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Google’s new Mobile Vision API makes it easy for Android developers to tell if you’re smiling

Google has today completed its roll-out of Google Play services version 7.8, the package of app tools and APIs that Google manages and which make it stand out from those who use the open source version of Android to create their own mobile platforms. With version 7.8 comes some new technology that will make it easier for developers to recognize when you’re smiling into your Android device’s camera.


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Galaxy S6 Edge (unlocked) $580, HTC RE waterproof camera $100, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

Today’s can’t miss deals:

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Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge 64 GB (factory unlocked): $580 shipped (Reg. $1,000) | eBay

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Daily Deals: HTC RE 16 MP Waterproof Camera $100, CyberPower Standby Series UPS w/8 Outlets $35, more

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Xiaomi 16000mAh Portable External Battery: $18 shipped (Reg. $28) | eBay

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Up to 50% off Android on eBay: LG G Pad V410 $90, Samsung Note Pro P905 32GB $400, more

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Get 12 months of Adobe’s Photography Creative Cloud plan for $100 ($20 savings)

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Giveaway: Olio Model One Black Collection Connected Timepiece for iOS and Android ($795 value)

More new gear from today:

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Samsung 850 Pro 2.5-inch Internal Solid-State Drives: 256GB $115 shipped (Reg. $150+), 1TB $430 shipped (Reg. $465)

More deals still alive:

 

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D-Link DCS-5029L 720p HD Pan & Tilt Day/Night Wi-Fi Camera: $100 shipped (Reg. $150)

New products & more:

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WalkCar looks like a four-wheeled MacBook that you can ride

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Solenica’s solar-powered Lucy lamp shines light into the dark spaces in your home

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The coolest Apple-certified MFI Lightning cables you can buy for your iPhone, iPad and iPod

Panasonic CM1: Possibly the best camera ever put on an Android phone [Camera Samples]

Often when referring to your smartphone, it is said that “the best camera is the one you have with you”. In other words, the camera on your smartphone, in your pocket, is better than the DSLR you’ve got sat on a shelf at home. Despite the rise of quality lenses and sensors, using a smartphone still isn’t quite as good a ‘proper’ camera. There have always been compromises. At least, there have been until now.

Panasonic’s CM1 may be thicker than your average phone, but it’s easily pocketable, not too uncomfortable to hold and has an epic 20MP camera with 1-inch sensor, a 6-element Leica lens, manual controls and a maximum aperture of f/2.8. What does that mean for image quality?


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Sony Xperia teases a camera-related announcement for August 3rd

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Sony has taken to Twitter to tease some kind of camera announcement for August 3rd. Specifically, the company says that it will introduce “a new way to capture split-second photos.” And that’s basically all we know.

It’s possible that this will mean the announcement of some kind of new handset, packed with hardware capable of taking photos like the one you see above. Most recently, the company brought the Xperia Z4v to the United States.

It’s also very much possible that the company is simply going to announce some kind of new software feature. This would admittedly be a lot less exciting, but it makes sense considering the toying the company has been doing with software as of late.

Evidence of new ‘Smart Burst’ feature appears in latest Google Camera update

google play camera iconIn a teardown of the official Camera app’s most recent update, evidence has surfaced that Google is likely working on introducing a new “Smart Burst” mode. Taking “burst” photos isn’t a new concept, usually leaving the user with dozens of slightly-different images to sift through (and manually pick the ones that are worth keeping). As its name suggests, “Smart Burst” is probably a smarter version of burst photography, picking the best photos for you based on a variety of metrics.

Of the metrics that Google will reportedly be using to grade photos are the number of faces in the photo, streaking, facial expressions, whether eyes are open, and more.

While bringing a burst mode to the Camera app isn’t exactly groundbreaking (especially as this feature has been done by countless Android OEMs, Apple, and others), it’s nice to see Google bringing more features to its feature-light Camera app. And rather than just copying what others have done, it looks like Google is really trying to improve on an already-existing feature.

But maybe the app’s straightforward and low-bloat interface—with limited features—is one of the reasons the Camera app is so popular. Either way, this feature is almost certainly on the way, and it would make sense that Google would maybe tie it in with better camera hardware in a future Nexus (now wouldn’t that be great?).

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For now, you can get version 2.5 of the Camera app, which is where all of this information was pulled from, via the Play Store.

Nest’s plans for a Dropcam successor possibly outed by new FCC documents

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Nest sent out press invitations last week to an event on June 17th, and we speculated that it might mean that the company is ready to announce its first Dropcam successor since being acquired by Google in June of 2014. Now, thanks to an FCC filing that we’ve uncovered (published to the FCC website on May 28th), it seems more likely that the company is getting ready to announce the next generation of its security camera…
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Samsung sends the Galaxy S6 to the top of a skyscraper, catches 360-degree footage along the way (Video)

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Samsung kicked off its Next is Now campaign earlier this month, featuring some ridiculous stunts capturing the “powerful moment” of “now.” The Korean company is now continuing the Galaxy S6 marketing push today with a new set of videos, featuring photographer Daniel Lau—known as one of the crazy skyscraper selfie-takers—on a rooftop with Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone…

YouTube’s 360-degree video feature started rolling out earlier this year, and it looks like Samsung is now one of the first major corporations to take advantage of it for marketing purposes. Sadly, though, Lau’s 360-degree footage wasn’t actually captured with the Galaxy S6—it’s simply meant to allow “online users to climb alongside him virtually.”

Here’s Samsung’s clip showcasing some actual footage captured using the Galaxy S6 camera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnaED9t9UpU

And here’s the 360-degree video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yo3foRi8BQ

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HTC RE camera w/ free accessory bundle $150 shipped (Reg. $260)

Mother’s Day is May 10th and HTC wants you to give your mother something cool and memorable this year, and what’s more quirky than HTC’s Re camera?

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Through May 10th, HTC is offering the Re for $149 shipped, which is $50 off the regular price, and is even throwing in an accessory bundle which would normally run you $60 separately. The bundle includes a bar mount, a clip mount, and a protection pack, each of which make the Re a little more versatile when you’re out on the go getting those sweet action shots.


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HTC pushes update to Camera app, packs RAW image support on the M9

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HTC has today pushed an update to its Camera app, packing a plethora of great new features for owners of HTC’s current flagship and past flagships alike. Most notably is the addition of Raw Camera mode, which lets users take photos and save them in their original, unchanged —hence the name “raw”—state…
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LG shares “G4 By The Numbers” infographic highlighting camera performance

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After officially unveiling the device yesterday after months of speculation, LG has today shared an infographic in which it breaks down all of the specifications of its G4 flagship. The image, seen below in its entirety, highlights the camera features of device, which LG went on about for an extended period of time during the unveil.


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LG unveils 16MP f/1.8 rear camera and 8MP front-facing shooter coming to the G4

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LG has slowly been revealing features of its upcoming G4 flagship ahead of its April 28th launch, and tonight the company has revealed the camera technology that the device will offer. In a press release, LG Innotek revealed that the G4 will offer a 16MP camera with an f/1.8 aperture, which is “the widest aperture camera developed” by the company. LG teased the camera earlier this week.


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Epic Samsung Galaxy S6 cinematic camera test (Video)

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Whether you’re shooting video or taking photos, there’s no denying that camera quality is one of the main factors at play when choosing your next smartphone. This year Samsung has really stepped up things in the camera department with an improved 16-megapixel sensor (UHD video recording) and an impressive f1.8 aperture plus optical image stabilization.

The camera is miles better than what was found on the Galaxy S5 and even seems to outdo the Note 4’s camera performance. As shown in our camera comparisons, the Galaxy S6 outshines the best of the best and that’s especially true for its video recording capabilities…


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Samsung starts teasing ‘TheNextGalaxy,’ shows mysterious camera outline

Samsung has taken to Twitter to start teasing the upcoming refresh of its Galaxy S line of smartphones, and it’s starting out by calling it “#TheNextGalaxy”. While the top banner picture of the account has been updated with the same imagery shown in the invites sent out earlier this month, including the slogan ‘what’s next,’ the profile picture is where the real mystery is…


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Deal Alert: Samsung Galaxy 16.3 MP Android-powered digital camera for $150 (Reg. $450)

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Samsung’s first-generation Android-powered digital camera is on clearance at Best Buy right now for a cool $149.99 (but currently only available for in-store pickup), which is a $300 discount off the list price of $449.99. This is $50 lower than the next best price for this model (at Newegg Flash), and the lowest price we’ve seen.


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HTC says YouTube live streaming is coming to RE camera tomorrow

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HTC has announced today that users of its RE camera will be able to live stream video to YouTube starting tomorrow. The company originally announced this feature when the GoPro-like RE camera accessary was unveiled back in October. Today, however, the company finally confirmed a hard release date for the feature.


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IP Cam Viewer update lets you monitor your security cameras from Android Wear

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IP Cam Viewer is well known in the Android community as being one of the best solutions for keeping an eye on IP cameras in live time, but the app is also known for having a really bad user interface. Today, while IP Cam Viewer’s UI is still as ugly as ever, a slew of really useful new features have been introduced, including the ability to monitor cameras on your wrist via Android Wear.


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Motorola updates its Camera and Gallery apps with a Material Design makeover

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Motorola Mobility recently updated its Camera and Gallery with a splash of Material Design, giving its in-house software a refreshed feel. Owners of the Droid Turbo, Moto X and Droid Ultra can now use a wrist twist hand gesture to alternate between their respective handset’s front and back cameras, and they’ll also notice a refined flat interface that should fit in nicely with Motorola’s latest smartphone.


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Camera app mod improves quality and increases video recording times on Samsung Galaxy Note 4

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We already described the camera performance of the Galaxy Note 4 as “pretty incredible” in our detailed review, but if you’re willing to root your device, a new XDA modification lets you push the camera app even further.

First, the mod removes the slight file-compression Samsung applies to still photos, increasing the JPEG quality from 96% to 100%. Video recordings get a much more substantial boost in quality, from 20-28mbit (depending on mode) to 40-65mbit. It also significantly increases video recording times … 
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Sony rolling out Xperia Z2/Z2 Tablet update w/ PS4 Remote Play, hi-res audio, Smart Social camera apps, more

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After releasing the the new PS4 Remote Play app for Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3 Compact and Xperia Z3 tablet, Sony today announced it’s bringing the feature for remotely playing games from a connected PlayStation 4 to its Xperia Z2 lineup. That means following an update for the Xperia z2 and Xperia Z2 tablet, users will now have access to the PS4 Remote Play app and full support for the PS4 DUALSHOCK4 wireless controller.

The update for Xperia Z2 and Z2 tablet also brings hi-res audio, the latest Battery STAMINA Mode feature, Sony’s Smart Social camera apps including Sound Photo, AR fun, Multi camera and Face in, and much more.
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Oppo teases the ‘precision optics’ of its upcoming N3 smartphone

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Oppo’s N3 has been teased for quite some time now, but for some reason the company is putting a lot of emphasis on the device’s camera. Most recently, the company took to Facebook to tease a strange rotating mechanism that will apparently be a “true head turner.” I would agree with that. But today, the company has taken to Twitter to show off an image of said rotating camera, expanding it to show all of its internals. The camera, as was revealed previously on Oppo’s Weibo account, will sport a 16 megapixel 1/2.3-inch sensor.

Interesting, the company says it also has a giveaway coming “soon.”

Epic Samsung Galaxy Note 4 cinematic camera test (4K video)

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One of the most important components of a smartphone is its camera. Whether you’re shooting video or taking pictures, there’s a certain level of quality needed to capture those precious moments. Let’s face it, most of our lives are documented by the smartphones we carry around, so why not have one with an excellent camera?

As we covered in our full comparison article, the Galaxy Note 4’s camera features some major improvements over its predecessor. Samsung has stepped up the optics, sensor, and quality of the Note 4’s camera and we decided to put it to the test…


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HTC teases its GoPro-like waterproof camera in new video

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Earlier this month, HTC announced that it would be holding an event on October 8 to unveil some sort of new product. At the time, the invite made it seem clear that it was some type of camera technology, with the invite teasing the “Double Exposure” event. A week later, Bloomberg corroborated the speculation, claiming that HTC would announce a GoPro-like camera compatible with Android devices. HTC this evening, published a teaser video of the event, showing off action footage from a camera.


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HTC reportedly working on an Android compatible camera to compete with GoPro

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HTC is reportedly working on a new GoPro-like waterproof camera that can be used to capture footage of extreme sports and other activities, according to Bloomberg. Such a device would be the company’s first camera that’s not permanently attached to a smartphone. Little is known about the unannounced gadget, however it’s said to feature a wide-angle lens, a 16-megapixel sensor and compatibility with both Android and iOS.


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Sony reboots its lens-style cameras with new QX1 and QX30 models

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Alongside new smartphones, tablets, and wearables, Sony has also today announced a refresh for its lineup of lens-style cameras with two new models: QX1 and QX30. The devices are made to be able to work on their own or clip onto the back of a smartphone, and if you go with the latter option, they’re able to connect via NFC or Wi-Fi and have their display via the Sony PlayMemories Mobile app.


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