Items tagged with selfie
COVID-19 has really changed our way of lives, from the way we shop, to the way we work, and even with regards to the way that our children learn. It has also limited our ability to congregate with friends, and take part in the time-honored tradition of, you guessed it, group selfies. Apple could change that with a newly granted patent for what it calls “synthetic group selfies”. Given that many of us have been taking part in social distancing to help cut down on the spread of COVID-19, we obviously can’t be in close proximity to our friends and family for selfies. So, Apple’s solution would use software AI “magic” to captures images of people located in different...
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Typing is essential for many people for both their jobs and in their personal life. However, it is not always easy or convenient to type on a full keyboard. Samsung recently announced their “SelfieType” or virtual keyboard at CES 2020. The concept is one of five products from Samsung’s C-Lab Inside program. The SelfieType relies on a front-facing “selfie camera” and artificial intelligence to analyze a user’s finger movements. Users will angle their front-facing camera on their smartphone, tablet, or other device to toward their hands and will begin “typing” as if they were using a traditional QWERTY keyboard. The AI will then convert the movements...
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It's amazing how fast the industry is moving with regards to addressing selfie cameras and the increasing desire for minimal bezels on smartphones. The Essential Phone and iPhone X introduced us to notches in 2017, while we got slider mechanisms and punch-hole cutouts in 2018. This year, we've seen flip cameras from ASUS. Now, the rubber is really starting to hit the road with under-display selfie cameras, as witnessed by new technology demos from Chinese smartphone OEMs Oppo and Xiaomi. Oppo first showed off its new technology in a Weibo post that was first noticed by the folks at Engadget. The video was later posted to Twitter, and shows a prototype device with a full display...
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“Beautygate” is about to become a thing of the past. Apple promises to eliminate the notorious skin smoothing bug with iOS 12.1. The update will improve selfies on their latest crop of smartphones -- the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR. Many users noticed that their skin appeared to have been “smoothed” and warmed-up in their selfie shots when they used their front-facing camera. Some users enjoyed the effect while others were downright insulted. Apple was accused of trying to make their users look more appealing, even though it has claimed in the past that it does not use beautification filters. Apple looked into the issue about a month ago and discovered that a bug in its...
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Once considered a throwaway feature for smartphones that few people used, there’s been an increasing emphasis in recent years by manufacturers on front-facing or “selfie” cameras. We’ve seen smartphones with 5MP and even 8MP selfie cameras become the norm. But Sony, which has seen its smartphone business crumble around it, is looking to advance the field with a 16MP selfie camera on its brand new Xperia XA Ultra Android smartphone. Some flagship smartphones don’t even come with a 16MP rear camera, so it’s definitely attention grabbing to see such a camera grace the front of a smartphone. Sony says that the camera has a wide-angle 88-degree lens, excellent low-light shooting capabilities and an...
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Amazon may have started as a simple online bookstore, but now two decades later, it's the largest Internet-based retailer in the U.S. That type of growth and sustained relevancy can only be had by keenly following trends and, when appropriate, creating trends of its own. They don't always have to big ones, either—Amazon patent the simple act of one-click buying in 1999, and now it's seeking a patent for a selfie payment authentication system. Assuming the system would work, it would serve as a clever alternative to passwords, which Amazon points out "can be stolen or discovered by other persons who can impersonate the user for any of a variety of tasks." Amazon also argues in its patent application...
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The next time you see someone taking a selfie, it may not be because they're getting ready to post their mug on Facebook or Instagram; they might be authorizing an online transaction. Say what now? Believe it or not, MasterCard is going to pilot a new program that will seek approval for online purchases by scanning images of a user's face.Once you've filled your virtual cart with whatever items you're buying and get to checkout, MasterCard will require you to hold your phone up and snap a photo of your face. MasterCard's thought process is that taking a selfie is easier than remembering a secure password. It also doesn't hurt that this generation is into taking selfies whenever possible, hence...
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The U.S. Air Force (USAF) is giving new meaning to the term photobomb. We’ve talk about the much-loathed “selfie” quite a bit here on HotHardware. After all, we can’t get away from the term given that smartphone manufacturers have made it a point to cater to the market with higher-quality front-facing cameras complete with their own LED flashes. However, one Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant has found out the hard way that posting selfies on social media is a quick way to find ridicule — or in this case, an untimely death. The eager terrorist took a selfie while standing in front of an ISIS headquarters building and posted it to social media while at the same time bragging about...
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For whatever reason, smartphone makers have a tendency to neglect the front-facing camera in favor of a much superior rear-facing lens even though there exists an obsession with taking selfies. Heck, not even the threat of being mauled by a bear (literally) is enough to deter the selfie craze. However, there's one company that gets it, and that company is Oppo, which has gone and motorized the rotating camera on its new N3 handset. The company's previous N1 smartphone had a rotating camera as well -- turn the rear-lens around and take a selfie using a high quality camera -- but this time around it sports a motor for the swivel action. It rotates vertically up to 206 degrees when you swipe your...
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HTC scrapped plans to debut a smartwatch during its press event on Wednesday evening -- the company just isn't feeling the wearable category at the moment -- but don't worry, it didn't show up empty handed. On the contrary, HTC unveiled the RE (short for "remarkable"), a handheld camera it hopes will prove a GoPro killer, and the Desire Eye handset, a selfie focused smartphone that makes it incredibly easy to tap into your inner narcissist. Let's start with the RE. At first glance, you might think HTC released a fancy high-tech breath inhaler or a miniature periscope for the vertically challenged. Both are incorrect -- it's actually a cross between a GoPro and a Flip camera, or as HTC's CEO put...
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If you’re an AT&T customer who has been eyeballing the Nokia 830, you won’t have to wait much longer. AT&T confirmed that it will be carrying the “affordable flagship” phone, which is getting attention for having a stylish body and high-end features at what is expected to be a low price. Sadly, AT&T isn’t saying yet just what that price will be. It’s keeping mum about a release date, too, but given that Nokia expects the phone to be available this month, AT&T’s plans probably aren’t much different. Nokia Lumia 830 series Despite being an unusually thin and light Windows 8.1 smartphone, the Lumia 830 is loaded with hot hardware and...
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Like them or not, selfies seem to be a trend with staying power, and phone makers like Sony are beefing up smartphone front cameras in response. Microsoft is reportedly jumping on the bandwagon, too, with the Lumia 730 expected to have a 5MP front cam that will render your skin imperfections in way higher detail than old school front cams. Microsoft's IFA invite seems to be teasing the upcoming smartphones that are expected to have heavy-duty cameras. Image credit: WP Central With consumer tech show IFA around the corner, it makes sense that Microsoft would use the opportunity to reveal the Lumia 730 (and maybe the Lumia 830, which may sport a high-end camera as well), and it seems like that’s...
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Mobile phones reveal more about ourselves than perhaps we'd like to admit. Evidence of that can be found in the way we use our phones -- people have been known to walk into traffic and, in once incident, right off a pier and into the ocean while texting. But it's the selfie craze that lets the world know we're all a bunch of narcissists at heart. In an attempt to capitalize on that, Microsoft is planning to launch a selfie phone in the near future. According to The Verge, Microsoft devices CEO Stephen Elop recently showed off a couple of upcoming handsets during an internal company meeting. One of those was the selfie phone, previously known by its codename Superman, which sports a 5-megapixel...
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If you thought it was tough reading through a Shakespeare play back in high school, imagine if he was alive today and you had to explain the terms currently in use, such as "selfie" and "hashtag." The former might not be so difficult, though the latter could present a challenge. It's one that Merriam-Webster has taken on by adding the two terms, along with several others, to its 2014 Collegiate Dictionary. "These new additions to America's best-selling dictionary reflect the growing influence technology is having on human endeavor, especially social networking, once done mostly in person," Merriam-Webster explains. So, how do you define a hashtag? According to Merriam-Webster, it's a word or...
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It's said a picture is worth 1,000 words, and if that's the case, then what do selfies say? Perhaps quite a bit, actually. For the uninitiated, a "seflie" is the practice of taking your own picture, and these days it's typically done with a mobile device's front-facing camera. You've probably seen teens and adults alike make goofy faces at their cell phone -- they're probably using Snapchat or some equivalent. Selfies are certainly trending in the mobile world, and according to various experts in the field of health, it could be cause for concern. An article in the Guardian Liberty Voice tells the story of Danny Bowman, a man diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder. Bowman became suicidal at...
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Teenagers are doing it, and so are young adults. Heck, even some older folks are doing it, and none of them seem to mind having a public audience. They're doing it on trains, on buses, in restaurants, and everywhere else when the urge arises. Some of them do it in groups, others prefer a single partner, and a great many are doing it by themselves. We're talking about "selfies," of course -- get your mind out of the gutter -- which are self-snapshots, and if that's that your thing, you'll find plenty of apps willing to accommodate. You're probably aware of the some of the more popular ones already, such as SnapChat. But have you heard of Facetune or SnapDash? These are two examples of apps that...
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