News / Connect

The latest generation tablets and even phones are great for presenting your images. But if your workflow involves evaluating detail and critical focus on a mobile device the situation is less than ideal. This is because the standard image viewers, such as Apple's Photo app or Android's Gallery app, don't display the actual images but a version that has been reduced in size to maker better use of the devices' limited resources. Actual Pixels is a free app for iOS that allows you to view images on your iPhone or iPad at a 100% magnification. We've checked it out for you.

Dblcam is a new free iOS app that simultaneously captures images with the front- and rear cameras of your iPhone. The app by developers Social Print Studio then combines the two pictures to a collage. Self portrait/scenery combinations are the most obvious results to come out of this process but some users are using Dblcam in a more creative way. Read more about the app and check out some sample images at connect.dpreview.com

We have added DxOMark's Mobile Report to our camera review of the Nokia Lumia 920. The report includes DxO Lab's usual industrial-quality scientific measurements and analyzes 14 aspects of mobile imaging including detailed image quality assessment, flash performance, autofocus reliability and more to calculate a final score. Click through to read our Nokia Lumia 920 review and turn over to page 2 for the DxO Mark mobile report.

Users looking for their Picasa Web Albums are now redirected to Google+ Photos. This change comes on the heels of Google's announcement in December 2012 saying the company's social media channel 'Google+ is the new home for your photos.' Two updates to Picasa's desktop app also promoted Google+ integration, encouraging users to tag photos with Google+ contacts and Circles. Click through for more information and to find out how to still access your pictures on Picasa.

Last week Microsoft released the Windows Phone 8 version of its Photosynth 360 degree panorama app, making it compatible with latest generation smartphones such as the Nokia Lumia 920, HTC 8X or Samsung Ativ Odyssey. We installed the app on Samsung's first Windows Phone 8 device, the Ativ Odyssey, and had a closer look at what it can do. Click through for our hands-on article.

Last week North Korea started to allow foreigners to use a 3G mobile network from inside its borders. This means that tourists and visiting professionals alike can now tweet and upload instagrams from Pyongyang. However, access to mobile networks is still limited for locals. Two of the most notable Instagrammers in North Korea are Associated Press journalists Jean Lee and David Guttenfelder. Since the change, the journalists have used their accounts to present life inside North Korea. Click through to see their images.

The Instagram Socialmatic concept camera, first announced in May 2012, could become a reality by next year following some recent agreements between Socialmatic LLC and C & A Marketing. The two companies would work together to bring the device to market under the Polaroid brand name. Intended as the Instagram app icon come to life, the stand-alone digital Polaroid Socialmatic Camera would both share images on the popular photo-sharing social network and print them using a built-in system. Read more about the proposed specs on connect.dpeview.com.

Day four at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the team at connect.dpreview.com is still at the show, visiting manufacturer stands to find the newest in smartphone and tablet camera technology. We've added brief hands-on articles of the weatherproof Sony Xperia Z tablet and multi-screen YotaPhone. Click through for links to the latest content at connect.dpreview.com.

Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S4, its next flagship Android smartphone on March 14 at a press event in New York. The company took to its Twitter account this morning to tell followers to be ready '4' the next Galaxy. Read more at connect.dpreview.com

Video-sharing service Vimeo has partnered with video-editing company Vivoom, to add a filter effects tool called 'Looks'. More than 500 effects ranging from vintage to futuristic and can be applied during video upload. Each effect can be adjusted from 0-100% intensity. Looks will be free to Vimeo’s registered users for the next 90 days. Read more at connect.dpreview.com.

While most smartphone manufacturers have opted for a 13MP camera module, HTC is going the opposite way in terms of sensor resolution, equipping the HTC One with a 4MP camera. However, the photodiodes that collect the light on the HTC's sensor module are similar in size to those found in enthusiast compact cameras such as the Canon Powershot G15, and as such, and HTC promises this will result in much better low-light performance than conventional smartphone cameras. We take a closer look at what HTC is calling 'ultrapixel' technology at connect.dpreview.com

Adobe has announced a smartphone version of its Photoshop Touch app for both Android and iOS. The app was originally launched for 10-inch tablets and more recently a version for smaller tablets such as the iPad Mini and Google Nexus 7. It includes features familiar to Photoshop users such as layers, advanced selections tools, adjustments and filters, but in a much smaller format. Photoshop Touch for smartphones is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play for U.S. $4.99. Read more at connect.dpreview.com

Popular photo-sharing service Instagram has reached a milestone of 100 million monthly active users. The mobile app, among the most popular ways of sharing images worldwide, was launched in October 2010. The platform has seen exponential growth since then. Read more about its two-and-a-half-year journey, including the Facebook acquisition in 2012, controversial changes to its Terms of Service and more at connect.dpreview.com

It is day two at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and the team at connect.dpreview.com are there, covering the newest in smartphone and tablet camera technology. We've visited the stands of LG, Samsung, ZTE, Asus and Huawei to cover their latest products and as well as news and commentary we've published several brief hands-on articles with the latest new gear. Click through for links to the latest content at connect.dpreview.com.

We're at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, this week to cover the newest in smartphone and tablet technology. Manufacturers are making major headway to improve 'the camera that's always with you' and day one of the weeklong event offered plenty to impress us. We've got hands-on with the latest from LG and Huawei and more MWC news at connect.dpreview.com.

Luxi is a diffusion dome accessory that aims to turns your smartphone into an affordable incident light meter. The accessory is currently gaining traction via a Kickstarter campaign, is designed to work as an incident light meter by measuring the light for an entire scene, rather than just reflected light. Luxi is expected to retail for $24.95, and its developers claim the accessory will work with existing light meter apps. See the Luxi in action at connect.dpreview.com.

A project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has embedded advanced processing functions into an image processor for mobile devices. The chip includes features such as 'real-time' HDR processing and sophisticated bilateral noise reduction at a hardware level - making the process more energy efficient than running it as software, and making the chip more appropriate for battery-limited mobile devices. The work was funded by iPhone manufacturer Foxconn and a prototype chip, fabricated by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, is now being tested.

A new, smaller capacitor could make Xenon flashes practical for use in ultra-slim smartphones. Researchers from a university in Singapore have partnered up with Xenon Technologies to develop a tiny capacitor for Xenon flashes that it claims is just as powerful as existing, larger versions. This is potentially big news for the smartphone industry which has primarily used LED lights in preference to Xenon flashes up to now. Few smartphones have incorporated Xenon flashes because of their higher power demands and larger physical size. Learn more about the tiny new capacitor at connect.dpreview.com.

Google has announced the addition of a photo and video preview feature to its Drive cloud-storage service. Following the lead of competitor Dropbox, Google Drive now allow users to navigate photo and video files in a preview screen. Currently this feature is available only for its Android app users. The browser-based version of Google Drive will be updated in the next few days. Learn more about what file types are supported on connect.dpreview.com.

Google has announced that its 'Glass' interactive head-mounted camera is now available for beta testing. Users who want to get their hands on an early version of the augmented eyewear can apply on social media channels, Google+ or Twitter. The company released a video today to promote the technology, showing what the world looks like through its camera. Read more about the Google Glass and instructions to sign up for beta testing on connect.dpreview.com