Leaked Photos of Sony's Lens Cameras That Piggyback on Your Smartphone

Leaked Photos of Sony's Lens Cameras That Piggyback on Your Smartphone

 As far as the cameras built into smartphones have come, they still can't quite compete with a dedicated shooter in terms of image quality and control. But Sony thinks it's found the solution. Instead of waiting until they can cram the capabilities of a DSLR or a mirrorless camera into a phone, these convincing photos from SonyAlphaRumors reveal the company might be releasing a pair of accessories that work alongside a smartphone to vastly improve its photographic capabilities.

The DSC-QX10 and the DSC-QX100-as they're claimed to be be called-look like camera lenses, but they'll actually be full-on cameras packing sensors, a Bionz processor, Wi-Fi and NFC wireless capabilities, and even an SD card slot. What they'll be missing, however, is an LCD display and controls, but that's where your Android or iOS smartphone will supposedly step in, providing a large touch screen for settings and previews.

They haven't been officially revealed by Sony just yet, but according to SonyAlphaRumors one of the lenses will use the same one-inch sensor as the new Sony RX100 II, while the other will feature an 18 megapixel sensor with a 10X zoom. It's a clever solution to improving a smartphone's photography prowess, but only if you're willing to give up its pocket-ability. [SonyAlphaRumors]

Leaked HTC One Max Press Shots: Yep, It Looks Like a Large One

Leaked HTC One Max Press Shots: Yep, It Looks Like a Large One

There have been rumblings suggesting that HTC is soon to launch a Galaxy Note rival in the shape of the six-inch HTC One Max. Now, @evleaks claims to have unearthed some press images of the montorous new phone.

The images, which are apparently "non-final" but still of high-quality, show that the new phone is, err, just a rather large version of the HTC One. In fact, it's tough to see much difference, other than a shifted camera flash and a slightly broader white stripe around the side.

The leaks comes with no extra spec details, but rumor has it that HTC's possible new giant phone will pack a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chip, 2GB of RAM, up to 64GB of storage, and a 3200mAh battery-along with a whopping 6-inch screen. Who knows for sure if it's definitely coming-but maybe it might turn up at Berlin's IFA tech show at the start of next month?

KeyMe for iOS: Keep Your Spare Set of Keys in the Cloud

How many have you found yourself locked out, stuck with a visiting friend who has to wait on the curb cause you aren't able to get them a key yet, left out in the cold with a lost key and locksmith, or any number of other unfortunately common circumstances? As long as people use physical keys-we're going to run into some unfortunate problems. And while KeyMe won't solve all of those, it comes as close as you're going to get for now.

What does it do?

Takes a scan of your house key and generates coded instructions that any locksmith or key maker will be able to read, so you can make a copy of your key anywhere in the world, no matter what situation you find yourself in. The code contains one line that instructs with blank to start with and another line with a series of numbers that dictate the depth of the key's teeth. Once you've saved your key, you can even share the instructions with a friend if need be.

Why do we like it?

Getting in once you've found yourself locked out can be preposterously expensive-but normally you have no other choice but to cough up the dough. Now, though, assuming you have the foresight to store your keys' info, you'll be ready to go without paying a ridiculous price, and you won't even have to spend time waiting for the locksmith. Scanning the key is free, but retrieving the information to make a new one costs $10, which isn't cheap, sure, but it's still a hell of a lot cheaper than calling in a professional. Of course, with something like this there will be safety concerns, but keys aren't really the safest of security devices in and of themselves. Now, this certainly doesn't help the situation, but depending on how often you misplace your keys, the convenience could seriously outweigh the risk, as long as your careful about what you leave lying around.

Upcoming iPad will use light display technology

 Upcoming iPad will use light display technology

 
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the next generation of Apple's iPad will use the same display technology which make the iPad mini so thin and light.

According to "people with knowledge of the matter" the screens for the larger device are already being made by Asian suppliers. The current iPad uses a glass-based touch panel, whereas teardowns have shown that the iPad mini uses a film-based screen to recognise user gestures.

That may sound like a subtle distinction, but film-based touchscreens are thinner and lighter than their glass counterparts, and in a bigger device the difference is even more pronounced. The quoted sources claim that it's the success of the iPad mini which has led to Apple to transfer the technology across into its larger sibling.

Thin film touch screens have been slowly becoming more established as their performance has improved to equal that of glass equivalents. It seems like a fairly natural progression to include the technology in the full-size iPad, given it already appears in the iPhone iPad mini-but it's far from certain that it's definitely the case.

It's unclear when the next iteration of iPads will be announced-their release schedule has become less predictable of recent time-but there's a slim chance they may make an appearance at an event on September 10th. Maybe. Possibly. But don't hold your breath. [Wall Street Journal]

HTC One Mini Pretty Good to be owned

It's been leaked on more than adult diapers, and now the HTC One mini (all lowercase, because it's so small, see?) is real. The idea is that it's a smaller, cheaper version of the our current favorite phone, the HTC One. But to accomplish such shrinkification and encheapenment, sacrifices must be made. Let's take a look.

Let's start with the obvious: The mini isn't really that mini. The screen size drops from 4.7-inches to 4.3-inches. The body goes from 5.41 x 2.69 x 0.37 inches on the One, down to 5.20 x 2.50 x 0.36 inches on the One mini. The weight drops from 5.04 ounces to 4.30 ounces. Are these noticeable changes? Yes. Are they major changes? Not really. That said, we were able to reach the top, bottom, and far corners of the screen on the One mini without having to adjust the phone in our palm at all, which isn't something we can say for the original One. It's definitely something a person with smaller hands would appreciate.

The build quality is almost identical, and that's a very good thing. It has that same, satisfying, solid feeling to it, with the curved aluminum back (available in black or silver). There's just no give to it. It also has the same stereo BoomSound speakers on the front and it was plenty loud and very clear. The screen drops from a 1080p Super LCD 3 to a 720p Super LCD 2, but it still has a more than adequate 341 pixels per inch (the One has 468PPI, though that's arguably overkill). It was nice and bright, colors looked good, and it was plenty sharp for reading small text.

The lower resolution screen may ultimately be for the good, because the processor has been downgraded as well. We're looking at a dual-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400 processor (down from the quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 on the One). It also dropped from 2GB of RAM to just 1GB. But because the phone doesn't have as many pixels to push around, it felt just as snappy as its big brother. You'll probably notice the lack of power when loading up HD games, but for day-to-day stuff it's very speedy (see video).


The camera is basically the same F/2.0 4MP ""UltraPixel"" camera that murders low-light situations for the HTC One. The only difference is on the mini there is no optical image stabilization like the One has, so you'll need a steadier hand. The battery also falls from 2,300 mAh to 1,800 mAh, which is a significant drop, but perhaps the smaller screen and slower processor will balance it out. Maybe. It will come running Android 4.2.2 (which is kind of funny since the U.S. HTC One is currently still on 4.1. Thanks, carriers...) with HTC's Sense skin on top.

The One mini will be launching ""internationally"" in August and in the U.S. shortly thereafter. (When did the U.S. stop being included in ""international""? Actually, don't answer that.) Pricing and carriers have not be announced but we were told it would probably be about $100. Wait, uhh, guys? That's how much Sprint and T-Mobile charge for the HTC One right now! The mini had better be cheaper than that, otherwise the only people who should buy this phone are people who reeeeeally need that 0.4-inches smaller screen despite the other disadvantages

Other than that stuff, it's basically the same phone. 16GB of built-in memory (not expandable), LTE, NFC, and all that jazz. Overall, we liked it. It was very comfortable to use and it's just a little bit bigger than an iPhone 5. Would we change to it from an HTC One? No. But our small-handed friends could certainly do much worse.

Apple's Next iPhone(s?) Coming September 10th

Report: Apple's Next iPhone(s?) Coming September 10th

According to a report from AllThingsD, Apple will be taking the lid off of its new iPhone a month from today, on September 10th. Save the date.

While Apple rumors are as Apple rumors does, AllThingsD is as reliable a source as you're going to get outside of Cupertino itself. But even if the date is certain, plenty of questions remain as to what, exactly, we'll see there.

The All new Blackberry Z30

 Hands-On Video Claims to Show Off Rumored Sleek New BlackBerry Z30

It looks like rumors of a new BlackBerry handset, the Z30 (once referred to as the A10), could carry some weight: this hands-on video purports to show off the new device, and it seems convincing.

The footage give a pretty thorough walk-through with the device-in Vietnamese, sorry-conducted by Cellphone S. If the video's to be believed, the new Z30 should pack a 720p 5-inch AMOLED display, dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 8-megapixel camera, 2-megapixel front facer, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and a 2,800 mAh battery. Like we've said before, the rumored new phone at least looks nice, even if it's unclear whether it would actually be any good. If it's real, of course.

Interestingly, there's an AT&T logo on the back of the device featured in the video. So, if it is real-which, of course, it might not be-could suggest that the phone is headed for that particular carrier sooner rather than later. Whether it could turn out to be handset that can save BlackBerry, however, is another question altogether. [Channel S via NowhereElse via Engadget]