ScanR — a new company that offers camera phone image scanning software for documents, whiteboards and business cards — took a look at Verizon’s new 3.2 megapixel camera phone and doesn’t like the reduction in resolution when the image is transmitted.
ScanR’s corporate weblog says the company got Samsung’s SCH-a990 3.2 megapixel camera phone (that I previously wrote about) and spent an hour trying to determine why the photos they sent came out as two megapixels.
The reason: “It turns out that if you choose the option to send the photo, the phone reduces the resolution of the file to a maximum of 1600 x 1200 pixels, or 2 megapixel. If you choose the option to save the photo, it is the full 3.2 megapixels.”
Good tip
That’s a good piece of information. I’m sure most subscribers will have no idea that’s the case.
As a matter of course, I like to transfer photos from camera phones directly to my computer(s) rather than first sending them. That way I’m assured of getting the best resolution image.
It doesn’t always matter, but cellular phones often compress images more when the images are sent wirelessly than if they are saved and then transferred to a computer.
Use with scanR
I haven’t written about scanR, and I really should. The ability to scan an image and view it in a readable form is a good feature for camera phones.
(Disclosure: A while back I spent a little bit of time talking with scanR in my role as a wireless data consultant.)
Camera phone scanning/barcode companies are always looking at developments in handsets because the quality of the photographed image is so important to whether the software works!
Works with business card scans
ScanR says in the blog that “even [my italics] at 2 megapixels” the a990 “works great for the new scanR Business Card beta.”
Camera phone scanning/barcode firms have been champing at the bit for the availability of phones that can produce readable images. A large number of pixels is one important parameter but definitely not the only one for producing an acceptable scanned image.
Some wireless barcode companies were hopeful that one megapixel camera phones would produce an acceptable image. But the quality of the photo often isn’t good enough.
Now, “even” a two megapixel image might work.
It's quite amazing to watch as camera phone resolutions and OCR technologies improve, and with scanR at the forefront of the mobile scanning revolution, you're sure to see continued innovation that makes full use of this rapidly evolving market.
Posted by: Brandon Watts | Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 11:25 AM