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Reading the headline I got really excited, but looking at the images of the product I'm pretty disappointed: * There's lots of glass, but the actual lens appea

by desine 5y ago

Reading the headline I got really excited, but looking at the images of the product I'm pretty disappointed: * There's lots of glass, but the actual lens appears to be 1/20th the size of the cosmetic glass surrounding the lens * Only one lens/sensor - I think most of us are used to having a few different cameras ganged in software to one digital representation of the camera - to mixed effect. This usually comes with some meddling ML algorithm that fluctuates between "better than my point and shoot!" to "looks like FaceTune app dialed to 11". The single lens/sensor makes more sense from a "accurate photography" standpoint but I think the balance could have been struck better with a few lenses and minimal pixel interpolation. * Other posters are commenting it's a potentially modified existing Sharp phone. With the amount of resources available to Leica, I was hoping for a ground-up engineering project Traditional photography companies looking to move into the smartphone realm have real opportunity available; as paulgerhardt commented - the connectivity and apps are where the real potential lies. Half assing it wastes corporate resources and makes consumers less likely to be excited if a real killer camera-first hybrid were to come out. At this point they seem to be doing more harm than good.

make3 5y ago
The last point about making a phone completely from scratch was a negative one for me, the idea of making such a complicated thing completely from scratch felt like it was bound to be really bad and full of bugs compared to other companies who have been making this for a long time, because the initial investment I expect would need to be so huge to make a performant well tested phone from scratch
- desine 5y ago
  The phone/android part doesn't need to be from scratch, there's literally dozens of companies that specialize in that industry. You can probably just order some whitebox logic board/chassis for 1/10th the cost of engineering the camera part, and just slap a ribbon cable between the two.
  - make3 5y ago
    isn't that very close to just rebranding a phone that already exists though
    - desine 5y ago
      I guess that would depend on how much effort they put into the camera. Could be yes, could be no.
fomine3 5y ago
Maybe most people outside Japan don't know what kind of product Sharp makes, so I explain. Sharp sometimes makes very original smartphones in Japan. For example, AQUOS Xx was 120Hz display smartphone in 2015 since they also make displays. AQUOS Crystal was futuristic great narrow bezel design in 2014. AQUOS Zero 2 in 2020 is my favorite smartphone because it's extremely lightweight 141g even thought it's big and has 240Hz BFI OLED. If I understand correctly, their development is still in house, not ODM, at least for high end models. They also makes affordable phones. It's just basic phone and not very good at perf/cost compared to China offerings like Xiaomi, but well sold in Japan it's Sharp/AQUOS branded. Their smartphone's camera is considered to not good even for high end models. They're behind about computational photography. Some news said that Sharp makes camera sensor for iPhone, so maybe fine for making hardware. I confirmed my AQUOS zero2 shots unimpressive photos (IMO iPhone 7 is superior) but it's fine for me who need really lightweight phone because good camera increases weight and camera bump.

by desine 5y ago

make3 5y ago

The last point about making a phone completely from scratch was a negative one for me, the idea of making such a complicated thing completely from scratch felt like it was bound to be really bad and full of bugs compared to other companies who have been making this for a long time, because the initial investment I expect would need to be so huge to make a performant well tested phone from scratch

desine 5y ago
The phone/android part doesn't need to be from scratch, there's literally dozens of companies that specialize in that industry. You can probably just order some whitebox logic board/chassis for 1/10th the cost of engineering the camera part, and just slap a ribbon cable between the two.
- make3 5y ago
  isn't that very close to just rebranding a phone that already exists though
  - desine 5y ago
    I guess that would depend on how much effort they put into the camera. Could be yes, could be no.

fomine3 5y ago

Maybe most people outside Japan don't know what kind of product Sharp makes, so I explain. Sharp sometimes makes very original smartphones in Japan. For example, AQUOS Xx was 120Hz display smartphone in 2015 since they also make displays. AQUOS Crystal was futuristic great narrow bezel design in 2014. AQUOS Zero 2 in 2020 is my favorite smartphone because it's extremely lightweight 141g even thought it's big and has 240Hz BFI OLED. If I understand correctly, their development is still in house, not ODM, at least for high end models. They also makes affordable phones. It's just basic phone and not very good at perf/cost compared to China offerings like Xiaomi, but well sold in Japan it's Sharp/AQUOS branded. Their smartphone's camera is considered to not good even for high end models. They're behind about computational photography. Some news said that Sharp makes camera sensor for iPhone, so maybe fine for making hardware. I confirmed my AQUOS zero2 shots unimpressive photos (IMO iPhone 7 is superior) but it's fine for me who need really lightweight phone because good camera increases weight and camera bump.