The Just announced Olympus TG-Tracker Action Camera is something of a cross between an ultra-portable camcorder and a Sony Action Cam. It has a flip LCD screen, 4k 30p video, built in LED light at 30 Lumens Continuous, GoPro Mount compatibility, No need for a housing, Sensors that record vector data much like the Garmin VIRB of last year and pretty good ruggedness.
The action camera space is getting more crowded and the Olympus TG-Tracker must work overtime to get attention away from Sony and GoPro Hero as the established leaders. As to the ruggedness of the camera Olympus claims 100ft water tightness which may seem optimistic but doable.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Ono U1 Beast smartphone by U1 Labshas yet to see the light of day as a shipping product. There have been several setbacks to the project but they seem to still keep the flame alive by having the hardware finished and polishing the software constantly to get to a ship ready state.
The latest info pushes for a February release of a slow motion video sample at the spec of 480fps. This will be a real video and not an interpolated sample like the one released before which used the Android camera to deliver slow motion video based on standard frame rate footage. Now the talk in the forums is when will backers and early buyers get the phone if at all. The handset was supposed to be in the hands of backers in late 2015 especially taking in mind the holidays as a Christmas present. That did not materialize as expected due to software delays. However the company honored early backers with refunds for the entire amount. These early backers will still get the phone with no out of money cost. This would be a great thing for backers but this put stresses on the actual company making the necessary revenue unless they have investors footing the bill.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The Nexus 6P has had a rough start due to it’s somewhat lackluster build quality that buckled on the bend tests against the improved iPhone 6s which fixed that problem that appeared on the iPhone 6. However that does not detract from the fact that the Nexus 6P is a serious powerhouse of specs and camera performance which brings true competition at 120fps and 240fps quality against the iPhone hegemony.
The compression has been improved and the scaling is actually pretty good generating fewer artifacts than ever before on an Android Phone slow motion mode. While there is a bit of Moire and aliasing in the images especially at 240fps, it is in line to what the iPhone 6s delivers. That is why we ranked them side by side on our best slow motion cameras of 2015.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
There was quite a bit of controversy last week when u1 Labs did not deliver the reveal of the Ono U1 Beast phone on time, then asked for another 48hrs and then after missing that deadline, hope started to dwindle. However yesterday they released what is supposed to be the first footage of the phone in action along with a slow motion sample that is not really slow motion but just playback at 1/4th speed. However the team behind the Beast at u1 labs have promised once more that real hardware capable 480fps video will be in the device and promise a demo soon afterwards.
The video does show a functional device with a camera app that takes pictures and regular video with software slow down. This is a big step as it shows there is a real phone and not just a render or a concept or OS video captured screen.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
The GoPro Hero 4 series has been quite successful for the company and many are thinking what can they offer next when it comes to camera specs. The Hero 4 Session showed that miniaturization and form factor change is possible at GoPro and we will not be surprised to see a change in shape and size on the Hero 5 to reduce it’s footprint. The GoPro mount has also been holding back the platform miniaturization as to remain compatible with accessories and grips of all kinds. What could happen is to remain compatible but introduce a stronger and smaller mount with some sort of adapter for backward compatibility. This transition will open the way for more portable and stealthy cameras.
Our biggest hint of where the platform is going is what the new Ambarella H1 chip provides. It is an evolutionary chip-set with a few features geared to UHD recording which suggest that 4k will be the focus going forward.→ Continue Reading Full Post ←
