Search results for: “Sharp “

Sharp Launches Aquos R3 With 120 Hz Display And Dual Notch

The Japanese technology company, Sharp has launched yet another distinctive smartphone which is called the Aquos R3. The newly launched device, like any other, has dual notch. Out of which one is present on top of the display while the second is present below it. Another highlighting feature of the Sharp Aquos R3 is its Pro IGZO display that has a praiseworthy refresh rate of 120 Hz. Except for the said handset, only the Razer Phone has a display with this high refresh rate.

Sharp Aquos R3 Design And Features

The newly launched Sharp Aquos R3 has a unique and distinctive design which is mainly because of the dual notch in the display. It features a notch above the display which houses the 16 MP selfie camera. While the so-called second notch below the display is a way to maximise the screen to body ratio while retaining a fingerprint scanner on the front of the device. The smartphone sports a 6.2 inch Pro IGZO display that has a Quad HD+ resolution of 3120 x 1440 px. As previously mentioned, the display panel has a refresh rate of 120 Hz which provides for an enriched media consumption experience.

The rear of the Sharp Aquos R3 harbours the dual camera setup and the company branding. The said dual camera setup consists of a 12 MP sensor, a 20 MP sensor along with an LED flash. Under the hood, it packs the Snapdragon 855 SoC which is comprised of Octa Core CPU and the Adreno 640 GPU. In terms of memory and storage, the Sharp Aquos R3 has 6 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64 GB of UFS storage. Furthermore, the internal memory is also expandable upto 512 GB via a microSD card.

Also Read: Google To Redefine App Ratings On Play Store, Emphasise On Latest Reviews

Connectivity options on the Sharp Aquos R3 include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS and the bottom mounted USB Type C port. The smartphone is powered by a 3,200 mAh battery which also supports 10 W wireless charging. It is available in a multitude of colours which include Premium Black, Platinum White, Elegant Green, Pink Amethyst and Luxury Red. The smartphone has been launched for the Japanese market and the feasibility of this making to other markets are marginal.

May 9, 2019
Sharp Showcases A Unique Clamshell Style Foldable Smartphone

The biggest and the most prevalent trend for this year is expected to be the advent of foldable smartphones. Smartphone OEMs like Samsung and Huawei have already showcased their devices with the technology. Japanese multinational giant Sharp has also joined the bandwagon and revealed a clamshell style foldable smartphone in a video. This is the first time the technology has been exhibited.

Sharp Clamshell Foldable Smartphone

The clamshell foldable smartphone from Sharp that has been showcased in the video features a similar design to the expected Motorola RAZR foldable smartphone leaked a few days ago. It has a Plastic OLED display which can be folded completely into half to turn the device into a more compact form factor. It has a wide notch on top of the display which is surprising to see in a foldable smartphone. Its mechanism uses strong magnets to keep the display securely shut when in the folded state. To reaffirm the durability claims, Sharp has assured it has tested the folding mechanism for up to 3,00,000 bends. Notably, this number is significantly higher than the durability claims of Samsung Galaxy Fold.

Also read: Renders Of The Google Pixel 3a, 3a XL Leaked On Twitter

Unfortunately, Sharp hasn’t provided any specific launch date for a commercial smartphone featuring a clamshell, foldable design. According to the company, it may take years before a device featuring the technology may be released by it. However, Sharp is also a display manufacturer, so there may be a possibility that it may sell this technology to other OEMs to implement in separate devices. The video also doesn’t clarify if the display when folded time and again, will create a crease in the centre or not. Furthermore, the sound of the folding mechanism is also prevalent throughout the video, which may make the experience of using the smartphone cumbersome.

April 11, 2019
Apple iPhone X Lookalike Sharp Aquos S3 Leaked In Live Images

Ever since 2018 rolled around, the density of smartphones with an iPhone X-like notch has been increasing. From Chinese smartphone makers like Doogee to established companies like Huawei, many devices are expected to be launched in 2018 with a notch. A few weeks ago, images of the Sharp Aquos S3 surfaced and new images of the device confirm the design’s inspiration from the iPhone X.

Leaked in live images, the Sharp Aquos S3 has an iPhone X style notch on top which probably doesn’t house a bunch of 3D sensors. In the images, it visible that the notch houses a front-facing camera along with an earpiece. Also, unlike the iPhone X, the notch is much smaller which gives the phone an odd look.

The bezels are thin but, the bottom bezel is thicker than the rest which has been a trend for a lot of smartphones. Even the leaked renders of the Huawei P11 Lite and Huawei P11 Plus reveal a thick bottom bezel. It will be interesting to see if a smartphone releasing in late-2018 will get rid of that odd thickness of the bottom bezel.

On the back of the smartphone is again, a familiar design language. The two cameras are placed vertically on the back and the positioning is very similar to the iPhone X. Where the Aquos S3 one-ups the iPhone X is in the fingerprint sensor department. Apple got rid of Touch ID in favour of Face ID and although Face ID has held up pretty well, a lot of people miss the fingerprint sensor.

Early Leaks

The Sharp Aquos S3 does not leave out the fingerprint sensor. 2018 will also see a lot of smartphones integrating a more secure form facial recognition which is more than just software based. Huawei already unveiled its technology in late-2017 and the Huawei P11 and P11 Plus are expected to have facial recognition which can be used for banking.

The Sharp Aquos S3 is expected to be unveiled at MWC 2018.

February 10, 2018
The Sharp Aquos S3 Has A Design Identical To The iPhone X

At the time of its launch, the iPhone X was met with mixed thoughts in terms of its design. However, one thing was certain, the iPhone X notch was going to be a heavily repeated phenomenon in the smartphone industry and so far, it’s holding its true. Even though the Essential Ph-1 did it before the iPhone X, the Ph-1 having a cyborg eye-like cutout for the front camera. The iPhone X however, has a bigger and more prominent notch to fit all the hardware required for Face ID.

The upcoming Sharp Aquos S3 will be launched on the 16th of January and its leaked images reveal a design very similar to the iPhone X. The smartphone will have a 5.99-inch LCD display with a 2040 x 1080 px resolution. The images also show off the iPhone X-like notch which appears to house just the earpiece and a camera.

Under the hood, the Aquos S3 will either have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 or the 630 chipset along with 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of onboard storage.

To the back of the device is a vertically placed dual-camera setup again, uncannily similar to the iPhone X. The visible difference here is that the LED flash is placed below the camera module rather than sandwiched between the two cameras like in the iPhone X. The Sharp Aquos S3 has a 12MP+13MP camera setup on the back but, there are no details about the type of lenses used.

One thing that a lot of Apple fans would’ve wanted in the iPhone X, is present in the Aquos S3 and that is a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. While Face ID has been great, the convenience of choosing between Face ID and Touch ID would’ve been ideal but, it also looks like Apple has plans to replace Touch ID with Face ID in all of its iOS and macOS devices.

6.2-inch Doogee V with in-display fingerprint scanner pic.twitter.com/mqn9w3UjHc
— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 6, 2018

The Sharp Aquos S3 is not the first iPhone X lookalike that has made or will make its way to the Chinese market. Doogee, a Chinese smartphone maker recently launched the Doogee V with an iPhone X-like notch on the display and a dual-camera setup similar to the Samsung Galaxy S9+ leaks.

January 13, 2018
Sharp’s AQUOS S2 Has A Bezel-Less Display That Looks A Lot Like The Essential Phone

Edge-to-edge displays are fast becoming a staple in flagship devices with big players like Samsung, LG and reportedly Apple adopting the technology for their smartphones. Sharp’s AQUOS S2 is the Japanese company’s 29th device with similar design and it looks uncannily similar to the Essential phone PH-1.

The AQUOS S2 has a front camera notch at the top just like the Essential phone but has a smaller 5.5-inch 2040 x 1080 px display with 135-percent sRGB gamut and 550-nit brightness. The trimmed corners though, are very prominent due to its thin bezels and might throw some people off. Talking about thin bezels, the AQUOS S2 is rocking an 87.5 percent screen-to-body-ratio. You still get a decent 3,030mAh battery powering the device. The phone comes in two variants- one is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 along with 6GB RAM and 128GB onboard storage and the other one packs the Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 with 4GB RAM and 64GB onboard storage. The onboard storage is expandable via microSD card up to 256GB. The phone is running on Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box.

In terms of optics, the f/1.75 dual camera on the back consists of a 12-megapixel sensor plus an 8-megapixel sensor, both also feature a large 1.4um pixel size and together offer a seven-level bokeh effect. On the front is an 8-megapixel 1.4um sensor with an f/2.0 aperture. Sharp claims that the S2 has passed its “rigorous” drop tests for all six sides and four corners thanks to its aluminium mid-frame design. The S2 has ditched the old bone conduction actuator in favour of a conventional earpiece that’s hidden underneath the screen, next to the front camera, with its audio channelled to a thin pipe placed along the top edge of the screen for clearer sound.

The Sharp AQUOS S2’s availability in markets other than Japan is not yet clear, But China seems to be getting the phone as pre-orders have started. The standard model with Snapdragon 630, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage is priced at 2,499 Yuan (about $370 or Rs. 24000), and it comes in black, white, blue or mint green. The premium model due to arrive later is priced at 3,499 Yuan (about $520, Rs. 33000) and packs a Snapdragon 660, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage doesn’t have the mint green option.

August 8, 2017
Google’s New Technology Has a Super Sharp Sense of Object Recognition

Recent technology advancement has opened the possibility of more sophisticated image recognition features. Even though in recent year various researchers have come up with significant discoveries, the automatic object recognition in images is still considered tricky. However, Google is all set to change that. In other word, the internet giant has just come up with very sophisticated detection system hat can easily spot lots of objects in a scene, even if they’re partly obscured.

“This effort was accomplished by using the DistBelief infrastructure, which makes it possible to train neural networks in a distributed manner and rapidly iterate. At the core of the approach is a radically redesigned convolutional network architecture. Its seemingly complex structure (typical incarnations of which consist of over 100 layers with a maximum depth of over 20 parameter layers), is based on two insights: the Hebbian principle and scale invariance.” the Google research blog reads.

The result of this groundbreaking technology is far deeper scanning system that can both identify more objects and make better guesses, and will be able to spot tons of mundane items around you.

This technological advances will enable even better image understanding and the progress can be directly transferred to Google products such as photo search, image search, YouTube, self-driving cars, and any place where it might be useful to understand depth, perception and imagery.

September 8, 2014
Sharp Launches Bezel-Less Smartphones

Sharp is not a company which people usually associate with Smartphones. But, Japanese electronics giant recently introduced a pair of amazing smartphones that barely have bezels.

Sharp has managed to stock a 5.5-inch screen into a body that stops right at the edge of that display. Not only that, the innards of the phone are also impressive. The 5.5-inch Sharp’s Aquos Crystal X is at 1080p resolution and there’s a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 801 ticking away inside its 10mm thick chassis.

The less powerful and slightly smaller Aquos Crystal packs a 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 400 and a 5-inch 720p display. The phone comes with a Harmon Kardon sound effects engine that delivers “Clari-Fi” to restore quality lost in music compression. There’s also “LiveStage” streaming and native compatibility with the Harman Kardon Onyx Studio Bluetooth speaker.

Sharp is said to enter the US smartphone market with these two phones soon. It has been reported that a invite from US Network Sprint that invites guests to “Take the edge off” has been spotted. It’s also decorated with crystals, suggesting the Sharp Aquos Crystal will be launched on 19th August in the US. The Japanese launch of the Sharp Aquos Crystal and Crystal X has already taken place via Sprint’s parent company SoftBank.

Sprint hasn’t officially confirmed it’ll offer the Crystal, the reports strongly suggest that it will happen. Sprint is holding a press conference in New York tonight, and its invitation is rife with crystalline symbolism and a tagline that associated with the Aquos’ bezel-less screen.

However, there is no word on pricing or availability in India right now but we’re hoping it arrives here soon. That or it inspires other phone manufacturers to create an interesting bezel-free design like this.

August 19, 2014
1080p, 443ppi Smartphone Screens Being Made by Sharp

A lot of the current top-of-the-line Android handsets have screens with a 1280 x 720 resolution on average, but that’s about to change. Sharp is wanting to bring 1080p displays to phablets of all kinds, and has announced that it has started production of its own 5-inch, full 1080p HD smartphone displays

Many of the current top-of-the-range smartphones — iPhone 5 apart — have screens with a 1280 x 768 pixel resolution or similar, which is good enough to be labelled as HD. However, just as it did with flat screen TVs, 720p is about to be replaced by 1080p — as Sharp has announced that it has started production of its own 5-inch, full-HD smartphone displays. The new panel boasts a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a pixel density of 443ppi. As a comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S3’s 4.8-inch display has a resolution of 1280 x 720 and a pixel density of 306ppi, while the 4-inch iPhone 5 has 1136 x 640 pixels and 326ppi.

Production begins this month, and will likely hit consumers in mid-to-late 2013.

October 1, 2012
Sharp to start shipping iPhone screens to Apple this month

Apple’s component suppliers seem almost eager to stoke iPhone rumor fires, and all the hot, hot consumer anticipation surrounding them.

On Thursday, Sharp’s new president, Takashi Okuda, said that his company will begin shipping iPhone displays starting this month, according to a report from Reuters. Okuda made the statement at a press event following the release of Sharp’s quarterly earnings report. Sharp’s president didn’t make note of the display’s size, but Reuters reports that the screens are destined for the next version of the iPhone.

[quote]“People are expecting a new iteration of the iPhone to hit the market sometime in the September-October time frame, so this kind of comment fits in to what we’ve been hearing in the market, generally,” IHS analyst Vinita Jakhanwal told Wired. Sharp, Japan Display, and LG Display are the three likely suppliers for the next iPhone’s display.[/quote]

The display of the next iPhone is expected to be larger than that of the iPhone 4S, stretching to 4 diagonal inches. The current iPhone has a 3.5-inch display. The new iPhone display will also reportedly be manufactured using in-cell technology, which means it will be thinner, lighter and more power efficient than current displays.

Okuda didn’t confirm the size or technology used in the production of Apple’s next iPhone display.

Various sources are reporting the next iPhone will be unveiled on September 12, so we should know soon if Okuda’s Thursday statement bears any weight.

August 3, 2012
Sharp loves its waterproof phones, the Aquos Phone 102SH has 3D qHD display, 12 megapixel sensor (PR)
Sharp has released a waterproof phone called the Aquos 102SH, this comes just days after we saw news of the Fujitsu ISW11F. The Sharp Aquos has a decent spec sheet :
- 1GHz TI OMAP 4430 CPU
- Gingerbread
- 4.5-inch glasses-free 3D display
- 720 x 1280
- 1GB of RAM and a 32GB microSDHC
- 12 megapixel CMOS sensor
- DLNA, infrared connections, e-wallet functionality
- 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 3.0 capabilities
The device is set to release in December in Japan,

[toggle title_open=”Press Release” title_closed=”Press Release” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]

AQUOS PHONE SoftBank 102SH (by Sharp) Overview

1. Main features (planned)

Display beautifully detailed, with a 4.5-inch LCD high-definition large-screen HD
The display, with a 4.5 inches HD LCD high-definition big screen. Color gradients or licking a resolution of 1,280 × 720 dots (color display 16.77 million) in the corresponding pictures and videos, and vivid the detail and character, to read comfortably and small characters in the website the more information possible. Also, to realize to adjust the contrast display for easy viewing even outdoors in bright places such as “outdoor view” and the effect of preventing prying eyes up “color veil view”, and ability to view 3D. Furthermore, 9.7mm thinness about forma yet slim body, IPX5/IPX7 an equivalent waterproof performance and Ip5X 2 dustproof performance has been considerable.

Up to 21Mbps downstream 3 The “ULTRA SPEED” corresponds to a dual-core CPU with To achieve maximum 21Mbps downstream “ULTRA SPEED” in response to high-speed communication is possible. In addition, dual-core CPU with a faster performance “OMAP4430 (1GHz)” by built-in, a large amount of web browsing and watching streaming video information, including operations such as running multiple applications at the same time, a variety of actions comfortably done without stress.

Battery consumption is simply smart technology “eco” function
Power saving and backlight control and image processing technology to keep the image quality is always high, power consumption by automatically controlling the unconscious more than one application at startup, you can extend your battery has. “Eco Tech” feature allows up to approximately 50% of power consumed by the backlight 4 reduction, approximately 40% more power consumption during standby (mode waza-ari) five energy savings may be reduced.

With 12.10 megapixel camera that supports the optical Image Stabilizer, the main camera is equipped with a megapixel camera effective pixel count of approximately 1,210. Because it uses an optical anti-shake that can be taken easily prone to camera shake scene, you can take in situations such as for taking beautiful photography and zoom in at night. In addition, the Full HD (1,920 × 1,080 pixels) and can also shoot video, it is possible to record the scenes footage of powerful memories.

Note:
1 IPX5 and uses a 6.3mm diameter water injection nozzles, jets from any direction can rely on the condition that a minimum of irrigation water for 3 minutes 12.5 minutes liters / about 3m away about the functions of a phone means that you have.
IPX7 and the tap water at room temperature, the phone gently sunk away and still water depth of 1m, which means having a function as a phone when taken out after about 30 minutes left.
2 IP5X and refers to the degree of protection, less than 75?m in diameter dust (dust) were stirred for 8 hours to put the device containing the phone has a function of the phone when taken to maintain safe means. Dust the performance of this unit is warranted to protect the substantial degree IP5X, do not guarantee against such usage is not placed directly on the beach.
3 available in some areas, the maximum transmission rate is different. Also, for a best effort, due to line congestion and communication environment, communication slows down, or may be unable to communicate.
4 provisional value. Numbers will be different depending on the model.
5 Numeric Eco Tech “normal” mode “with skill” is by comparison with the preliminary mode. Your environment by energy savings may vary.

Release Date

Since early December, 2011

[/toggle]
September 30, 2011
Sharp Galapagos A01SH tablet goes on sale in Japan

Want a tablet for INR 50. ? Well the Sharp Galapagos tablet has gone on sale in Japan on contract for a mere 100 ¥, which is roughly Rs 50.

The Device is one of the first tablets to show instances of Honeycomb 3.2 in person, But don’t fall easy for the cheap price tag, you will need to tie yourself in a deal with the ISP for a long and problematic contract. The device is also available outright for ¥44,800 or INR. 28,000, which is still cheaper than the Galaxy 750 / tab 10.1s asking price.

The Device is a WiFi only 7 inch device with Android 3.2 Honeycomb and a Unibody shell.

August 31, 2011
Sharp Releases First Android Clamshell – Aquos Phone Hybrid 007SH

Right out of your clamshell dreams, the Sharp Aquos Phone Hybrid 007SH, is a hybrid traditional clamshell design which packs a 180 degree flipity-flopity touch-screen. Whats more the Old-School looking phone, also packs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, A 6 MegaPixel Camera and 3D capable display. This device will be available to SOFTBANK in Japan.

[Softbank Mobile]

May 21, 2011
Who needs 1080p when you get 7680x4320p in a TV with Sharp’s Prototype

Sharp managed to force a whole lot of pixels in their laters 85 inch prototype television. 33,177,600 pixels to be precise, Giving a total Resolution of 7680x4320p with 103ppi. Sharp calls it SUPER HI-VISION. In comparison the average LCD / LED TV has a density of 35ppi – 55ppi.

[VIA]

Press Release

Sharp and NHK Successfully Develop 85-Inch Direct-View LCD
Compatible with Super Hi-Vision, a World First*1

NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) (Shibuya Ward, Tokyo; President: Masayuki Matsumoto) and Sharp Corporation (Abeno Ward, Osaka; President: Mikio Katayama) have jointly developed an 85-inch LCD compatible with Super Hi-Vision, a next-generation television broadcast format. This is a world first for a direct-view display.

NHK began R&D into Super Hi-Vision, which has dramatically higher resolution than current HDTV, in 1995 and aims to begin trial broadcasts in 2020. With approximately 33 megapixels (7,680 [H] x 4,320 [V] pixels), or 16 times the resolution of HDTV, Super Hi-Vision will offer powerful, life-like image reproduction.

Under the joint development, Sharp’s UV2A*2 LCD technology was used to create for the first time in the world a direct-view LCD compatible with the unprecedentedly high display performance of Super Hi-Vision. The combination of the Sharp technology and NHK’s expertise and know-how in Super Hi-Vision will make possible ultra-detailed, super-high-quality images. The incredibly detailed images on the giant screen will immerse the viewer in a virtual-reality-like experience.

Super Hi-Vision-Compatible LCD
Screen size 85 inches (approx. 1.9 x 1.05 m)
Pixel count 7,680 (H) x 4,320 (V) pixels
Brightness 300 cd/m2
Gradation 10 bits for each RGB color
*1 As of May 19, 2011, for direct-view displays compatible with Super Hi-Vision.
*2 UV2A: Ultraviolet induced multi-domain Vertical Alignment. A photo-alignment technology for precisely controlling the alignment of liquid crystal molecules in a simple LCD panel structure.

This LCD will be shown to the public at NHK’s Science & Technology Research Laboratories in Tokyo from May 26 to 29, 2011

May 20, 2011
Apple Launches iPhone 11 Pro And iPhone 11 Pro Max

The heavily leaked design of the new iPhone 11 Pro came to life as Apple announced the new phones today. The new phone has triple cameras at the back a new display and the new A13 Bionic Chip.

The Apple iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max get a new triple camera setup. A primary 12 MP camera with an f/1.8 aperture, 26mm lens and OIS. The second camera is a telephoto 12 MP sensor with a 52mm lens with an f/2.0 aperture. The third is an ultra wide camera also a 12MP sensor with a 13 mm lens and an f/2.4 aperture.

A new feature that will be enabled with a software update is called Deep Fusion that takes 9 pictures and fuses the pixels from the images to get really sharp images.

The video is now 4k 60fps with extended dynamic rage across all three camera sensors. The video capture now offers low light performance, and deep blacks across the video spectrum.

The cameras and the new A13 Bionic chip are versatile enough to capture multiple video streams together. Which means you can simultaneously record a standard video and a zoomed in video. This will also work on the front camera which is also a 12 MP sensor with 4k 60fps recording capabilities. This will be a great feature for video makers to exploit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVEemOmHw9Y

The new iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max will start at US$ 999 and US$ 1099 respectively.

The Apple iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max will be available in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB models in midnight green, space gray, silver and gold starting at INR 99,900 and INR 109,900

September 11, 2019
What Is Pixel Binning In Smartphone Cameras? Here Is What You Should Know

The year 2019 has seen many innovative features arrive on smartphones. One of the ubiquitous out of the many features this year has been a high-resolution primary camera on the devices. Starting with budget handsets, the trend has trickled up to most modern flagship smartphones, like the OnePlus 7 Pro, Asus 6Z, Nubia Red Magic 3 and the Redmi K20 Pro. All these devices feature the same 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor as their primary camera. What’s special about the sensor is not the megapixel count, but the technology behind it. It uses pixel binning to create sharp 12MP images and the technology is the reason why the sensor is present on many devices. But what exactly is pixel binning? Here is everything you need to know about it.

Understanding The Concept Of A Pixel

Redmi K20 Pro

To understand what pixel binning means, we first have to understand what pixels are. While a pixel is generally defined as the smallest element in a picture represented on screen. However, in this context, pixels are the smallest physical elements on a digital camera sensor that capture light during photography. They are measured using microns, which is a unit of length a million times smaller than a meter. The bigger the pixel size in a camera, the more light it can capture. This will result in much sharper and brighter images, which is the goal of every camera manufacturer.

However, the bigger the pixel sensor size is, the bigger the camera unit will be which is a difficult feat to put inside a smartphone’s slender frame. This leads to the intrusive camera bumps that make the device wobble when kept flat. So basically smaller pixel size = bad low light performance, but a larger pixel = huge camera sensor. So, how to fix this issue? This is where the pixel binning technology arrives into the picture.

What Is Pixel Binning?

Redmi Note 7S

Pixel Binning is the process of combining four adjacent pixels into one. So a camera sensor which has a pixel size of 0.8 microns will combine these pixels into a 2×2 grid to form a larger 1.6-micron pixel image. The effective resolution is usually one-fourth of what the sensor is capable of. This means that a 48MP sensor effectively produces 12MP images, and a 64MP sensor will produce 16MP images. Combining the pixels will result in a brighter and sharper image, without the hassles of a huge camera sensor.

As mentioned above, the most popular sensor that supports pixel binning in smartphones is the 48MP Sony IMX586. There is also the Samsung ISOCELL GM1 with the same resolution, but it’s not very common and present on a handful of devices like the Redmi Note 7s and the Lenovo Z6 Pro. A few weeks ago, Samsung also announced the ISOCELL HMX, a sensor with a whopping 108MP resolution that uses the pixel binning technology to produce high-resolution 27MP images. This sensor is expected to debut in the upcoming Xiaomi Mi MIX 4 smartphone.

The Future Of Smartphone Cameras

While the idea behind the pixel binning technology sounds exciting and a good way to tackle a particular problem, it is not the only way. While the goal was to reduce the camera sensor size and fit it inside a smartphone, most of the devices with the sensors still have a huge camera bump. Additionally, none of the handsets with the famous pixel binned sensors are the best in their class. It is possible to produce better low light images by software, as Google has demonstrated with the Pixel’s Night Sight feature.

Also read: Apple Will Sell Its Products Online In India For The First Time Through Its Official Website

So while it may be cool to boast about the 48MP or 64MP camera that your smartphone has, the results they produce are nothing to write home about. Granted, the details they produce are at times extraordinary, but for most social media sharing, where the images are anyway compressed for any of the details to be visible, it frankly doesn’t matter. But, if combined with better software, these pixel binned sensors may be a good thing for future smartphones and definitely one of the better features to have come out recently.

August 31, 2019

More posts