Smartwatches don’t have to be ugly and this concept is proof

It’s safe to say that in 2014, we’re not short of smartwatches. But how many do you actually want to wear? That’s a question that manufacturers are finally starting to ask themselves. It’s also a question that Creoir — who designs products for brands like Nokia and Jolla — is trying to answer with its Ibis concept (shown above). Unlike most smartwatches, the Ibis was designed as a watch first. The elegant, metal design resembles a timepiece you would expect to see in a jewelry store. The “smart” part was conceived with the intention of supporting, not overwhelming the device’s primary function. Essentially, the clock part is a regular watch face, while a small display sits beneath, ready to serve up notifications, calendar entries or let you answer and reject calls.

While the hardware we saw was a prototype, we were also shown the user interface on a separate demonstration device. The UI has been skinned to complement the watch’s design language, and runs on a pruned back version of Android. A working device would also include WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, an accelerometer and USB connectivity. While the Ibis is very much a concept for now, Creoir has built products — including smartwatches — for a number of household names, including other watch-makers such as Suunto. So, while it might not be finding its way to your wrist any time soon, there’s a very good chance a version, or “inspired-by” design will at some point.

Filed under: Wearables

Comments

Dual-lens smartphone cameras are coming, and this is why we want one

One camera. Two separate lenses. That’s the conundrum raised by leaked images of HTC’s forthcoming M8 smartphone, which is rumored to bring some interesting new imaging features that go far beyond mere 3D. But what could those features be? For an answer, we turned to a startup called Corephotonics, which is currently pitching precisely such a dual-lens concept to smartphone makers. The company’s representatives told us that they’re not behind the specific module in the M8 — that camera must be coming from some other rival or from within HTC itself — but they were keen to show us what their module could do for image quality, if it was ever put to work inside a smartphone or compact camera.

The big trick here is Corephotonics’ use of two lenses with two different focal lengths. One lens is wide-angle, while the other is at 3x zoom. This means you can switch lenses to magnify more distant subjects without resorting to digital zoom. In the test set-up shown in the video above, which compared the dual-lens system side-by-side with a traditional smartphone camera (with both modules pointed at a test card around a foot away), the Corephotonics system outputted a clear 13-megapixel image regardless of whether it was at 1x or 3x zoom.

By contrast, Nokia’s PureView cameras rely solely on digital zoom such that outputting a 3x magnified image entails a drop in resolution down to five megapixels. Corephotonics’ system can also deliver smooth zooms, for example during video recording, by employing a mix of digital zoom and lens-switching.

The second benefit to using two parallel lenses, each with its own sensor, is improved low-light performance. Corephotonics’ software works in real-time to match each pixel from one lens with the corresponding pixel from the other lens, and it uses scene analysis to detect which pixel is likely to be closer to the truth. As a result, noise is reduced and we end up with a cleaner picture — just as we would if we had one big imaging sensor instead of two little ones.

The third and final advantage is one we’ve touched on very briefly already: Having two lenses enables a degree of depth analysis. Although “3D” has become something of a dirty word of late, depth analysis allows for extra control over images, such automatically blurring out of backgrounds in portrait shots, quicker autofocus and augmented reality.

Add all these things up and you get a technology with real promise, which could well explain why HTC has drilled an extra hole of the back of the M8 — even if it’s not a Corephotonics-sized hole just yet.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile

Comments

Aereo wins a grace period from injunction, keeps Denver and Salt Lake City open

Some broadcasters might have recently scored a victory against Aereo in court, but they can’t party just yet. The startup just got a 14-day grace period from a six-state preliminary injunction (it has won its share of court battles, and this is considered its biggest legal setback thus far) handed down last week. That means the over-the-air TV service can continue any expansion plans in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming… at least for a while. Current customers in Salt Lake City and Denver, sites in the affected states where Aereo is already available, should be able to continue enjoying the OTA service, as well.

According to Deadline, the court granted Aereo a brief reprieve, because it “finds some benefit in allowing [its] customers uninterrupted service” while waiting for the Tenth Circuit’s decision regarding the firm’s appeal. Aereo, which is very, very used to being sued by now, will also face TV networks at the Supreme Court on April 22. If the startup wins, it could lead to an acquisition or, amusingly enough, a sudden boom in Aereo copycats.

Filed under: HD

Comments

Source: Deadline