Samsung announces two new ISOCELL sensors

30 October 2018
The new sensors are 48MP and 32MP with Tetracell technology.

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Jon.SWE, 30 Oct 2018Whaetever happened to the curved sensors from Sony? Includi... moreI have the same thoughts, on the hand sizes.
And yes curvature could give us some thickness back, allowing for larger sensor areas, and hence better images.

What we really need to get good one handed interaction with larger devices would require a fundamental change in the UI-guide-lines for the devices (Android, Ios,....). That is it would need a distinction between the DISPLAY-area and the INTERACTION-area. When in two handed mode it should be identical, but in one handed only what each user can comfortable reach while keeping a secure grip should be active for normal interactions..
It does not need to be 100% of the interaction, but that all normal/daily interactions should be reachable. I mean for interaction that requires a confirmation anyway like 'delete all'/'Reset'/'uninstall'/..... it could even be beneficial if was out of normal reach.

But it is CERTAINLY not an easy task to make new guidelines that leave at the least some kind of backwards compatibility, so I doubt it will happen. I think the solution will be truly foldable devices in the next couple of years (that is with a narrow curvature at the bends)

Samsung offers a simplified 'solution' that consist of a one handed mode, scaling everything down to half the area (roughly 70%x70%) from the corner you chose. And this is fine, as long as your eyes are good and/or you use a suitable large zoom factor/font in the first place.

    SpiritWolf, 30 Oct 2018Nokia 808 has 41MP 1/1.2" CMOS sensor and pixel size is 1.4... moreGoogle pixel 1 has 12 mp camera and native 1,55um pixel size with 1/2,3 inch sensor. From that fact if you get binned 12 mp image with 1,6um pixel size, probably that isocell has 1/2,2 inch sensor, a bit larger than sony imx400 1/2,3 inch sensor

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      • 30 Oct 2018

      SpiritWolf, 30 Oct 2018I have one and it's actually quite nice in hand. I would al... moreNot for me my man. I'm all about hardware and utilization of such but I don't take enough photo's to consider myself even an amature phtotographer.

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        • nFX
        • 30 Oct 2018

        Anonymous, 30 Oct 2018I wouldn't mind a thick phone for a great camera like the 8... moreYes, designers & engineers could create & fit better stronger everything if they had 1 to 2cm of depth to work with.
        But some people expect world class optics in a credit card form, not gonna happen.

          lyndino, 30 Oct 2018Finally got around to researching an 808... what an ugly pi... moreI have one and it's actually quite nice in hand. I would always prefer phone with character instead of those generic bricks what nowadays smartphones usually are.

          'How or why would anybody want to have one of these in their pocket?'

          https://www.dpreview.com/articles/8083837371/review-nokia-808-pureview

          That's why. No phone till today can snap photos with such detail and quality (sans lack of HDR, hence rather narrow dynamic range. But you can offset it with bracketing, for a degree). It's picture quality easily beats most of compact digicams and even some DSLR-s.

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            • lyndino
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            • 30 Oct 2018

            Anonymous, 30 Oct 2018I wouldn't mind a thick phone for a great camera like the 8... moreFinally got around to researching an 808... what an ugly piece phone.
            How or why would anybody want to have one of these in their pocket? looks like a monstrosity.

              Samsung is making the same sensor as the Sony IMX586. They should have made the 48MP one atleast 1/1.7" or larger. That way the dynamic range and low light could have been much better.

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                • Winston
                • JKR
                • 30 Oct 2018

                Anonymous, 30 Oct 2018Why? Cos not many people have a big ass pocket to put the D... moreYou're too lazy to carry a real camera, so you pay twice the money for far inferior photos? That sounds logical.

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                  • m5k
                  • 30 Oct 2018

                  Rfx, 30 Oct 2018Devices are currently uncomfortably thin. They can fix 2 is... moreI wouldn't mind a thick phone for a great camera like the 808 just as long as the rest of the phone is smaller making one handed use possible.

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                    • Anonymous
                    • w7n
                    • 30 Oct 2018

                    Winston, 30 Oct 2018Why would i bother with these tiny expensive sensors, when ... moreWhy? Cos not many people have a big ass pocket to put the DSLR camera in to walk around.

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                      • Leepu
                      • fCI
                      • 30 Oct 2018

                      Rfx, 30 Oct 2018Devices are currently uncomfortably thin. They can fix 2 is... moreJust buy some gaming phone as all the other phones are aimed towards women these days. Hence they are slim and like some piece of jewelry.

                        EskeRahn, 30 Oct 2018Reply to several: There are simple physical reasons for th... moreWhaetever happened to the curved sensors from Sony? Including the optics, the system was still supposedly thinner than with flat sensors.

                        I still think though, that to fit a 1" sensor the phone would have to be quite thick.

                        The thinness of modern smartphones makes it possible to make them wider, while still possible to hold in one hand (not use, but hold). There could be a little thickness to gain from curving the back, anatomically.

                        Of course they could make phones with smaller screens, so the thickness can go up, and people would be able to use the phone with one hand as well. And they could still curve the back.
                        But for some reason the Asian market is obsessed with large phones, even at the higher end, where the money spent on a phone would be enough to buy a good smaller phone and a tablet/laptop/two-in-one, so if it was all about having the largest possible screen for surfing the web, they could still achieve that for the same or less money.
                        And the Asian market is driving the market as a whole.
                        (I guess, it is possible that in general Asians do have smaller hands, but I have no idea if that is the case, but if they do have smaller hands, the size of the screen would have to be smaller for one hand use, and perhaps that size was mostly passed long ago, and once one go two hands, one might as well get the biggest possible screen one can handle... but I have no idea if that is the case).


                        Not that it is that relevant to this topic, but I had an idea on how BlackBerry or other maker could make a 1 hand operated phone that still has a pretty big screen.
                        By having a downward slideout keyboard, that work as a touchpad (like the KeyOne and KeyTwo) with on screen pointer (android supports that, as you probably know), but reducing the width, by making the slider part less than the full width of the phone (that would also leave a bit of extra thickness for things like the camera sensor, and other electronics in the part that doesn't slide out). That way if the slider isn't full width, it can be made at a width that is one hand compatible, while the screen is wider than that.
                        On the left side of the slide out part, they should have some function keys.;
                        One that activates the touchpad function, but I think it should somehow be touch sensitive or support holding it in, so that the touchpad function is only active when it is held (some way of clicking for activation also, so just holding the finger there would not change to touchpad mode). Clicking and rightclick could be done by clicking/holding down on any of the keys on the keyboard/touchpad (except for a few navigation keys).
                        But there would still have to be additional function keys for some functions that one can't do when controlling the device with just the thumb, as one can't do gestures with just a single finger.
                        Drag (left key held down, could be a key that doubles up as a click key as well).
                        Scroll.
                        Zoom.
                        Shortcut (for using the keyboard shortcuts for staring programs)
                        For quick operation, on the keyboard itself, it would be practical if there was a some quick navigation keys;
                        Home, taskswitcher (active programs), app drawer, notification, and back (possibly with forward if held), some of them could be multi functional, by having one function with a single click, and another by holding it down.
                        And there would have to be more symbol keys than on current BlackBerry keyboards, like period and comma, but also user definable (for national letters, or for a symbol one has to use a lot for specific tasks, if they could be program specific, even better).
                        And if the spacebar still comes with a fingerprint reader it should support using the thumb sideways, but I guess it would be possible to instead build it in to a key on the left side of the slide out.
                        The would have to do a lot to balance the phone and making the slide-out sturdy enough, so holding only that part wont be an issue.

                          I have purchase a lot of Korea products but none of them durable and solid quality. It can use but always found that the quality really piss me off!!

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                            • 30 Oct 2018

                            Mato, 30 Oct 2018Nope, that would be 6.4 * 4.8 mm, which is a 1/2" sensor. T... more6.4 * 4.8 mm is a 1/3" sensor, not 1/2". Square root from (6.4 on square plus 4.8 on square) is 8, which is roughly 1/3 of an inch.

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                              • tDP
                              • 30 Oct 2018

                              Sony with IMX and Samsung with ISOCELL but it's shame that's no one can deliver a good picture with their sensor. Yes you can make it but optimized it, is another story.

                                Mato, 30 Oct 2018Nope, that would be 6.4 * 4.8 mm, which is a 1/2" sensor. T... moreWell you mean
                                ....that would be 6.4 * 4.8 mm, which is SOLD AS a 1/2" sensor. ...
                                Since all brands for historical reasons cheat by a factor of roughly 150%, see reply below...

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                                  • lyndino
                                  • QHA
                                  • 30 Oct 2018

                                  I have no idea what you guys are talking about but if Samsung is releasing this at this point in time it must be a decent upgrade from whatever is current. And if the current Samsung is S9, Note 9 and people are claiming beautiful pictures I'm sure they will be that much better.

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                                    • Winston
                                    • JKR
                                    • 30 Oct 2018

                                    Why would i bother with these tiny expensive sensors, when i can buy a $400 digital SLR with far superior image quality?

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                                      • Rfx
                                      • JNQ
                                      • 30 Oct 2018

                                      Devices are currently uncomfortably thin. They can fix 2 issues in 1 go by producing larger sensors.
                                      Perhaps one day we'll return to Nokia 808 levels of imagery prowess

                                        shagrasniper, 30 Oct 2018Im not excited at all about this one. if the pixel size is... more1/2", try again, its the same size and resolution as new one from sony.