully fledged camera. A “source” has stated that an internal Oppo briefing mentioned …

Nokia post some videos bigging up their cameras

Nokia have some pretty damn good camera phones out at the moment. The latest the Lumia 925 broken down in this video from the Nokia YouTube channel. It doesn’t shown anything great but it’s interesting if you’re a Nokia fan. Precision: Inside your smartphone camera http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj8mjC0PXgs Nokia have …

HTC to increase production volume of the One

HTC has reportedly been struggling to make the HTC One quick enough. Mainly due to supply constraints with the camera module. In a recent report in Taiwan, Jack Tong the president of HTC North Asia said the following: “Our capacity is expected to rise significantly starting from mid-May. …

Lumia 920 Camera fight

Microsoft are busy on Facebook comparing low-light camera shots. Several images have been posted to show just how good the camera is on the Windows Phone-powered Nokia Lumia 920. The images certainly show the difference in quality between the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Lumia, with shots …

Nokia 928 – Pureview featured in new video

The new Nokia 928 has possibly been the worst kept secret in town. With advertising billboards up before launch and Nokia all but confirming it’s existence, it would seem that the Finnish company have finally given up and decided to properly join in with the publicity. A video posted on …

HTC One Camera Test – Part Three

Yesterday we updated our HTC One with the very latest patches and tried some low-light shots. We compared it against the 13-megapixel shooter on the Sony Xperia T. Both phones had HDR mode turned on during the test. HDR images capture a greater dynamic range between the lightest …

HTC One Updated – Our second camera test

Today the HTC One received an update. Software version 1.29.4.12, which is a 229MB download, is said to update the camera, improve HTC Zoe sound quality, improve Beats Audio and adds system stability tweaks. Let’s wind back the clock because, in February, we posted this article which compared …