Report: Samsung considered bringing back the 3D ToF sensor for the Galaxy S22, decided not to
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- Kaka
- tZ0
- 15 May 2023
Owen, 27 Mar 2023:'( I've been waiting so hecking long, "one ... moreLollll you aren't alone dude
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- Owen
- xDj
- 27 Mar 2023
Strobie, 23 Feb 2022There is a thing called photogrammetry which allows a serie... more:'( I've been waiting so hecking long, "one more year"
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- Strobie
- uNe
- 23 Feb 2022
YUKI93, 20 Apr 2021I myself can't really see the whole point of using 3D ... moreThere is a thing called photogrammetry which allows a series of images of an object or a space to be converted into a 3d mesh. The images can then gorm the backbon of the meshes texture, and the result is a true to scale digital representation of an object or space, which can be measured and manipulated as required.
In the pre-visualisation and events industry, as well as realestate and many other sectors, this is a HUGE deal. Standard photogrammetry sucks for actual accuracy, but having TOF massively improves it.
At the moment in my line of work, I have to spend entire days crawling around venues measuring hundreds-thousands of poi ts with a disto laser and tape measure, so that i can draw accurate cad plans, so that i can then draw the event im working on. Industrial servey equipment exist that are able to scan a space the size of a football field in a matter of seconds, but these cost on average more than $100,000 a pop to buy, and have very expensive perpetual fees for point cloud data processing.
With the advent of file formats like gltf, most major companies are actually making models of their products available for free so that designers ect can literally have the exact finishings and details they need and show their clients for approvals. Ika does this for example, and its possible for anyone to preview how their home os given space will look, if certain things will fit ect.
Having TOF in a consumer product for a tiny fraction of the price of even the most rudimentary commercial devices will in my case, reduce my pre drafting workload by 10 orders of magnitude. This means faster lead times, less expense to clients and 75% of the over all the time spend working on the actual job being the time it takes to set it up before I can actually work.
I get that you dont see use cases for this, but belive me when I say that MANY MANY people are desperate for this to happen.
I need a new phone now as my note 9 is dying. I skiped the 10 as I got the 9 just before the 10 came out. My choices currently are to go with an apple device which I will ONLY use for lidar, or buy a second hand s10 or note 10, or continue to waste hundreds of hours on a job that can be done in 10 hours if I had access to lidar.
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- User
- 4XP
- 28 Jul 2021
LiDAR scanners included in iPads/iPhones made Apple the only devices capable of delivering low-cost high-quality 3D scans, and the ecosystem around it just exploded. Additionally, LiDAR/ToF improve AR by a huge margine.
By not including a compatible ToF sensor, Samsung effectively eliminated itself from any environment that may use scanning or AR. Congrats!
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- Legend vns
- Dkd
- 30 Jun 2021
roy, 30 May 2021samsung had used 3d sensors before apple do. can you rememb... moreApple is not as great as samsung
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- roy
- v{u
- 30 May 2021
Ivo., 20 Apr 2021The moral of the story is to never copy the bad Apple choices!samsung had used 3d sensors before apple do. can you remember s10 5G has dual 3d sensors. apple copied that in 2020 iPhone 12 pro. apple is stupid. I'm a iPhone user but I hating apple now
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- Anonymous
- Gxk
- 05 May 2021
It's too bad, the TOF sensor was exceptionally useful for photogrammetry
- YUKI93
- KZK
- 20 Apr 2021
I myself can't really see the whole point of using 3D ToF other than for Portrait photography. Maybe there is some good use for 3D ToF with AR, but AR itself is not that popular.
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- AnonD-989117
- xCD
- 20 Apr 2021
beep bop boop, 19 Apr 2021whats a 3D ToF? is that like a LiDAR scanner?its similar to that but more complex, lets just say its a biometric sensor capable of amazing boken portraits background blur aswell as focus assist since, theres already like a biometric sensor on the s21 ultra the laser auto focus theres no need for a 2nd biometric sensor
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- TC
- HsG
- 20 Apr 2021
There is a whole world of real productive applications possible with the time of flight sensor , also that were in the making.
Samsung in the first place had made it difficult to use by programming the earlier time of flight camera it had in its phone and was the main reason of not having many use cases.
With no TOF this will simply shift those applications to Sony and to Apple.
I have been buying Samsung all through but will now shift to Apple as this is poor vision and execution.
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- AnonD-909757
- pZV
- 19 Apr 2021
Anonymous, 19 Apr 2021LOL, the Laser that has single point is better than ToF tha... moreYou completely missed the point of what I said.
With the current use of depth sensors, 3D ToF is useless, by the way laser-range finder is a ToF too.
There are a LOT of uses for a high resolution ToF, the issue is that they won't be implemented until there is one made.
Low resolution ToF and LiDARs in general are good for industrial uses, scanning, and 3D spatial location and navigation, but when it comes to art (photography) they are not adapted AT ALL, but the industrial type are the only one available, it doesn't mean they are the best for that use.
Also, technically it doesn't have 10k or 30k lasers, it is often a single laser or a laser array passing through a diffraction grating.
The thing is, the tech projecting many rays isn't adapted for what smartphones do and should do, the Flash ToF/LiDAR is a much more adapted tech one, as it basically emit a single bright flash, which is often from a laser whose beam has been widened, or an LED (though the Laser has many advantages), and collect, per pixels, the time delay or phase shift, which give much better performances than identifying each dot, as now you have an array of data containing a timing for each pixel, and your depth map resolution is limited by your sensor resolution and not by the number of dots.
Well technically it isn't called "Flash LiDAR" as basically all non-scanning LiDAR are Flash LiDARs.
https://www.mistywest.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/LidarComparisonTable_2019-1.png
But the naming is so messed up in this field that it would do.
Edit:
It isn't "Single Photon" by itself as other techs can achieve that result, but this is one of those I am talking about :
https://phys.org/news/2016-07-3d-images-photon-pixel-video.html
Here the sensor have a low resolution as it is an experiment, but it can be upscaled significantly.
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- Anonymous
- 0@e
- 19 Apr 2021
This is pointless to improve the cameras because the app developers can’t optimize phone’s cameras to their apps.
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- STE FAR 05
- pLs
- 19 Apr 2021
wongwatt, 19 Apr 2021Huawei no longer have Google, I use a Huawei phone, but to ... moreTo break your comment down:
Huawei has or is currently in the middle of defeating Google's services. Their only worry is the processor.
Samsung in the camera department has a competitor in Sony so there will always be competition. And just because they don't use their own technology, doesn't mean they're not innovating and featuring in other phones, take GN2 and their mentioned latest ToF sensor.
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- Anonymous
- yuN
- 19 Apr 2021
Love the tof on my note 10+.
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- TheLastOracle
- U{8
- 19 Apr 2021
Am curiois why nobody is using the ToF sensor on the Nokia 9 Pureview. That apparently had the best ToF sensor on any smartphone.
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- Anonymous
- y6V
- 19 Apr 2021
beep bop boop, 19 Apr 2021oh so now i am not allowed to ask questions?yes
since tech "enthusiasts" and tech "experts" are geeks and the "smartest" people.
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- beep bop boop
- GYi
- 19 Apr 2021
Anonymous, 19 Apr 2021oh boy i thought you were a tech expert commenting on every... moreoh so now i am not allowed to ask questions?
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- Anonymous
- y6V
- 19 Apr 2021
beep bop boop, 19 Apr 2021whats a 3D ToF? is that like a LiDAR scanner?oh boy i thought you were a tech expert commenting on every single gsmarena news article, review and even small stuff.