Altek's Leo in the wild: point and shoot, Android phone, or both?
By Chris Ziegler 
posted June 16th 2010 4:42PM
posted June 16th 2010 4:42PM
Altek Launches "Leo", the World's Newest, Smartest
14 Megapixels, 3.5G Professional Camera Phone at CMMA 2010
Powerful Optical Zoom Lens Takes the Camera Phone to the Next Level
Altek Corporation, a global leader in the design and manufacture of digital cameras (TWSE: 3059) announced today at CommunicAsia (CMMA) 2010 Singapore the launch of Leo, the world's first 3.5G professional camera smart phone. Operated via its generous touch screen panel, Leo delivers 3.5G (HSDPA) functionality and features a 3x optical zoom and 14 megapixels CCD, delivering a true 3-in-1 product that integrates full digital camera, digital video and mobile phone functionalities. Leo's introduction at CMMA electrified the exhibition floor and made it the biggest mobile phone event of CMMA 2010.
Alex Hsia, president and CEO of Altek, notes that, "picture taking has already risen to become one of the most important mobile phone functions for consumers. Phones able to capture high definition, high quality images and video are a win-win for users as well as telecommunication service providers, as the latter can anticipate rising bandwidth usage rates when users share images remotely."
"The Leo mobile phone," Alex continued, "is the product of our accumulated advances and breakthroughs in imaging technology as well as Altek's continued refinement and improvement of optical technologies. Stylishly designed, Leo plugs users into a wireless world of excitement and fun. Its high-end digital camera and video functions means Leo users need never again let a special moment pass by unrecorded. Leo's high definition digital images (14MP) and video (720p HD) can be uploaded instantly to the Internet via onboard Wi-Fi and 3.5G connectivity for sharing with friends and family."
Brilliant High-Definition Camera in an Elegantly Streamlined Mobile Phone
Leo's clean, streamlined look and brushed metallic exterior exudes a highly refined fashion sense. Its front face displays a highly polished varnish, and the entire presentation whispers style, quality and precision craftsmanship. The 3.2" TFT, with 480x800 (WVGA) resolution and 16.7 million colors, ensure brilliant, high definition onscreen images that remain true and clear from most any angle. From whatever position you need to take your shot, and no matter how many people gather around the screen to enjoy pictures, onscreen images remain crisp and visible across a wide viewing range. The multi-layer coating over the TFT screen helps reduce screen luminosity in bright light environments to improve viewing quality.
With its high-speed processor and powerful, simple-to-use Android user interface, Leo is easy and intuitive to use. The glass-panel touch screen offers a smooth feel with multi-touch functionality. Scroll through web pages or pictures with the flick of a finger, and use your thumb and index finger to expand or reduce onscreen images. Leo delivers the full excitement and satisfaction of full touch-screen controllability.
Share Life's Best Moments, with Wireless Connectivity Anytime, Anywhere
Staying in touch with the world via mobile phones and the Internet is a ubiquitous feature of our current age. A diverse and growing array of communication options, including the telephone, text messaging, e-mails, blogs and social networking websites such as Facebook, are available. Leo integrates these communication channels to help users better manage and maximize their personal networks.
Leo supports the high-speed HSPA (HSDPA 7.2Mbps & HSUPA 5.76Mbps) protocol for data up/downloading. Browse the Internet, update social networking information, check up on friends and share high quality pictures and video anytime, anywhere.
Leo also supports the latest Wi-Fi 802.11n wireless Internet protocol, letting users go online and access a full spectrum of Internet-based multimedia entertainment, whether outdoors, at home or in the office.
Capture Just the Right Moment with Altek's Advanced Optics Technology
Altek's official spokesperson expressed that, "Most of life's most memorable moments happen unexpectedly. Light weight and exceptional handling make it easy for users to take Leo wherever they go and capture, recall and share every special moment. The exceptionally high resolution and clarity of Leo images can help enhance those moments even further and infuse more fun and convenience into life."
Leo features Altek's latest self-designed image processor, the Sunny 9. This state-of-the-art processor further reduces image noise, supports high-precision lens focusing, adjusts exposure and optimizes white balance automatically to achieve optimal exposure and capture truer colors. Leo is also packed with many 'smart' photo functions that make photography even easier and more enjoyable.
Understanding that consumers want a camera phone ready to take pictures or capture video at a moment's notice, Altek designed Leo with quick-response camera power and shutter release buttons. Turn the camera on and Leo goes immediately into camera mode, ready to take digital pictures or video. Users no longer face losing special moments while scrolling through a mobile phone menu trying to activate the camera function.
Leo's high quality 3x optical zoom lens greatly expands users' photographic possibilities. Whether shooting close up or at a distance, images remain sharp and vivid. The onboard xenon flash and AF assist lamp help capture in-focus, vibrant images under low light conditions. Leo's 14 million effective pixels are the icing on the cake, helping ensure exceptional resolution even when viewed in large formats.
In addition to taking brilliant photographs, Leo takes high resolution video in 720p (1280 x 720) and 30FPS formats. The video function uses H.264 compression to retain the highest quality images for playback.
Leo incorporates the latest advances in blink and smile detection functionality as well as integrates a large suite of innovative and creative photo editing functions - including popular "fish eye" and "skin enhancement" options. Edit photos "on the fly" either to add interest or adjust pictures to perfection. Use the editing options appropriate to each occasion to create masterpiece after masterpiece and get more fun out of your pictures.
"Leo's distinctive aesthetics," Altek's spokesperson continued, "integrate powerful digital camera and mobile phone functionalities into one easy-to-use product that delivers functionality and fun in a highly innovative design. We have every confidence that Leo will give users an experience that is smart, savvy and entertaining. The new Leo clearly reflects Altek's product development goals and strategy, embodied in the slogan, "To Bring Good Memories for Everyone."
yummy
@ZuTrA I know, man. The competition is getting intense.
Engadget, get your paws on this and do a smartphone camera comparison! EVO 4G, N8, Droid X, and Leo. That'd be cool.
@ZuTrA
giggity
@ZuTrA
This is what I call spy gear... i bet that with the lens retracted this would be a normal phone. and yes, 14mp giggidy.
@N900 I doubt that would make an interesting review.. it would be a matter of which one sucks the least.
@N900
I actually would like to see this
now that would make a sweet phone
We need Android in DSLR
@techlord it would never work, but it would be so awesome people would buy it out of respect and fear
@jjrp123
what about a dslr with 3g on it so u can uploads pics immediately?
that would be sick
@DLeb You can already get cards which allow you to do this, and since there are some cams with wifi built in I doubt it will be long until someone decides to start to nickel and dime us on photo uploads too!
Grrr, too many phones coming out this summer! Can't wait til July when I finally replace my aging G1. But with what?
@s73v3r
Pick the best at that time and don't read any tech news for another 18 months. Phones seem to be progressing quicker than Moore's Law at the moment.
@s73v3r
I looking into getting a new phone in July, too. But, hell, I just can't decide... Every day a new beauty.
@blindguymcsqueezy
that's exactly what i'm doing. i'm due for a replacement at the end of july. after that, i can't read engadget for at least 2 months or i'll get buyer's remorse
come on HTC and moto, you can do this too
@tindola HTC can do it. Not too sure about Moto. But Nokia would definitely do this hopefully by mid-2011. Apple.................well, its gonna take 4-5 years..............and people would still drool over it as if they've never seen such a camera in a cell phone before!
So Nokia and HTC are the biggies here.
@statickeith
THAT IS SOOO TRUE!!
@statickeith
I would place my bet on Sony Ericsson. They started the entire cameraphone madness with the k750i, why can't they do it again? And Sony already makes some awesome cameras.
@tindola
Nokia has done this, the old n93 had optical zoom, besides Engadget, whats so amazing about the $500 ish price of this phone, Nokia is going to sell the n8 at a more lower price, with better optics and built quality.
@statickeith
I would also bet on samsung doing something like this
@tindola I have (sitting in my room) a Sony Ericsson S710a and it was a swivel phone. So advanced for its time! It had a huge for the time (2.2in) screen on one side, and a legitimate camera (1.3 mp CCD lens carl zeis optics, digital zoom) on the other. most people would think that it was an amazing camera and then all of a sudden, it was ringing! I still have pics from that thing and they look great to this day (not 8x10s, but 4x6 fine). honestly, you don't really need more than 4mp for making legit 4x6 photos. like the article states, you need superior optics
man I miss using that phone, it did everything, has a bright 252k screen and was always peppy. I remember how that 128mb mem stick pro was so big. and the 64mb of internal storage was ridiculous lol. oh! and it was one of cingular's first EDGE phones! and you could get this or the RAZR for 500 bucks on two year contract. Damn time flies.
oh technology. I actually preferred phones having a distinct upper echelon, kind of kept the pecking order working well when there were 400 dollar phones available in US. now anything that is 200 bucks gets the immediate boot.
but yea case in point, sony E will probably do this next.
Any word on the processor? The rest of the specs seem to be quite impressive.
@Prevacator I'm not sure, but I bet it'll be a Snapdragon at 1Ghz.
@N900 the len will be the most important part here.
This has been on display at Communic Asia in Singapore since Tues
Accelerometer?
Didn't Samsung have an 8MP camera phone like 3 years ago? I remember holding one in a mall in New York (they had this whole Samsung booth). The Samsung rep. told me it was only sold in Korea though.... Lucky bastards.
Sony is actually the company most likely to follow suit. HTC doesn't seem to care much about optics.
this is great if your taking pictures for billboards
@infamous1
an 11x14" billboard maybe.
(14 megapixels will get you roughly an 11x14 print @ 300dpi)
I disagree with the assertion that it's not about the sensor, rather the optics. Both are important, and with current sensor quality you aren't going to see more than fair to good results no matter what optics are used. This has been a debate in the digital camera industry for years now, continually upping the megapixel count using the same tiny sensors equals poor quality noisy output. As with anything sensor tech quality and noise reduction algorithms improve over time but we aren't there yet!
@JimmyBoy Not really, a 1.3mp sensor with GOOD optics is still better then any camera phone today, I know this for certain since I have a Canon Powershoot A50. It is ancient, only 1.3mp and can outshoot anything I've seen from a phone.
@sys3175 That was my point. You see the sensors in these phones are tiny tiny in physical size..much smaller than the ones in even digital cameras. The smaller the physical size of the sensor the more noise it generates. It also cannot gather enough light as it is small physically. So put great optics on a tiny camera phone sensor and in fair to low light expect horrible quality. In great light sure they are acceptable to good but I'm saying until they improve sensor quality in these tiny sizes optics might matter more but you still have to consider both.
@JimmyBoy It has a 1/2.3" sensor. Which is horrible by DSLR standards, but average by point and shoot standards. And above average by cameraphone standards. Of course this thing won't beat a DSLR, but if it can compete with a point and shoot it's at least better than the competition. + it has a real flash, which is also nice to have.
@kadajawi
Eactly, the sensor in this thing isnt that small... the optics doesnt look great, but good at least... so if they get the firmware to perform, you should be able to expect the same picturequality of a decent compact camera (not high end, but on par with whats below high end)
Too bad, they didnt get that sensor Nokia is using, 12MP at 1/1.83, that would be better than this... and if someone would make an 1/1.83 8MP sensor, that could be even better on this. Since this has optical zoom, you dont need all those pixels... unless you get an sensor from Fujifilm, with their special pixel allignment, that would be awesome (then they should go for anything up to 16MP since you want to be able to print A4 sized pictures with 300dpi, and using the speacial features of that fujufilm sensor cuts the pixel acount in half).
Depending on the 3G bands, processor, and memory, this could make a hell of a phone. AWS version plz!
Nice but it has a crappy iPhone ui ripoff.
Imagine:
A Cannon Rebel:
DSLR
high megapixel, big sensor
Android, with scripts for picture taking (Sky would be the limit. Think 'CHDK')
digital touchscreen with analogue viewfinder (Though a customizable HUD would be nice for the viewfinder)
@Avaviel add:
All manual controls (dials, knobs buttons) of the xxD series, plus a proximity sensor to turn off the touchscreen when you're looking through the viewfinder.
Actually, my camera is one of the few thongs that I don't think needs a touchscreen.
Android would need the touch screen, but not the camera. Low power mode, where the touch is disabled to show a data screen, as the Canon DSLRs and other DSLRs do?
I predict that Altek's OEM strategy is not going to change with this device... They might sell this standalone, but could easily see the tech being picked up by HTC.
@beatupunit
I dont think HTC will pic it up, since HTC is a OEM company that has started to sell products under their own brand.
ALTEK might be inspired by HTC, and that perhaps is the reason for this product.
There really isnt any of the top companys, that would take on a OEM companys photo oriented products. Nokia has that Carl zeis, Samsung make their own digital cameras, so do LG and Sony (as in Sony Ericsson), Motorola work with kodak, RIM is not in this buisiness, ZTE, HTC, Huawei, iNQ all comes from a OEM background. Then there is Gigabyte, that base products on ETEN. Acer, also an OEM background.
Perhaps Garmin-Asus, I dont know where Garmin used to by their components, if that was from HTC, then perhaps they could do something with Altek... Garmin-Asus are not big when it comes to mobiles.
HP bought palm.
That only leaves some carriers, but then they would limit the product to a small market... some with special restrictions.
So going on it on their own might be the best way to go.
But are billboards really printed in 300dpi?
@lassegs Most billboards are shot with medium or large format camera. Those can be upwards of 50mp.
Not sure why we haven't seen anything this sooner.
My wife has the (apparently rare) Motorola Zine ZN5, which has a 5MP Kodak sensor plus xenon flash and takes excellent photos. The camera fires up as fast as a point and shoot from the same era (late 2008), has 802.11g, and runs J2ME apps (so Gmail, Google Maps, etc). I think we paid $99 for it.
I figured it would only be a matter of time before someone mated a legitimate imager and xenon flash with Android, I just didn't think it would take this long...
@squarecat
It has been there on other platforms... S60 have had good cameraphones for a while, since before that motorola youre talking about.. and other feature phone OSes even longer.
The problem with Android is probably the wait for good camera software... but Google, even with the latest android, still doesnt offer full featured camera applications...
So SE wrote their own camera application.
And now just a few moths later we get an more advanced cameraphone, and probably their own camera application..
And i Guess Motorola have done their own camera application for their upcoming xeon equipped phones.
I think you should blame google, with HTC in the frontline, you really should not expect good cameraphones. Google really should have turned to SE, and get their help with cameraphone application for andoroid. Motorola was confused at the time, and really not the ones to turn to, even if they are on track, now.
@JonHolstein You know, those very good points and they got me thinking that part of issue is probably people's expectations aren't very high for quality. As a photography enthusiast, I just tired of the megapixel hype on cameraphones when the image still looks like crap. But I guess teenagers, who seem to take the most mobile photos, probably like that there's no fine detail...
Is it too much to ask for Canon to make an ELPH (Android) phone?? =D
@squarecat
Well, that is not exactly fair, it does not look like crap, even though it does not look like DSLR photos.
Many professional photographs use compact digital cameras for various situations, just because they are handy. And a mobile that takes decent photos, is a better companion for a professional photographer than a mobile that takes crap pictures. A DSLR is not always around, not even for the most engaded professional photographers.
But, sure, if they would put an latest generation 8MP 1/1.2,3 sensor in there, they could produce better result.... but how many of them have you seen swimming around? Most of the 8Mp sensor are not latest generation, and really does not produce better result than latest generation of 14MP sensors. Blame the manufactors, but its still the truth.
Wow, today seems to be a great day for announcing totally useless products...this, HP's printers.