Much has been made of the Apple iPhone and T-Mobile G1's capacitive touchscreens, with many proclaiming them superior to the humble 'resistive' touchscreens that have been used since the dawn of time (oh, ok, since about 1995). But is it as simple as the one technology being superior? What advantages does 'resistive' tech have and what else do you need to know?
Steve Litchfield investigates...
As we rapidly approach the formal opening of the Symbian Foundation, I caught up with Thibaut Rouffineau, Head of Community and Program at Symbian Foundation, to discuss the challenges and opportunities in setting-up to support developers and the role of academia in the software industry.
One great camera phone produces an image that's full of detail. Another great camera phone produces an image with similar detail but totally different colouring - but which is 'right'?
This is a postscript to my Camera Nitty Gritty series of features.
In contravention of the spirit of the age, Steve Litchfield finds himself unconvinced by a touch interface on a phone. And, for a change, there's survey data (see the postscript) to back up his crazed(!) opinions....
Over the last six months, I've tackled a number of phone camera-related issues head on and tried to draw conclusions, even though they sometimes fly in face of phone marketing. In this final part to the popular series, I'd like to provide an index to all the articles and also summarise some of the individual article conclusions.
In part 1 of this series, Steve Litchfield looked at exposed camera glass on some phone models and investigated whether scratches really make a difference. In part 2, he investigated the pros and cons of LED/dual-LED/Xenon flashes in camera phones - does Xenon or dual LED flash make that much difference? In part 3, he investigated the fabled 'Megapixel myth' with an objective eye. In part 4, he focussed on the difference between good and poor optics (at the same camera resolution) and in part 5, he pitched all the top smartphone cameras head to head, in detail. In part 6, AAS guest writer Dirk Snoyt took up the theme of camera phone flash research and got all technical on the theme of colours... In part 7, I returned with a look at the difference optical zoom makes and ask the question "Is it better to have optical zoom or just much higher resolution?" Part 8 looked at phone camera video capture potential and part 9 looked at video focussing differences in Nokia's Nseries. Part 10 looked at the difference sensor and aperture size can make, for both stills and video. In this, part 11, Steve looks at a specific positive from the presence of large numbers of megapixels and discovers yet another use for your smartphone.
Wandering soul Ewan suggests types of applications to try when you're travelling the world....
And now, as we start 2009, how about some New Year resolutions for the mobile enthusiast to keep their phone in the best of electronic health....
In part 1 of this series, Steve Litchfield looked at exposed camera glass on some phone models and investigated whether scratches really make a difference. In part 2, he investigated the pros and cons of LED/dual-LED/Xenon flashes in camera phones - does Xenon or dual LED flash make that much difference? In part 3, he investigated the fabled 'Megapixel myth' with an objective eye. In part 4, he focussed on the difference between good and poor optics (at the same camera resolution) and in part 5, he pitched all the top smartphone cameras head to head, in detail. In part 6, AAS guest writer Dirk Snoyt took up the theme of camera phone flash research and got all technical on the theme of colours... In part 7, I returned with a look at the difference optical zoom makes and ask the question "Is it better to have optical zoom or just much higher resolution?" Part 8 looked at phone camera video capture potential and part 9 looked at video focussing differences in Nokia's Nseries. In this, part 10, I look at the difference sensor and aperture size can make, for both stills and video.
