Panasonic’s GM5 mirrorless is still tiny and now has a live viewfinder
Panasonic has just launched the Lumix DMC-GM5 targeted at shooters who want high performance with a form factor that’s about as small as you can make an interchangeable lens, Micro Four Thirds camera. To remind you (Panasonic has a dizzying array of MFT cameras that even confuses us), the GM5 is the successor to the GM1, the company’s smallest form-factor ILC model. It’s roughly the size of a pack of cards, and weights about 0.62 pounds including a battery and lens. Specs remain similar to the GM1, with a 16-megapixel sensor, 1080p/60fps video, a max ISO of 25,600, a 1/16,000 shutter speed and a new “snap movie mode,” that allows photos and video to be taken at the same time. The other new toy is a 1,166K-dot live viewfinder (LVF) with a 100 percent FOV and full color reproduction. Ironically, most of those specs (other than the pixel count) are lower than Panasonic’s LX100, a new compact, fixed lens MFT model also introduced today. We’re guessing the GM5 will actually be much less expensive, even with a kit lens included — we’ll find out by mid-November.
Filed under: Cameras
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Canon’s most powerful superzoom sports advanced video features, 65x lens
If you need a 21-1365mm focal range in a single permanently affixed lens, man does Canon have the camera for you. The PowerShot SX60 HS, which replaces the SX50, sports a 65x optical zoom with an f/3.4-6.5 maximum aperture range and features to help you track distant subjects when you’re zoomed all the way in. The camera’s Advanced Zoom Framing Assist lets you select how much of a person you want to keep in the frame, and the camera will automatically zoom in and out to maintain that composition. The SX60 has an upgraded 16.1-megapixel 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, a DIGIC 6 processor, a 922k-dot viewfinder that flips out, up and forward, along with built-in WiFi and NFC.
The SX60 also packs some sophisticated video capture features, letting you shoot 1080/60p clips with full control over the exposure. There’s an external mic port with manual audio level controls and “silent” focus and zoom adjustments, so you can continue to make tweaks without interrupting recording. For stills, you can shoot up to 6.4 frames per second at full resolution (with fixed focus), and the camera’s zoom memory will bring you back to your previous zoom position after you swap a battery or SD card. Canon’s new flagship superzoom ships next month for $550.
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Panasonic’s ‘connected camera’ pairs an Android smartphone with a one-inch sensor and f/2.8 lens
Compact, point-and-shoot cameras are dying, simply because people would rather use smartphones and tablets to snap their dinner and instantly share them to Instagram. Unfortunately, that’s a segment of the market that Panasonic abandoned (at least in Europe) back in 2013. That left the company without a convincing rival to the Lumia 1020 and Samsung’s various phone / camera hybrids. That’s why the company has now launched the DMC-CM1, a “connected camera” (i.e. a smartphone with a proper lens) that’s capable of taking 20-megapixel stills and record 4K video thanks to a one-inch MOS sensor.
For its part, Panasonic knows that the device won’t beat equivalent smartphones on a spec-for-spec basis. Instead, it wants people to concentrate upon the photographic equipment that’s been crammed into this slender device. Perched atop the aforementioned one-inch sensor is an f/2.8 Leica DC Elmarit lens. The lens is fixed, but works equivalent to a 28mm zoom lens, packing an aperture that’ll run all the way up to f/11. A manual control dial runs around the lens, which you can assign to a function of your choice, lending this an old-school feel. In fact, the CM1 looks like the Lumia 1020 by way of Dieter Rams, all austere chrome with cracked-leather style back, and has a weird retro-futuristic look that’s tremendously attractive.
On the surface of it, it’s no slouch in the phone department either, packing a 4.7-inch full HD touchscreen that’ll offer full manual control of your images. Sandwiched between the frame is a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 with 2GB RAM and Android 4.4. The 16GB of internal storage can also, thankfully, be improved with microSD cards up to 128GB in capacity. Battery-wise, there’s 2,600mAh unit lurking inside the hardware, although we’d be concerned that it won’t hold enough juice to get you through a full day of snappin’ and callin’. If there is one downside, it’s that the CM1 is only earmarked for release in France and Germany of Christmas of this year. Still, we imagine that plenty of camera enthusiasts will be racing to get back in contact with some long-lost Gallic grandmother in the hope of scoring one of these as a present.
Steve Dent contributed to this report.
Filed under: Cameras
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Introducing the Engadget x LEGO MINDSTORMS Manhattan robot contest
The Muppets did it; Godzilla did it; and now it’s your turn to take Manhattan. As part of Expand 2014, we’re teaming up with LEGO(R) MINDSTORMS(R) to host a robot-building competition. Here’s the deal: The LEGO Group will provide LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 kits to 10 people, based on their killer robot concepts. The challenge has two themes: Build a robot that can “take” Manhattan (e.g., Godzilla-style creatures) or build a robot that can “take care” of Manhattan (e.g., autonomous trash collectors).
The winner in each category will receive a LEGO MINDSTORMS Trophy and a $500 LEGO(R) gift card. Robots will be judged by an Engadget editor, a LEGO MINDSTORMS expert, a representative from the LEGO Group and a tech “celebrity” judge. We will select five competitors from each category and send each a MINDSTORMS EV3 kit and a selection of LEGO(R) Technic elements in advance. If you’ve got a mind for MINDSTORMS, enter here.
LEGO MINDSTORMS has already hosted two building competitions in San Francisco and Seattle, where corporate groups from Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, Amazon, Pandora, Nordstrom, HTC, zulily and many more competed for bragging rights. To see a video recap of the Seattle “Build 4 Good” event in May, click here.
The robots will be shown off at Engadget Expand NY 2014 in New York City at the Javits Center the afternoon of November 7th and 8th, and winners will receive their prizes on the main stage. Travel and accommodations are not included, and participants are responsible for all costs associated with getting to and from NYC. Please see the official rules here.
The submission period starts today, Monday, September 15 and ends at 11:59 AM EDT on Monday, September 22, so get your applications in now!
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Apple’s latest pre-order record shows people want bigger iPhones
Apple’s new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus went up for pre-order just three days ago, and as expected, they’ve helped set a new sales record. The company announced today that combined sales of the new 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhones topped 4 million in the first 24 hours. While the company hasn’t broken down sales by individual models, giving us an early insight into which form factor consumers prefer, it says that initial supply of both units are scarce, which shows people really do want bigger iPhones. To put that into context, Apple saw more than 2 million orders for the iPhone 5 over the same period, but the company didn’t share first-day for the combined launch of the iPhone 5s and 5c, which went on to sell more than 9 million units in three days. Given that Apple is pretty much the only phone maker that indulges in obligatory back-patting during every launch window, we’re unable to draw much of a comparison against its rivals. However, if you were waiting to grab the new iPhone when it goes on general sale this Friday, expect to get in line super early.
Source: Apple
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Microsoft is buying ‘Minecraft’ and its development studio for $2.5 billion
Microsoft confirmed this morning that it’s buying massively popular game Minecraft and the studio behind it, Mojang. The purchase amount is $2.5 billion. Don’t panic: Microsoft says it “plans to continue to make Minecraft available across all the platforms on which it is available today: PC, iOS, Android, Xbox and PlayStation.” Though Microsoft is purchasing the Minecraft intellectual property — game, licensing, and any other rights involved — it isn’t getting the game’s creator, Markus “Notch” Persson. A note from the Mojang team says, “Notch, Carl, and Jakob are leaving. We don’t know what they’re planning. It won’t be Minecraft-related but it will probably be cool” (Carl Manneh is Mojang’s CEO and Jakob Porser is a co-founder).
Haven’t heard of Minecraft? Frankly, we’re impressed. The game’s rise from indie darling developed by a single man — “Notch” — to multi-billion dollar powerhouse has been meteoric, and highly publicized. Not only did it pioneer a movement in the game industry toward releasing early, unfinished games, but Minecraft became a massive mainstream hit. The game’s iconic “Creeper” character is a staple among both gaming’s hardcore and casual mobile gamers.
Rumors of an acquisition by Microsoft began last week, with a rumored purchase price of $2 billion. According to those reports, Notch approached Microsoft about a buyout. Mojang’s statements today seem to confirm that report. “He’s decided that he doesn’t want the responsibility of owning a company of such global significance,” says Mojang’s statement on the news. “Over the past few years he’s made attempts to work on smaller projects, but the pressure of owning Minecraft became too much for him to handle. The only option was to sell Mojang.”
As for Microsoft, Xbox lead Phil Spencer is very excited about the deal. “Minecraft inspires millions to create together, connects people across the globe, and is a community that is among the most active and passionate in the world,” he said.
The deal isn’t finalized just yet, as it has to go through regulatory approval and such. Microsoft’s expecting that to happen in “late 2014.”
Filed under: HD
Source: Mojang, Microsoft, Microsoft (2)
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Motorola announces pre-orders for AT&T Moto X, Moto X Pure Edition and more
Motorola on Sunday announced the upcoming pre-orders for a number of its 2014 product line. Effective tomorrow, Tuesday, September 16, customers can place pre-orders for the AT&T version of the Moto X and the Moto X Pure Edition. Pricing is $99 (with a two-year service plan) and $499 (off-contract), respectively. The Pure Edition, as we recently learned, is the unlocked bootloader and carrier-free take on the flagship model.
Also available for pre-order on September 16 are the Moto Hint and the Turbo Charger. The Hint is, wireless earbud that pairs wonderfully with the Moto X and allows for great handsfree interaction and notification, will retail for $149.99. The Turbo Charger ($35) provides a super-quick charge for the Moto X, giving it 50% battery life in a mere 15 minutes.
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Motorola’s UK store will now sell you the new Moto G and other devices
Although Motorola has offered phones in the UK for decades, the company has never let you buy direct. Even when it was owned by Google, it chose to point customers in the direction of retailers like Amazon. Now that Motorola is now part of Lenovo, however, the company has decided to take matters into its own hands by opening its first UK-focused store. From today, you’ll be able to order the second-generation Moto G in black or white for £149.99, although they both currently show pre-order availability. While it’ll cost you £5 more to buy it from Motorola over Amazon, the online retail giant does note it could take between 1-3 weeks to reach your doorstep. Sure, only the Moto G is available today, but Motorola’s UK launch does show that it’s ready to handle the upcoming release of the Moto X and Moto 360. For the first time, Brits will be able to customise their Moto X using the company’s Moto Maker tool, which is set to go live later this month.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Source: Motorola Store, Amazon
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Images emerge showing Microsoft’s Windows-only mobile branding
The image above shows the backside of British manufacturer My Go’s upcoming handset, the GoFone — no, the company likely didn’t forget adding “Phone” at the bottom of the Windows logo. Thing is, according to an internal document leaked to the internet recently, Microsoft’s dropping the “Windows Phone” branding (and even the “Nokia” brand) in favor of just “Windows.” This image, taken from GoFone’s unlisted page (it even says “For internal use only”) spotted by Neowin, hints that the earlier reports were true. Unlike the HTC One (M8) for Windows, which just omits “Phone” from its full name but still displays the platform’s logo on the back panel, this one completely leaves out the branding. Microsoft’s reportedly looking to unify Windows and Windows Phone under one name, because it plans to merge Windows Phone and RT into one platform. Redmond hasn’t confirmed any of these yet, but we’ll let you know if and when the company officially speaks up.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft
Via: The Verge
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Phones4u confirms all iPhone 6 pre-orders will be cancelled
Now that news of the Phones4u collapse has begun to settle, details are starting to emerge about how customers will be affected. The good news is that the company has said that it will honour existing contracts, but it has also confirmed that people who pre-ordered the new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus last week will miss out on getting their new smartphones, at least from them. In a statement shared with the Huffington Post UK, Phones4u noted that “any orders that have not already been dispatched will be cancelled and any payments refunded to customers.” Phones4u has yet to ship any devices to customers and its online store has already been replaced with a sad-looking page full of support line phone numbers. Customers who ordered last Friday will now need to place their order again with a different retailer, but they’ll be placed at the back of the queue as Apple’s official delivery times begin to slip.
[Image credit: kake_pugh, Flickr]
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Source: Huffington Post
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