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Posts Tagged ‘Samsung’

Samsung shares new promotional video for its pixel-packed 200MP HP1 mobile image sensor

21 Sep

Samsung has published a new promotional video detailing the features of its new ISOCELL HP1 mobile image sensor.

In the three-minute video, Samsung Sensor Design Team member Minho Kwon shares the various technologies the HP1 sensor brings to mobile image. Specifically, he addresses the 0.64?m pixel size of the sensor, as well as its various pixel-binning modes, including the 4–1 pixel binning (to give an equivalent pixel size of 1.28?m) used when recording 8K video, as well as 16-to-1 pixel binning (to give an equivalent pixel size of 2.56?m) used in low-light environment for still images.

Minho Kwon also details Samsung’s Smart ISO technology, a dual-gain mode that intelligently switches between gain levels to achieve the maximum detail in both light and dark environments.

No new information is presented in the video, but it’s a great look into a pixel-packed sensor we’ll likely see inside next year’s flagship smartphones.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Samsung announces Galaxy S21 series, including 8K capable, 108MP Galaxy S21 Ultra

14 Jan

Samsung has announced its latest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus and the Galaxy S21 Ultra. The S21 and S21 Plus are essentially identical phones, save for their screen size and other minor differences. The S21 Ultra is designed to be not only the best phone in Samsung’s diverse lineup of Android smartphones, but Samsung believes it’s the best phone available.

Samsung Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus

The S21 and S21 Plus cost $ 800 and $ 1,000 respectively. This is $ 200 less than their predecessor’s launch prices last year. As The Verge points out, the 6.2″ S21 and 6.7″ S21 Plus have given something up in order to reach this lower price point. While both phones continue to deliver 120Hz refresh rates, something Apple’s latest iPhone 12 models don’t offer, the displays no longer have the subtle curved edges of the Galaxy S20. Further, resolution has decreased from 3,200 x 1,440 to 2,400 x 1,080. In terms of internal components, RAM has decreased from 12GB to 8GB.

Build quality has changed as well. Whereas the S20 had an aluminum back panel, the smaller S21 uses plastic on the back and doesn’t include an ultra-wideband radio. The larger S21 Plus does have this connectivity feature, allowing for relatively superior compatibility with Samsung’s new Galaxy SmartTag, the Korean company’s new Tile competitor.

Another cost-saving measure is that Samsung will no longer be including a charging brick or headphones in the box. Like Apple, the company says it’s for environmental reasons. It’s only been three months since Samsung poked fun at Apple for no longer including a charger with the new iPhone models.

In addition to making cuts to reduce the price of the S21 and S21 Plus, Samsung has made improvements as well. While the quality of the materials has changed, the design looks very nice. On the inside of the new models is the latest Snapdragon chipset, which promises improved performance. The fingerprint sensor has Qualcomm’s new 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2, resulting in improved speed. Both models feature 5G integration, supporting mmWave and sub-6GHz networks, so the new phones will be faster in that respect too, assuming you are in an area with support for 5G.

The two-tone design of the Galaxy S21/S21 Plus works around the camera protrusion. The camera system is basically the same on these models as it was last year. The S21 and S21 Plus each include a 12MP wide-angle camera, 12MP ultrawide camera and a 64MP telephoto lens. The front-facing camera is 10MP, although the S21 Plus has ditched the depth sensor.

While the hardware is unchanged, there have been some adjustments to software. There’s a 30x ‘Space Zoom’ mode, a ‘Director’s View’ mode for recording video allowing easier swapping between lenses, and additions to the ‘Single Take’ mode. Further, the default image processing no longer excessively smooths faces, although if that’s your style, it remains an option.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus models will be available starting January 29 and are available for preorder now. The S21 and S21 Plus include 128GB of internal storage. If you’d like 256GB of storage, it adds $ 50 to the price of each model. The S21 is available in Phantom Gray, Phantom White, Phantom Violet and Phantom Pink colorways, with the latter two having a rose gold two-tone design. The S21 Plus is available in violet, black, silver, gold and red, with the latter two colors being made to order and shipping in 3-4 weeks, as of writing.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the star of the show. Where the S21/S21 Plus are a mix of cost-cutting measures and improvements, the S21 Ultra is all about pushing hardware forward. The Ultra has a price to match, starting at $ 1,200.

For your money, you get a large 6.8″ OLED display with 120Hz refresh rates at full 3,200 x 1,440 resolution, something the S20 Ultra couldn’t do. The S21 Ultra includes 12GB of RAM, a 5,000mAh battery and offers storage capacity up to 512GB. The Ultra also includes the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. In terms of user experience, beyond promised speed improvements, the S21 Ultra is compatible with the Samsung S Pen, although it is an optional extra and many customers will likely want a compatible case with a holder for the pen as well.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra offers similar top-level camera specs as the S20 Ultra, including 100x zoom, a 108MP camera and 8K video recording, but there’s more to it than that and some important differences to consider. For example, the S21 Ultra includes more rear cameras than the S20 Ultra. The S21 Ultra has a 12MP ultrawide camera, 10MP camera with 3x zoom and a 10MP camera with 10x zoom. Previously, the 10x zoom was digital zoom, rather than optical.

Further, the primary image sensor is larger in the new model, although Samsung hasn’t stated by precisely how much. CNet writes that Samsung promises ‘more than three times the dynamic range of the S20 Ultra.’ Like the S21/S21 Plus, the S21 Ultra includes the same new software features for photo and video as well.

As mentioned, all these features come at a high price. The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra starts at $ 1,200 with 128GB of storage. 256GB and 512GB models are also available at $ 1,250 and $ 1,380, respectively. The S21 Ultra is available in Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, Phantom Titanium, Phantom Navy and Phantom Brown, with the lattermost three color options being available as ‘made to order’ options, which currently adds 4-5 weeks to expected shipping time. The S21 Ultra in black and silver will ship by January 27. For those interested in the Phantom Black color, Samsung published a video specifically about designing this color.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Samsung details new 65/14nm stacked sensor design for improving power efficiency, density of mobile image sensors

08 Oct
Stacked Architecture of the chipset Samsung details in its new paper.

Samsung has published a paper detailing a new stacked CMOS mobile image sensor that uses a 14nm processing layer to deliver high-resolution images while reducing power consumption.

The stacked sensor consists of two chips: a 12MP backside-illuminated (BSI) pixel chip on the top that uses 65nm process and a bottom chip for analog and logic circuits that uses 14nm process. By using the super-fine 14nm process on the processing layer, Samsung says it could achieve a 29% drop in power consumption compared to current conventional sensors that use a 65nm/28nm process.

Microphotograph of Implemented Sensor (Left: Top Chip & Right: Bottom Chip)

Samsung says the chip is capable of outputting at 120 frames per second while consuming just 612mW of power. The analog and digital power supply requirements also drop to 2.2V and 0.8V, respectively, compared to conventional 65nm/28nm process chipsets.

What this all translates to is a more energy-efficient stacked sensor for future smartphones that also manages to improve data throughput and reduce noise. It also paves the way for creating sensors with smaller pixel pitches, maximizing the potential for even higher-resolution sensors without increasing the size of mobile sensors. As illustrated in the below graphic, a 16MP sensor with a 1.0um pixel pitch is the same size as a 13MP sensor with a 1.12um pixel pitch.

Of course, smaller pixels means each pixel will be less sensitive, but Samsung emphasizes this shortcoming can be overcome through its pixel-merging technologies such as its Tetracell (2×2) and Nonacell (3×3) technologies, which will merge data from neighboring pixels together to achieve better image quality when light is scarce.

Specifications of the 12MP sensor Samsung details in its paper.

Samsung specifically notes the power-saving nature of stacked sensors using the 65nm/14nm process will be ‘critical’ for 8K video capture and even higher-resolution sensors, as power consumption is one of the biggest factors limiting 8K capture on current smartphones.

As tends to be the case with developments of this kind, there’s no knowing when we might see this 65nm/14nm stacked sensor design inside a consumer smartphone.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Samsung unveils the details of its new Galaxy Note 20, Note 20 Ultra smartphones

06 Aug

Today, Samsung unveiled its latest flagship Note devices, the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, and teased a successor to its original Galaxy Fold. The new devices bring improved specifications across the board, including an upgraded three-module camera system.

While similar in name, the two devices appeal to different user bases, with the Galaxy Note 20 being the more entry-level phone, while the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra goes big across the board with a massive screen, tons of RAM and an impressive camera setup.

Galaxy Note 20

As their names suggest, the Galaxy Note 20 is the more basic of the pair, but it still has plenty to offer. The phone is built around a massive 6.7” AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio and a 60Hz refresh rate. It’s constructed of Samsung’s ‘Glasstic’ plastic, uses Gorilla Glass 5 for the front display and is IP68 certified.

In North America, the device will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865 Plus CPU and the global version will run on Samsung’s Exynos 990 CPU. Inside, it has 128GB of internal storage (no microSD card slot), 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 5G, Wi-Fi 6 and a 4,300mAh battery that can charge at 25W wired and up to 15W wirelessly.

Moving onto the camera setup, the Galaxy Note 20 offers three camera modules on the back: a 12MP F1.8 optically-stabilized wide-angle camera with 1.8?m pixels, a 64MP F2.0 telephoto (hybrid 3x zoom) camera with 0.8?m pixels and a 12MP F2.2 wide-angle camera with 1.4?m pixels. The front of the devices uses a 10MP F2.2 camera module with 1.22?m pixels. As for video capture, the Galaxy Note 20 can record 8K video at up to 24fps in either 16:9 or 21:9.

The Galaxy Note 20 comes in ‘Mystic Gray,’ ‘Mystic Green’ and Mystic Bronze, and will start at $ 1,000.

Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra takes the ‘bigger is better’ approach in nearly every way. The phone has a 6.9” AMOLED 120Hz display that wraps around the edge of the phone to form a 19.3:9 ratio. It’s constructed of metal and glass, with a Gorilla Glass 7 display cover, and is IP68 certified.

A front-view comparison between the Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra.

The CPU options for the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra are the same as the Note 20: a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus in North America and a Samsung Exynos 990 CPU for the global version. Inside is 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, a 4,500mAh battery that can charge at 25W wired and up to 15W wirelessly, 5G, Wi-Fi 6 and the option for either 128GB or 512GB of internal storage (no microSD card slot).

For photography, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has the same 108MP F1.8 wide-angle optically-stabilized camera module found in the Galaxy S20 Ultra, a 12MP F3.0 telephoto (5x zoom) camera module and a 12MP F2.2 ultra-wide cameras, as well as a Laser AF module for improved autofocus speed and accuracy. It can record 8K video at up to 24fps in either 16:9 or 21:9, identical to its non-Ultra counterpart.

The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra comes in ‘Mystic Black,’ Mystic White’ and Mystic Bronze, and will start at $ 1,300. Pre-orders for both phones start at 12:01 AM August 6th, with the first units expected to ship on August 21.

Galaxy Z Fold 2

In addition to the two Note devices, Samsung also showed off the Galaxy Z Fold 2, a successor to its original Galaxy Fold phone release last year. Samsung didn’t divulge too many specifications for the new folding phone, but does appear to use the same camera setup found on the Galaxy note 20, based on the product images. Samsung says it will reveal more information on the Galaxy Z Fold 2 on September 1.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DPR Community Gallery: Samsung Galaxy S20/S20+/S20 Ultra

26 Jun

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Mobile imaging technology is evolving dramatically with each new year, new model and often each new software update released to the public. That’s part of the reason why we’ve enlisted our readers to help us better understand their capabilities in a wide range of photographic situations. We asked DPR members to share their photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy S20, S20 Plus and S20 Ultra for this purpose, as well as to offer a chance to show off their best shots.

We’ve been delighted to see all of the photos submitted – over 250 total – and have selected just a few of our favorites here. Thanks to all who shared their photos and participated! We hope to continue to involve our users’ input and photography as we learn more about these fascinating devices in the months and years to come.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Last call: Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra photos

19 Jun

We’re thrilled by the submissions that we’ve already received and are putting out the final call for images to be included in our first-ever DPR community sample gallery. As a refresher, we’re looking for Samsung Galaxy S20, S20 Plus and (newly included!) S20 Ultra photos. By submitting your photos for consideration, you’re helping us understand these complex imaging devices better – and your photography will potentially be seen by tens of thousands of your fellow DPR readers.

To be considered, images should be uploaded to your DPR gallery with the tag s20-gallery. We’re looking for full-resolution images without post-processing – straight out of the native camera app is best. You can also rest assured that our gallery terms and conditions apply: you retain your image copyright (more detail below).

Head to your gallery page and
upload images

We respect your copyright and intellectual property. By uploading your image to your gallery you agree to allow dpreview to host, link to and subsequently display the image on our website for the purpose of providing the service. Images marked as public may appear on the gallery home page and other gallery widgets from time to time. We acknowledge the copyright and ownership of the image remains yours, and you represent and warrant that you are the sole owner of all intellectual property rights in the image.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Call for submissions: Samsung Galaxy S20/S20+ community sample gallery

10 Jun

We’re looking for more ways to showcase our readers’ photography and at the same time, to see how the complex technologies that power smartphone cameras behave in a wide range of situations. That’s why we’re calling on all Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20+ owners to send us your favorite images you’ve taken with either device – they may be included as part of DPR’s first-ever community-powered sample gallery. By curating a gallery of images from our readership, we get to learn more about these devices and show off the work of our talented readers. Win-win.

To participate, upload images taken with either the Galaxy S20 or Galaxy S20+ to your DPR gallery and tag them with s20-gallery. Selected images will be featured in a story on our front page and will be seen by tens-of-thousands of your fellow readers.

Upload your Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20+ images for consideration

A little fine print – images should be uploaded at full resolution with minimal (if any) processing. The standard terms and conditions of our gallery system apply:

We respect your copyright and intellectual property. By uploading your image to your gallery you agree to allow dpreview to host, link to and subsequently display the image on our website for the purpose of providing the service. Images marked as public may appear on the gallery home page and other gallery widgets from time to time. We acknowledge the copyright and ownership of the image remains yours, and you represent and warrant that you are the sole owner of all intellectual property rights in the image.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Samsung reported to be expanding its image sensor production line

01 Jun

According to Business Korea, Samsung is planning to convert one of its current DRAM manufacturing lines into a camera sensor production line to the tune of roughly $ 815M.

The report says Samsung will be converting its DRAM line 13 in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea into a camera sensor production unit. This transition isn’t unprecedented, as Samsung did the same back in 2018 with its DRAM line 11, converting it into the camera sensor production line S4.

This transition from DRAM production to camera sensor production happens because, as noted by Android Headline, approximately 80% of the manufacturing processes and equipment for the two operations overlap. so, rather than build from scratch, Samsung can save a dramatic sum of money by simply converting an existing production line.

Despite so much overlap between the two processes, the conversion is set to cost one trillion Korean won (?), which is roughly $ 815M dollars at the current exchange rate.

Business Korea doesn’t note what kind of sensors the converted production line will manufacture, but Samsung recently showed off its new 50MP ISOCELL GN1 sensor and has also teased the development of both a 150MP sensor and a 250MP sensor, with hopes to someday create a 600MP smartphone sensor.

Android Headline cites ‘industry experts,’ saying mass production on the converted line could start as early as year’s end, ‘once it completes installing and testing the new equipment.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Samsung is aiming to develop 600MP image sensors

21 Apr

In the last couple of years or so we have seen the size of image sensors in high-end smartphones increase quite dramatically. At the same time pixel counts have skyrocketed, driven, at least in part, by the use of pixel-binning technology to capture images with lower noise levels and a wider dynamic range than would be possible with conventional sensor technology.

The sensor in the main camera of Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S20 Ultra, is a prime example for both these trends. At 1/1.33″ it’s one of the currently largest (only the 1/1.28″ chip in the Huawei P40 Pro is bigger) and a whopping 108MP resolution allows for pixel binning and all sorts of computational imaging wizardry to produce 12MP high-quality default output.

In terms of pixel binning this latest Samsung sensor taken thins even one step further than previous generations. Instead of four it combines 9 pixels into one for an effective pixel size of 2.4µm.

Now we’ve learned that the South Korean company has no intentions to stop there. In a blog post on the company website, Samsung’s Head of Sensor Business Team Yongin Park explains that it is the company’s goal to design and produce image sensors that go beyond the resolution of the human eye which is said to be around 500MP.

However, Yong is aware that numerous challenges have to be overcome to achieve this goal.

‘In order to fit millions of pixels in today’s smartphones that feature other cutting-edge specs like high screen-to-body ratios and slim designs, pixels inevitably have to shrink so that sensors can be as compact as possible.

On the flip side, smaller pixels can result in fuzzy or dull pictures, due to the smaller area that each pixel receives light information from. The impasse between the number of pixels a sensor has and pixels’ sizes has become a balancing act that requires solid technological prowess,’ he writes.

Launched in 2013, Samsung’s ISOCELL technology has been paramount in allowing for more and more pixels to be implemented on smartphone image sensors, by isolating pixels from each other and thus reducing light spill and reflections between them. first this was done using metal ‘barriers’. Later generations used an unspecified ‘innovative material’.

Tetracell technology came along in 2017 and used 2×2 pixel binning to increase the effective pixel size. It was superseded by the company’s Nonacell tech and its 3×3 pixel arrays earlier this year. At the same time Samsung engineers were also able to reduce pixel size to a minuscule 0.7?m. According to Park this was previously believed to be impossible.

So, what can we expect from Samsung’s sensor division in the medium and long term? Park says that the company is ‘aiming for 600MP for all’ but doesn’t provide much detail on how this could be achieved. These sensors would not necessarily be exclusive to use in smartphones, however, and could be implemented for a wide range of applications.

‘To date, the major applications for image sensors have been in the smartphones field, but this is expected to expand soon into other rapidly-emerging fields such as autonomous vehicles, IoT and drones,’ he explains.

In addition the company is looking at applications for its sensors that go beyond photography and videography. According to Park, sensors that are capable of detecting wavelengths outside of the range of human eyes are still rare, but could benefit in areas such as cancer diagnosis in medicine or quality control in agriculture.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Samsung details the 108MP camera sensor tech packed in the Galaxy S20 Ultra smartphone

15 Feb

Samsung has published technical details on the 108MP ISOCELL Bright HM1 ‘Nonacell’ image sensor found in its newly launched Galaxy S20 Ultra smartphone. The image sensor features 108-million 0.8?m pixels and a 1/1.33in size, as well as Smart-ISO and Nonacell technologies to produce what Samsung claims are ‘crystal-clear’ and ‘vivid’ 8K videos and high-resolution images.

Nonacell builds upon the Tetracell technology Samsung unveiled in 2017; rather than featuring a 2×2 array like the older tech, the Nonacell features a 3×3 arrays of the same color filter. This allows chunks of nine 0.8?m pixels to be merged into what is essentially a single 2.4?m pixel. This results in more than double the light absorption offered by the Tetracell tech, according to the company.

The downside is that there is a larger gap between pixels recording different colors, meaning that the ‘re-mosaic’ algorithm, that tries to reconstruct what a conventional 1×1 Bayer sensor would have captured, faces a more difficult challenge. So you won’t ever get the lever of color resolution that a conventional 108MP sensor would give.

Other ‘advanced pixel technologies’ like Smart-ISO help produce what Samsung calls ‘ultimate results under any lighting condition,’ including particularly challenging mixed-light environments. The camera’s HDR tech involves assigning exposure lengths to each and every pixel for multiple simultaneous exposures, enabling real-time HDR previews.

Rather than using a mobile processor, Samsung says its sensor directly converts pixels via ‘an embedded hardware IP.’ Other features include electronic image stabilization that uses gyroscope hardware, Super-PD phase-detection tech and up to 3x lossless 12MP zoom that doesn’t require upscaling.

The use of ISOCELL Plus tech, meanwhile, deals with the color interference that would otherwise arise from the Nonacell system, according to Samsung:

As the number of adjoined cells increase, so does color interference, making pixel-binning technologies more challenging, While such difficulties had limited Nonacell to a theory, the HM1 was able to realize the method by adopting Samsung’s ISOCELL Plus technology, which dramatically reduces crosstalk and minimizes optical loss as well as light reflection.

In addition to the 108MP sensor, the Galaxy S20 Ultra model features a 12MP wide-angle camera and a 48MP telephoto camera, 10x Hybrid Optic Zoom and ‘Super Resolution Zoom’ that uses AI for up to 100x zoom. The model’s ‘selfie’ camera, meanwhile, features a 40MP sensor with the ability to ‘shift’ to 10MP with larger pixels for higher quality images captured in low-light settings.

The S20 and S20+ models feature lesser specs with 12MP wide-angle and telephoto cameras, as well as a 64MP telephoto camera. A full breakdown of the camera hardware found in these three smartphone models is available on Samsung’s website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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