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Posts Tagged ‘mobile’

DxOMark Mobile testing protocol now considers bokeh simulation, low-light, motion and zoom

12 Sep

Camera and lens testing company DxOMark has announced an updated smartphone camera evaluation protocol that evaluates additional elements encompassing some of the newer mobile camera technologies. This new protocol builds upon the previous version, adding an updated low-light test that evaluates performance down to 1 lux, new bokeh and zoom tests, and a motion-based test.

DxOMark detailed the new mobile protocol on Monday, explaining that it is better capable of evaluating phones packing the newest mobile camera capabilities, particularly ones made possible by dual-camera hardware. The company has re-tested some top-tier phone models under the new protocol, finding that in some cases scores increased when looking at features like low-light performance, bokeh, and zoom.

A detailed analysis of the new protocol versus the old protocol sheds some light on what DxOMark is looking for in these new categories, as well as charting the score changes some phones experienced under the new protocol. The company also offers a more in-depth look at the new protocol in a blog post.

Via: Digital Trends

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Mobile Micro-Lending: 17th-Century Book-Shaped Library Hides 50 Tiny Books

10 Sep

[ By WebUrbanist in Technology & Vintage & Retro. ]

Back in the 1600s, long before science fiction authors dreamed up digital e-readers, this Jacobean traveling library was making the rounds, housing dozens of small books in a larger book-shaped case. Bound in leather like a large folio volume, it is thought to be one of the first of its kind.

The handcrafted wooden shell was purpose-built to house a collection of littler volumes that could in theory be swapped out for different journeys, much like loading up a modern device with novels (or torrents).

Located at the University of Leeds Library, this case is presumed to have been commissioned by a lawyer and politician named William Hakewell in 1617 as a holiday gift (as the recipient’s and giver’s coats of arms are both found on the case). The case is quite compelling — it looks a lot like a book upon casual inspection — while the contents are neatly arranged in similar-looking bindings.

The gift included classics by Ovid, Virgil and Cicero among others, spanning a range of philosophical and theological subjects. Hakewell commissioned several similar cases over the years, which would also have facilitated trades across collections of friends if they were so inclined. Each case also contained a list of original books that came with the commission, which in turn have numbers corresponding to the list

Downloadable Deco: Art Archive Puts 200 Graphic Design Classics Online

Some great institutions are becoming even greater in the digital age — places like museums continue to scan high-quality paintings and photographs for distribution and agencies like NASA put …

Radical Retrofuture Rides: 12 Never-Produced Vehicles

Concept cars, dream machines and technology-packed prototypes give us hints of what the future holds for bikers, drivers, sailors and flyers – many have even gone into production little changed …

Retro Hover Cars: Editing Photos to Float Vintage Rides

One of the most common concepts for the future has long been the wheel-free automobile, even before it was popularized in Back to the Future – but always, these looked almost shockingly familiar …

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[ By WebUrbanist in Technology & Vintage & Retro. ]

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Mobile Urbanism: Wheeled Benches & Planters Let Public Reconfigure Square

08 Sep

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

A former parking has become a Green Oasis in front of Poznan, Poland’s city hall, but beyond providing seating and greenery the redesign adds another key element: effectively endless flexibility.

Custom-created benches and planters (filled with an array of taller trees and shorter flora) create a system of mobile street furniture that can be configured in an infinite variety of ways.

Normally, independent islands allow small groups to gather. As needed, though, the benches can be matched up for anything from public speeches to in-the-round performances — the modular geometry of the 14 benches and 20 planters allows them to befit together like pieces of a puzzle.

Developed by Atelier Starzak Strebicki, this modular courtyard serves as a gathering space, open-air amphitheater or auditorium — the street furniture elements can also be moved out of the way entirely if the entire square is needed.

The seats are also doubled-up, allowing people to sit on a higher or lower tier (or both simultaneously for crowded events). At the same time, the furnishings are sufficiently heavy that no one need worry about someone walking (or rolling) away with them at the end of the evening.

These fairly simple but robust steel-and-wood designs provide a nice industrial-style contrast with their historic surroundings, and suggest another way of thinking about public furniture, one which allows it to serve different functions on demand.

Modular Urbanism: Coin-Operated System of Portable Street Furniture

Much like coin-based cart systems found in supermarkets and airports, these stackable stools (which double as table surfaces) can be borrowed, moved around and returned with ease. Unlike …

Sleep Well: 18 Creative Modern Beds and Bed Designs

Considering we spend a third of our lives occupying them, it is surprising bed designs have remained so stable throughout history – until now. Here are 18 groundbreaking beds that are straining …

20 Unconventional Modern Lamps & Lighting Designs

Gone are the days when lighting was a background feature designed to showcase the rest of your home. Now, thanks to material and technological advances such as new forms of affordable, versatile …

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VSCO releases Mobile Presets 02 pack for desktop users

03 Sep

VSCO, the art and technology company behind the mobile app of the same name, has launched Mobile Presets 02 (MP2) for its desktop users. This bundle is designed for photographers who’d rather edit their photos on desktop than mobile, offering a total of 55 presets for Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom.

The company describes the MP2 bundle as ‘mobile emulation presets,’ enabling users to get the same looks on desktop that can be achieved using the company’s popular mobile app.

The MP2 bundle contains both original presets, such as the Low Contrast Series V1 through V8 packs, plus branded presets that were launched as limited-time downloads within the app. The branded presets include NikeLab ACG, Krochet Kids KK1 and KK2, Levi’s LV1 – LV3, TA-KU TK, and Neocha NC.

The presets can be used with Adobe Camera Raw for Photoshop CC and CS6, as well as Lightroom 4, 5, 6, and CC. VSCO is offering a $ 10 discount until September 10th via the coupon ‘VSAG17.’ The Mobile Presets 02 bundle costs $ 60 USD and is available through VSCO’s online store.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Instagram Stories arrive on desktop, will soon support mobile web uploads

03 Sep
Instagram Stories on Mobile Web… coming soon.

Instagram has revealed that it will soon support uploading Stories via mobile web browsers. With the new functionality, Instagram users will have the option of uploading videos and images to their Instagram Stories using a tablet or smartphone’s web browser, such as Safari or Chrome, in lieu of the Instagram app itself.

Mobile web uploading for Stories will arrive at some point in the next handful of months, but ahead of that Instagram has launched its Stories product on desktop and mobile web browsers. Anyone can now view Instagram Stories using either browser type, whereas previously the feature was limited to the Instagram app.

However, if you’re hoping Stories in their full glory will be coming to the desktop, we’re sorry to say they will not. The company confirmed to The Verge that it has no plans to bring Stories uploading to desktop browsers.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Secret Studio: Suspended Mobile Room Slides & Hides Under Busy Overpass

25 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

Designer Fernando Abellanas has built a remarkable micro-dwelling in Valencia, Spain, that slides into position under a bridge, suspended safely out of sight from the traffic passing by above.

The clever construction of the room’s frame allows it to roll over tilted sections of beam, making its way between a lofted and secluded position and the top of a slope on the other side for entry and egress.

A hand-crank lets the dweller move the enclosure back and forth without any need for an external power source. Furniture and fixtures, meanwhile, stay put, attached to the vertical span of bridge supports where the room docks.

Embracing a minimalist approach and industrial palette, this urban refuge has flexible walls that can form an enclosure and act as privacy screens, allowing the occupant to hiding completely behind raised plywood surfaces.

A light-touch approach means the structure leaves essentially no footprint – it glides lightly around existing infrastructure. And its built-in mobility mechanism assures castle-like protection, vertical space acting as a natural moat.

Indeed, the designs were based on childhood fantasies and real-worldassociations with hard-to-access spaces like tree houses and table forts easy for children to access but hard for adults.

The dull hum of the road is a bit like the buzz of a family going about its business — the buffer of concrete also dampens some of the noise, making the space less loud than it would be to occupy a space alongside the highway.

Abellanas has long been fascinated with furniture as well as forts, and his work with other artists and architects reflects an ongoing interest in paradigm-challenging designs do-it-yourself guerrilla interventions.

Slide & Hide: Stealth Staircases Save Space in Micro-Suites

Maximizing usable space in a series of compact short-term apartments, these retractable steps slip back into a wall, all but disappearing beneath lofted bedroom areas when not needed. Drawers …

Hide-a-Room: Flip-Out Wall Furniture Puts 3 Rooms in 1 Space

Wooden slats and white surfaces shape both the aesthetic and function of this all-in-one interior design, becoming part of the visual language of the walls while also revealing which pieces and …

Borrowed from Libraries: Mobile Shelving for Modular Rooms

When libraries want to save space, they employ a rolling stack system that allows access to only one or a few aisles at one time. When not in use, the walkways between disappear as the bookcases …

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Former Google SVP prefers iPhone over Android for mobile photography

01 Aug

Vic Gundotra was an SVP of engineering at Google for almost eight years before leaving the company in 2014, and heavily involved in running Google’s mobile initiatives. However, despite being one of the main drivers behind Android from 2007 to 2010, Gundotra appears to prefer Apple’s iPhones over Android devices, at least for photography.

In a Facebook post, Gundotra called the results of the background-blurring iPhone 7 Plus portrait mode “stunning” and “the end of the DSLR for most people”. When replying to comments on the post he went on the say that, in terms of imaging, Android phones were years behind the iPhone:

Here is the problem: It’s Android. Android is an open source (mostly) operating system that has to be neutral to all parties. This sounds good until you get into the details. Ever wonder why a Samsung phone has a confused and bewildering array of photo options? Should I use the Samsung Camera? Or the Android Camera? Samsung gallery or Google Photos?

It’s because when Samsung innovates with the underlying hardware (like a better camera) they have to convince Google to allow that innovation to be surfaced to other applications via the appropriate API. That can take YEARS.

Also the greatest innovation isn’t even happening at the hardware level – it’s happening at the computational photography level. (Google was crushing this 5 years ago – they had had “auto awesome” that used AI techniques to automatically remove wrinkles, whiten teeth, add vignetting, etc… but recently Google has fallen back).

Apple doesn’t have all these constraints. They innovate in the underlying hardware, and just simply update the software with their latest innovations (like portrait mode) and ship it.

Bottom line: If you truly care about great photography, you own an iPhone. If you don’t mind being a few years behind, buy an Android.

Apple’s portrait mode doesn’t come without its limitations, but it’s probably fair to say among all the various incarnations of depth or bokeh effects we have seen so far it is the best performing. On the other hand some Android smartphones, such as the Google Pixel or HTC U11, offer an advantage over the latest iPhone models in terms of detail resolution and textures.

So, like with so many things, the smartphone camera that is best for you depends a lot on your personal requirements. Vic Gundotra definitely seems to have made his mind up, though. In another post he says he “would NEVER buy an Android phone again if I cared about photography.” Do you agree? Let us know in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Adobe updates Lightroom Mobile with new features and interface on iOS and Android

19 Jul
Today’s Lightroom Mobile updates include the addition of the selective brush on iOS, and a new interface for Android users.

Adobe released a major update to Lightroom Mobile for both iOS and Android users today. Each update is unique, offering different features depending on which operating system you use. Scroll down for a summary of both.

Lightroom Mobile for iOS

For iOS users, today’s update includes a new selective brush, improved details tab, and an improved interface for iPad users.

The new selective brush is a much-requested update, allowing you to paint enhancements onto specific parts of your image. What’s more, 3D-touch enabled devices (iPhone 6S or later) will vary the strength of the brush based on finger pressure.

Other improvements include the addition of global sharpening and noise reduction to the Details tab, and a new iPad interface that has been optimized to take full advantage of the powerful processors found in the iPad Pro and iPad Pro 2.

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_5384339921″,”galleryId”:”5384339921″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”standalone”:false,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”startInCommentsView”:false,”isMobile”:false}) });

Lightroom Mobile for Android

On the Android side, today’s update focuses on making Lightroom mobile faster and, in Adobe’s own words, “more Android-y.”

“We wanted to provide the best Android experience possible ,so we redesigned Lightroom for Android from the ground up to be faster, more efficient, and, well, more Android-y,” explains Adobe’s Josh Haftel. “Every screen has been redesigned with the goal of ensuring a natural, native Android experience while providing the highest quality, professional-grade mobile photo editing app ever.”

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_1712960971″,”galleryId”:”1712960971″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”standalone”:false,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”startInCommentsView”:false,”isMobile”:false}) });

To take advantage of these updates on both iOS and Android, either update your Lightroom Mobile or download a new copy off the iTunes App Store or Google Play.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Flat-Pack Mobile Architecture: This Building Will Self-Construct in 8 Minutes

11 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

Requiring a single tool and very little power, these self-deploying structures are ready for use in minutes, expanding themselves to multiple times their compact travel size.

Based in the United Kingdom, Ten Fold Engineering’s structures can be packed onto ordinary trucks, conforming to road-worthy dimensions for maximum flexibility.

The company boasts myriad possible uses, from medical clinics and mobile hotels to on-demand offices and private retreats — the sale pitch in the video above is a bit blandly corporate, but the mechanics of the thing unfolding are gorgeous.

Their custom pin-jointed linkages help them open and close easily with minimal energy requirements and using just a single (presumably sonic) screwdriver. They are modular and can be customized with various arrangements of floors, doors, windows and dividers — they can even be shipped with furniture inside.

The company is also experimenting with designs for multi-story structures as well as stackable variants, opening up a whole world of possibilities.

Even the designs show an appealing variety of aesthetic possibilities, including dynamic modern looks and spacious expanding ceilings that go a step beyond typical prefab home possibilities.

Thanks to their variable footings, the units can be put up on uneven or sloped ground, stabilizing to sit flat from the perspective of the occupant.

The buildings can go off the grid but also feature optional attachments for solar panels and batteries, presenting an array of potential power possibilities.

At around 700 square feet and $ 130,000 the base models aren’t cheap, but for someone with the urge to roam they make a pretty stylish and comfortable option for a semi-mobile home.

42 Modern Prefab Buildings & Flat Pack Furniture Designs

When a prefab home or building solution is required it can kick a design-oriented mind into high gear – the search for a visually appealing yet functional solution can be incredibly motivating. …

Refold Workstation: Mobile Flat-Pack Cardboard Standing Desk

Two student designers have seen the future and building toward it with a flexible, foldable, affordable and recyclable cardboard desk that support the weight of a whole person but can also be …

IKEA to Produce & Ship 10,000 Flat-Pack Emergency Shelters

With 40 test units created and deployed since 2013, IKEA is now ready to begin mass-producing its $ 1,000-per-unit temporary flat-pack house to destinations in need around the world. Much like …

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OnePlus 5 performs well in DxOMark Mobile test, misses top spot by three points

07 Jul

The engineers at DxO Labs have put the brand new OnePlus 5 through the DxOMark Mobile testing process, and the phone did not disappoint.

With an overall score of 87 points, the Chinese manufacturer’s flagship device has delivered a respectable performance on par with well-liked phones like Huawei’s Leica-branded P10 and Sony’s Xperia XZ. This also puts it only three points behind the top-ranked HTC U11, and one point better than Apple’s ever-popular iPhone 7.

DxOMark only tested the OnePlus 5 16MP main camera with F1.7 aperture, not the 20MP/F2.6 secondary 2x tele-module. The camera achieves a photo sub-score of 87 points, delivering good results in both bright and low-light situations. The testers were particularly impressed with the vivid color rendition, accurate white balance, good detail and the fast and smooth autofocus system.

Moving on to video, In the default 1080p/30fps video mode, the OnePlus offers accurate exposure and white balance in all conditions. The testers also liked the quick transition in changing light conditions, the accurate autofocus and the effective stabilization system. This earned the OnePlus a video sub-score of 86 points.

We are currently working on our own review of the OnePlus 5. Until then, you can read DxOMark’s full test report here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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