Vivo and ZEISS have today, officially announced their strategic global imaging partnership. The smartphone maker had hinted of the partnership a few days back and the news was well-received. The new partnership is expected to showcase its first product on December 29 when the Vivo X60 series is expected to go official with the technology in play.

According to a statement released by Vivo on its website, the pair will team up to establish a joint R&D program which would be known as Vivo ZEISS Imaging Lab. The program will be focused on developing innovative solutions for mobile imaging technology. Also, the program will oversee the joint development and co-engineering of optical components that would feature on Vivo flagships.

The ZEISS partnership is similar to the now-defunct partnership Nokia previously had with the German imaging giant. Already, Vivo has several imaging R&D centers around the world with a staff strength of over 700. This time around, Vivo will have access to ZEISS’s decades of experience in developing optics and optoelectronics.

Vivo also announced that the partnership also commences the Vivo ZEISS Master Photography campaign to promote newly developed imaging systems and to “inspire users to enjoy their creativity with Vivo’s flagship smartphones”.

The Vivo X60 which is the first product of the partnership will be unveiled in no distant time. The product will come with a ZEISS Vario-Tessar lenses featuring the T* anti-reflective coating according to a recent leak. The flagship smartphone is also expected to use ZEISS’ 3D PoP algorithms for bokeh rendering. The camera technology co-developed with ZEISS will be included in future Vivo high-end phones.

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Vivo has just announced that it is partnering with known optoelectronics brand Carl Zeiss. The collaboration would have the smartphone maker include the latter’s renowned lens technology for its smartphones’ cameras.

Earlier today (14th December 2020), the Chinese tech giant shared the news through its official Weibo account, a Chinese microblogging website. In the post, the company shared a small message revealing the newly formed partnership and even shared a slight teaser image poster, which showcased a Vivo device with the Zeiss branding underneath the camera lens module. For those unaware, Zeiss is a known brand in the optoelectronics and lens industry.

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Vivo’s partnership with Zeiss could potentially be huge for the smartphone maker. Partnerships with lens brands have been successful in the past, with Huawei and Leica being a prime example of this. Similarly, Nokia had also partnered with Zeiss in the past. While the company didn’t make waves in the industry, its camera performance was commendable. So, we can expect a similar outcome with lens makers partnership with Vivo.

The smartphone brand is clearly pushing for taller heights with this, especially in its home market, China. This arrives as the top brand in the region, Huawei, is struggling due to the impacts of US sanctions. Thus, its rivals are eyeing at its market share and are making aggressive moves to expand their footholds. Although, the benefits of the partnership with Zeiss isn’t just limited to its home country and could even help grow its presence in foreign markets as well.

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Smartphone cameras have come a long way, ever since the first camera phone, the Kyocera VP-210 visual phone was announced back in 1999. Manufacturers are looking for new ways to differentiate their smartphones and cameras are often one of these features that makes a phone stand out. In the pursuit of differentiating a smartphone, manufacturers have started adding huge sensors on their phones and 48MP sensors have become the norm for a lot of flagships and mid-rangers. But now, smartphones with even 64MP sensors are coming our way in the next few months. So it begs the question: Are such large sensors necessary and useful?

According to Zeiss Group’s CEO & President Dr. Michael Kaschke, 40MP sensor is already more than enough for smartphones. While talking to the Indian Express, he explained that there are limits in terms of processing speeds, signal to noise ratio, and costs that put smartphone cameras already at its tipping point. According to his comments, anything over 40MP could be an overkill on smartphones given their limitations.

He further reveals that Zeiss Lens wants to focus more on products that cater to ‘professionals, semi-professionals, and artistic photographers’ rather than smartphones. However, he still wants to work with smartphone companies and currently has a partnership with HMD Global for its Nokia-branded devices. To recall, Zeiss and Nokia’s partnership dates back to the Nokia 95 days.

He adds that multiple sensor setup is the way to go for smartphones as it helps to enhance the photos as well as treat smartphones like a DSLR. However, he says for professional photography, consumers will look for professional cameras instead of smartphones.

What do you think? Will 64MP cameras be overkill for smartphones?

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(Source)

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After a couple of interesting mid-rangers, the Nokia brand, under the leadership of HMD Global, has finally unveiled the big guns for 2017 —  the Nokia 8. The company made the flagship smartphone official in London earlier today. The phone will be the first product as a result of the recent collaboration between HMD Global and Carl Zeiss.

The camera is the biggest selling point of the Nokia 8. The phone comes with dual 13MP cameras at the back along with a 13MP camera on the front as well. Before we head on to the details, note that both the back as well as the front cameras are capable of capturing videos in high-res 4K resolution at 30fps. The dual camera setup is pretty straightforward, a 13MP f/2.0 RGB color sensor paired with a dedicated 13MP monochrome sensor. Other features of the setup at the back include Laser Focus and dual tone LED flash.

In the software department, the Nokia 8 is no slouch, as it comes with a number of unique features. First, the phone has integrated live streaming options for Facebook and YouTube platforms. Another big feature is the new “Bothie”. You might have already guessed where Nokia is taking us with this naming — simultaneous recording from the front as well as the back cameras, shown in a split screen display. And guess what, you can live stream in the bothie mode as well, to impress your social media fans.

The Nokia 8 is made out of 6000 series aluminum body and comes in multiple finishes including matte and steel. There are four colors available — Polished Copper, Polished Blue, Tempered Blue, and Steel. Coming down to the basic specs, the phone is powered by the mighty Snapdragon 835 chipset, which has become a standard among top-end smartphones. There’ll be just one memory variant at the moment, a 4GB + 64GB version. The display will be compact at 5.3-inches with 2560 x 1440 pixels. There’s a MicroSD card expansion slot (256GB) and you get a decent 3090mAh for battery. While the Nokia 8 isn’t waterproof, it’s IP54 certified, making it splash proof. Other features include a fingerprint sensor on the front, Android 7.1.1 Nougat (monthly security updates and Android O promised), USB Type-C 3.1, and a 3.5mm dedicated headphone jack. The software is said to be a lightweight version of Android Nougat.

HMD is also bringing some interesting technology from the present day Nokia company, into the Nokia 8 flagship. For example, the phone features high dynamic range microphones which utilize Nokia Ozo Audio algorithms to record surround sound. What’s even more interesting is that this virtual surround sound will be preserved even when you share it to your social media channels.

Nokia 8 will go on sale first in Europe and later in Latin American markets for a suggested retail price of €599, which comes close to $700. According to Gadgets360, the phone will come to India in early October. According to the CNBC, Nokia 8 won’t release in China or the US.

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The Nokia 8 is no doubt the next phone to come from HMD Global. Not a week has gone by without at least an article on it. With a rumored July release, we get to see the Nokia 8 in its full glory thanks to Evan Blass (@evleaks).

#teaser pic.twitter.com/zh5YJznaaY

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) July 17, 2017

Earlier today, he had first posted an image of the rear camera setup, confirming it will indeed have dual cameras and Carl Zeiss optics. That image was followed by another one that showed the Nokia 8 in full.

This is the Nokia 8 https://t.co/YUUbFOgbBX pic.twitter.com/xrHBRx4H8I

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) July 17, 2017

The Nokia 8 can be best described as a Nokia 6 with dual cameras. The design is too similar that we wonder if the design team was just lazy. This is a flagship device and it wouldn’t be too much to see it have thinner bezels or a more premium look.

The Nokia 8 doesn’t have a curved display neither does it have a glass back. This is aluminium and since the design is like that of the Nokia 6, we expect it to have the same strength. According to JerryRigEverything, the Nokia 6 might be the strongest phone of 2017. So here is hoping the Nokia 8 delivers on strength and durability.

The Nokia 6 is ridiculously cheap on Amazon right now: https://t.co/gQMnGrdHqU (This might be the strongest phone of 2017)

— JerryRigEverything (@ZacksJerryRig) July 1, 2017

The Nokia 8 in the leaked image is blue. The camera setup is covered by a single piece of glass. The dual sensors are lined up vertically which is nice as we are tired of seeing the iPhone 7 Plus’ design. The word “ZEISS” is written below the second sensor followed by what appears to be a laser focus module and then the LED flash below it.

At the top of the camera housing is a single microphone hole and below the housing is the Nokia logo. Move to the bottom and there is some text that let’s you know it is designed by HMD Global Oy and manufactured in China.

An interesting info you shouldn’t miss is the model number which is TA-1012 and not TA-1004. This is interesting as previous reports had said the Nokia 8 and not the Nokia 9′ model number is TA-1004.

Now the big question is if this is another variant of the Nokia 8, probably with a different memory configuration, or is this the original model number of the device? We will let you know when we confirm.

Up front, we have a physical home button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner. At the top, there is the front facing camera on the left and Nokia’s logo on the right. It is hard to ignore the really thick bezels on this phone.

The Nokia 8 will be powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It is expected to launch at the end of the month with a price tag of €598 (~$686/¥4652) in Europe.

(Source)

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Nokia is rumored to be working on alleged Nokia 7 and Nokia 8 smartphones that are driven by the soon-to-be-announced Snapdragon 660 chipset. A popular Nokia leakster from China has posted leaked images on Baidu that reveal the design of the rumored Nokia 7 and Nokia 8 phones.

The leaked sketch shows two Nokia devices. The one present on the left seems to feature dual rear camera module with “Zeiss’ text mentioned on it. It may be the Nokia 8 phone whereas the other one on the right may be its single camera variant that may arrive as Nokia 7.

Related: HMD to Release Nokia Phones in Second Half of Q2

The following image seems to show the front and rear of the same handset that is present on the right-side in the previous image. The rear design of these phones look different from Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6. However, the front side of the Nokia phone in above sketch bears resemblance to Nokia 6 with similar design for the Home button. The bezels do not appear to be very thin. Hence, it may not be a flagship phone.

Recently, AnTuTu scores of an unknown device running on Snapdragon 660 chipset benchmarks was spotted. The mysterious device was spotted with specs like 2K display, 6 GB of RAM, 64 GB internal storage, 12-megapixel dual rear camera and Android 7.1.1 Nougat. There is no confirmation whether the unknown device is the alleged Nokia 8 phone that is speculated to feature Carl Zeiss dual rear cameras.

As previous leaks of Nokia 7 and 8 have revealed, the former may feature a full HD screen whereas the latter may house a larger screen. The Nokia 8 may come out as the first Nokia phone with support for quad HD resolution.  Both phones are rumored to come with metallic chassis and similar specs.

(source)

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Rumor has it that Nokia has a dual-camera flagship in the pipeline with a release date set for June. You might be wondering what features HMD Global will be putting on this flagship device? Will it have PureView or Carl Zeiss optics? Sorry to burst your bubble, but it will feature neither of the two.

When Microsoft acquired the rights to release phones under the Nokia name, they also purchased Nokia’s PureView Imaging Technology. Now that HMD is the new licensee, it has no rights to use it.

You might also be wondering what happened with Nokia’s other camera partner, Carl Zeiss. It turns out that Nokia is also done with them. This info was confirmed via the official Nokia Mobile twitter account but there was no reason attached to the response. But they do say they have “invested in excellent imaging solutions”.

Apart from the phone sporting dual camera lenses, it will also feature an all-metal design and a Snapdragon 835 processor. The source says this dual-camera flagship is different from the other Snapdragon 835 flagship also scheduled to be released later this year.

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Other differences between both devices asides the number of cameras are the RAM (4GB/6GB), screen size, camera pixel count (23MP or more) and pricing. The pricing for both devices are expected to be over ¥4000 (~$580) with the larger variant even being priced at over ¥4500 (~$652).

(Source)

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It appears that Apple is joining the ranks of the few manufacturers interested in AR (Augmented Reality) and it is doing so with the help of German optical company, Carl Zeiss AG.

The information stems from a social media post by Robert Scoble, a tech evangelist. In his post, he said that Apple and Carl Zeiss are working together to produce an Augmented Reality Glasses. Currently the big names invested in AR are Google (Tango) and Microsoft (Hololens) and with Apple joining the competition now, things are going to get interesting.

While we do not want to go on arguing about which is better between AR and VR (virtual reality) as both of them have their uses, Apple CEO Tim Cook thinks AR is the future and has more potential than VR. In his words, the market for AR “is the larger of the two, probably by far”.

Last year, quite a number of manufacturers released VR Glasses. Just to mention a few: Xiaomi released the Xiaomi VR Play and the Xiaomi Mi VR Headset and Google launched its Daydream VR headset. But AR didn’t do badly either, while the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro Tango phone is the major AR device that launched last year, AR-based game Pokemon Go took the world by storm.

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This year, ASUS kicked off AR by launching the ASUS Zenfone AR smartphone and according to Mr. Scoble’s post, the Apple AR Glasses will also be released this year.

(Source)

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