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Oppo's clever, zooming dual camera was inspired by periscopes
The dual-camera craze is real at Mobile World Congress, but Oppo decided to break from the pack with its own, very clever implementation. Long story short: the company managed to build a 5x "lossless" zoom system for smartphones using two sensors and a zoom mechanism inspired by periscopes. The latter part is nothing new, of course: 'tis a feature which was once common on compact digital cameras, and ASUS even applied this to its ZenFone Zoom last year. Oppo's implementation, however, takes things up a notch.
Huawei's first Honor phone for the US goes on sale January 31st
Huawei's Honor brand teased that it would land in the US this year, and it's making good on its word: the company will officially begin selling the Honor 5X on American shores tomorrow, January 31st. It's a pretty solid deal, at first blush. For $200 off-contract, you'll getting an aluminum-clad GSM phone with a fingerprint reader, a 5.5-inch 1080p display and mid-range specs that include a Snapdragon 616 chip, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel selfie shooter. You even get nano-SIM and micro-SIM slots that both support 4G data (though not at the same time), so you shouldn't have to fuss with SIM adapters or replacements to give this a whirl.
Google drops Nexus 5X and 6P prices by $50 for the holidays
Google announced on Wednesday that it has reduced the price for its flagship Nexus 6P and 5X handsets by $50. That means you can pick up a 6P or a 5X for as little as $450 and $330, respectively (and depending on how much onboard memory you spring for). What's more, the company is offering free overnight shipping throughout the holiday season. The discount promotion runs through December 22nd while free shipping lasts until December 30th. These deals are only available to customers in the US and Japan, mind you. So if you're in the market for one of these phones and don't want to go through your carrier to get it, now is the time to act.
Nexus 5X review: Google's triumphant return to smaller, cheaper phones
While the Nexus 6 received plenty of praise when it debuted last year, it also got its fair share of flack. Why? Because it was just too big. For many, the Nexus 6 was the size of a tiny giant, with its 5.96-inch display and 10.1mm-thick profile that dwarfed smaller hands. Additionally, it started at $649, whereas the previous-gen Nexus 5 cost just $349. Not wanting to disappoint its customers, Google decided to release two handsets instead of one this year: the pricier 5.7-inch Nexus 6P (made by Huawei and starting at $499 for 32GB) for those who do indeed want a larger phone, and the cheaper 5.2-inch 5X (made by LG and starting at $379 for 16GB) for those who wanted a sequel to the original 5. While it may certainly be the smaller and lower-end device of the pair, I found the 5X to be far better than I anticipated, delivering plenty of value for the money.
Android Marshmallow begins rolling out to Nexus devices today
As expected, Nexus owners are in for a treat this week as Google's latest OS revisions begins rolling out to select devices. According to a post on the Official Android Blog, the Nexus 5, 6, 7 (the 2013 model), 9 and Player are all in line to receive the over-the-air software update starting today. The newly released Nexus 5x and 6P handsets, of course, come with Marshmallow already installed. [Image Credit: Shutterstock]
The After Math: Google Nexus 2015 press event
Google held a press conference in San Francisco this morning to announce a slew of new and updated devices. We saw two powerful new mobile phones, the Nexus 5x and 6P, as well as a new iteration of the Chromecast (and its new audio-only cousin). Google also unveiled its take on the Microsoft Surface with its Pixel C convertablet. Here's how all these new products stack up, by the numbers. Get all the news from today's Google event right here.
Ricoh unveils waterproof, dirt-resistant PX camera for outdoorsy photographers
Just a few months after releasing its outdoorsy, G700 point and shoot, Ricoh has taken the wraps off yet another rugged digital camera -- the waterproof, shockproof and dust-resistant PX. This small warrior packs a 16-megapixel CCD sensor along with a 5x optical wide zoom lens and is capable of booting up in just 1.4 seconds. The device also supports subject-tracking and face-priority auto-focus features, in addition to a host of shooting modes, including toy camera, soft-focus and high-contrast black and white, among others. Most alluring, however, is its resilience. According to Ricoh, the PX can survive drops from an altitude of up to five feet, remains waterproof at depths of about ten feet, and is impermeable to dust, sand and dirt. There's also a 2.7-inch, scratch-resistant LCD on its backside, meaning you won't have to worry about casually tossing it in your backpack as you make your way along the trail. More flamboyant hikers, meanwhile, can add their own personal touch to the PX by wrapping it in a protective silicon sleeve, available in five, vibrant colors. If you're interested, you can grab a PX of your own when it hits stores later this month, for $300 AUD (about $317). You can check out some sample images from Digital Photography Review by hitting the link below, or flip through some pics of the PX in the gallery below. There's also a full PR waiting for you, after the break. %Gallery-125925%
FujiFilm's FinePix F200EXR, and its pricetag, get reviewed
While some early shots showed a lot of promise, a full review was necessary to ensure that FujiFilm's latest compact camera would be the performer we were hoping for -- and that it would live up to its $400 price. According to Photography Blog this 12 megapixel shooter doesn't disappoint, scoring very high marks for image quality and features. Its EXR mode, which can toggle between favoring resolution, dynamic range, or low noise, works more or less as advertised, bringing far more depth to shadows than your usual pocket cam can manage. Pictures were clear through ISO 800, but anything above that (up to its ludicrous ISO 12800 mode) were too noisy to be usable. Overall the cam was found to be a "veritable breath of fresh air" and a solid choice for a serious photographers who like air and don't want to lug their SLR everywhere.
FujiFilm's Z200FD with "love timer" tells you when it's over
FujiFilm just busted out another of "Z" for Zoom, FinePix shooter. The 20-mm thin Z200fd follows-up the "surprisingly good" Z100fd with a 10 megapixel, 1/2.3-inch CCD sensor; 5x, image stabilized, optical zoom lens; 2.7-inch LCD; SD/SDHC and xD card support; and ISO support up to 1600. It also features a new "love timer" with setting for near (1 heart), close-up (2 hearts), and sloppy-tongue-wrestling (3 hearts) depending upon the level of icky-sticky sweetness (or hipster annoyance judging by that pic) you'd like to capture. Set for release in Japan on June 7th for ¥40,000 or about $388 by the time it shows up Stateside to document your breakup.%Gallery-23463%[Via Impress]
Pioneer's BDC-202 "combo" 5x Blu-ray drive
At Pioneer's CES press conference it announced both its new plasma display technology and a new half height Blu-ray drive for PCs. Titled the BDC-202 combination Blu-ray disc drive it unfortunately isn't quite the "combo" drive we might have expected. No HD DVD compatibility is in store from Pioneer but this drive is still special, able to read BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE discs at 5x, dual layer recordable Blu-ray discs at 2x while also service as a DVD/CD read/write drive. As long as Blu-ray is your format of choice this is the type of drive that is most likely to end up in the PC of someone who wants to watch Blu-ray movies on their PC, but doesn't need to be able to author them or back up large files. Also, by forgoing Blu-ray burning capability it should (hopefully) be significantly cheaper than current Blu-ray burners (pictured) on the market. No price yet, but the drive should be available in the second quarter of this year.
