iPhone 5 Likely Getting a New Camera

Bye Bye Omnivision - Hello Sony?

In what may be the strongest evidence for a new camera on the iPhone 5 yet,  it now appears imminent that Apple will drop Omnivision as a camera supplier and instead opt for Sony to provide the camera on the new iPhone 5.  Forbes cited a stock analyst who, trying to explain Omnivision's lower stock price, made the suggestion that OmniVision “may have missed Apple’s commercial production deadline,” thus losing its lead supplier status for the iPhone 5 camera's image sensor to Sony.  The analyst still expects the new iPhone to have an 8 MP camera, an improvement of the 5 MP camera of the iPhone 4.

But besides missing a production deadline, there might be other reasons for Apple to change the iPhone's camera supplier even though the 5 MP camera on the iPhone 4 hasn't had any problems yet.


Just focusing on the sensor in the iPhone 4, there are noticeable deficiencies:

1. There is a noticeable green-halo effect when taking pictures under fluorescent or halogen light.
2. The megapixel count is still fairly low in comparison to other cameras.
3. The thickness of the sensor could be made thinner. (a thinner sensor = a thinner iPhone).

Remember that the camera is a part of the smartphone that is expected to get an upgrade every year.  Another problem is that a camera on a smartphone is likely to have more noise because of its sensor.  A typical way to combat this is to tinker with the camera's sensor, but Apple and other smartphone manufacturers are hampered by existing technology at this point.

1. The higher the pixel count, the more noise the sensor produces in images. 
2. One way to combat noise in pictures is to increase the MP on the sensor as well as increasing its physical size in order to eliminate the heat and noise issues.  
3. But a thick sensor itself would prevent Apple from producing a skinny iPhone.

And while some may scoff at the whole megapixel count issue as a red herring for smartphone manufacturer's to sell their phones, there are legitimate reasons why consumers want more megapixels on their cameras:

Nowadays photos are not only used for prints.  Many people want to view pictures on their computer, ipad, digital picture frame etc. In such cases there are differences in perceived detail especially when you want to zoom in to see certain details of a picture.

However you feel about the MP issue, it's still true that people want to enjoy quality photographs taken on their smart phones.  Nobody with an expensive camera-equipped phone wants to carry around a secondary camera because their phone's camera isn't up to the task.

Copyright 2011 - http://digital-cave.blogspot.com/.

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iPhone 4 Already the Best Selling Smartphone to Become More Popular at $99 Price Point

Based on July, 2011 data, the iPhone is still the best selling smartphone in all the land.  But with its new $99 price point and news that Sprint will start offering the iPhone on the Sprint network in October of 2011, will the Apple iPhone become even more popular?

The Apple iPhone is still on top. (July, 2011 data from Millennial Media).

Concerning the New $99 iPhone

• This form of iPhone clearance has been going on with Apple since the 3GS. Apple has been cutting the price on the older models as well as lowering the storage amount, usually to 8 GB.
• The 960 x 640 resolution on the 3.7” display looks like it will remain, as no new modifications have been done to cheapen the quality of the screen on the new budget-priced iPhone.
• This marks a huge step for Apple and its iPhone.  With the new $99 price point, the iPhone will no longer be considered such an exclusive item anymore.  Gone is the snob appeal as Apple begins to court "the masses" with its entry level price point, similar to what it has done with its mac mini computer in relation to the rest of its computer lineup.

Will the New $99 iPhone Make a Huge Difference for Sprint?

Verizon didn't get the boost it expected from its adoption of the iPhone.  While Sprint getting the iPhone is a big deal for the company, its basically the last major carrier to get the iPhone and much of its luster has already gone, especially now with its new $99 price point that places it more in line with a mass market commodity.  Sprint does have good unlimited data plans and as long as they don't move to a tiered data pricing structure, that could be a huge selling point for Sprint and its version of the iPhone.

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The Samsung Galaxy Ace - Does This Look Like an iPhone to You?

The Samsung Ace is a nice phone, but did it get some of its design elements from a close competitor?  A Dutch judges seems to think so, and has determined that the sale of Samsung's Galaxy and Ace lineups will be stopped in the EU beginning in October, 2011.  The only news currently is in Dutch for the filing, but that hasn't stopped some US news outlets from picking up the story (of course, it's about Apple and the iPhone.  The original newsource is here, translated from Dutch into English).

It's important to note that Google was not rebuking Samsung directly for "copying" its iPhone or iPad tablet.  It instead relied on a patent infringement to seal the fate of Samsung and its Galaxy lineup.  The judge found that Samsung infringed upon the "swipe" movements which you see people using to navigate on their iPhones and iPads.  Whether or not Apple should have been granted a patent for these gesture movements is arguable in the first place.  What isn't arguable is the likeness of the Samsung Galaxy Ace to the Apple iPhone:

If you didn't see the Samsung logo, you might have thought it was an iPhone.  That's certainly good news for Apple that Samsung is having legal action taken against them, but it remains to be seen if the judge's ruling on its infringement of the photo scrolling patent will be too little to block shipments as Samsung is likely to appeal the decision.

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