Reiter's Camera Phone Report

First video with my Nokia N82 five megapixel, 30 fps camera phone

Yesterday I posted some of my first photos from the Nokia N82 five megapixel camera phone, and very early this morning — when it was still dark outside and raining — I shot my first video with the phone (see below).

I shot it with the best quality (“TV high quality” and “video stabilization”) at 30 frames per second.  I didn’t get a manual with the N82, so I wonder if video stabilization reduces the quality in any way.  I’ll have to check. 

There aren’t too many parameters to set.  I could have changed the settings from “auto” to “night” and used white balance settings of sunny, cloudy, incandescent and fluorescent.

I could also have changed the color balance from normal to sepia, black and white, vivid or negative.  The N82 has a Xenon flash, that’s especially good for taking photographs.

Xenon versus LCD

But for shooting videos, another new Nokia camera phone, the N96, has two LCDs LEDs, rather than the typical one LCD flash or Xenon.  As I wrote last month when I was at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia told me the two LCDs LEDs provide lighting that’s better for videos. 

The N96 will be commercially available later in the year.

First photos from my Nokia N82 five megapixel, Xenon flash camera phone

Courtesy of Nokia’s “blogger relations program” I have received Nokia’s new N82 camera phone with a resolution of five megapixels, a Xenon flash and video recording capabilities of 30 frames per second.  I received it Friday afternoon so I haven’t taken a huge number of photos, but I have established a photo album for the handset that includes about 30 photos.

I began taking mundane photos during the day, such as from above a creek with a couple of birds in Chevy Chase, Md. about a 20–minute walk from my house (see below).

But taking photos in relatively good conditions isn’t too much of a challenge.  So I ate dinner while I waited until it was dark outside.  I then took photos of some shops that are a five-minute walk from that creek, such as a photo of the outside of Tiffany’s (see below).

I took several photos of Tiffany’s windows.  Shooting through glass doesn’t always produce the best images (see below).  I might have shot the “red” window with a high contrast, but I’m afraid I don’t remember.

I also took several photos outside of an expensive women’s clothing store, Saks Jandel (see below).

For the photos of Tiffany’s windows and Saks Jandel, I used the “landscape” mode that is also designed for shooting through glass.

I’ll be taking many more photos during the weeks to come as well as testing the video recording capabilities.  I expect to take lots of photos and some videos during the CTIA’s Wireless 2008 conference in Las Vegas at the beginning of April.

U.K.'s News International explores QR codes to capture younger readers

The British news organization, News International, that’s owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., is exploring opportunities for adding QR (barcode-like) codes (see left) to its newspaper articles, perhaps within 18 months to 24 months, according to Marketing Week. 

The organization wants to capture more younger readers, and the immediate use will be for incorporation into advertisements. 

The QR code includes, for example, a URL. The code is photographed with a camera phone and transmitted to a server that returns information to the phone. 

The Sun pull-out section

This could include additional details about products, discount coupons, times for movies, ticket prices, etc.  In December 2007, The Sun included an eight-page pull-out section that included QR codes in advertisements from such companies as the betting firm Ladbrokes, Fox, Ford and British Airways.

“Ladbrokes, for example, used the code to give mobile users access to its Free Bet promotion,” the article says.  MocoNews.net discussed the December effort.

The Sun will include another pull-out section next month, Marketing Week reports.

International adoption levels

QR codes are a very big deal in Japan, where they are rather commonplace.  They also are generating some interest in Europe. 

In the United States, though, the use of QR codes or any similar barcode-type graphics that are photographed by camera phones, are virtually non-existent.  Several companies, such as Scanbuy and NeoMedia Technologies, have been actively promoting these efforts in the U.S., but it’s still very early days in the adoption cycles. 

There’s some good news, technologically, for camera phones’ ability to capture images that can be read by software.  The resolution of cellular phone cameras is increasing.  Even more importantly, phones are increasingly offering close-up capabilities that are necessary to capture a readable image.

Vodafone tests "Otello" search based on MMS images from German newspaper

From “Pocket-lint” I see that Vodafone in conjunction with a German newspaper is testing a new search service based on scanning images (see below).

A user transmits a camera phone photo and the search engine, Otello, searches for information based on the image.  “Pocket-lint” says the tests are being conducted with a German newspaper that provides additional information about articles that are photographed.

“Pocket-lint” says there’s no news about when or if the test will become a commercial service.  I can certainly see the value of this type of service, although it’s not easy for software to recognize a wide variety of images shot with cameras of varying degrees of resolution, image quality and close-up capabilities.

Other companies are exploring scanning/search capabilities for camera phone photos.  Mobot has formed partnerships with publications to provide information, such as coupons and discounts, based on images transmitted from phones.