Nokia rumoured to be working on penta-camera smartphone

[HEXUS]

Source, from inside Foxconn, says the device is currently in testing.

Read more.

[3dcandy]

5 x different focal length lenses could be a winner. Want a 2 x zoom? Rotate ring round till you get the 2x lens. 5x? Yup rotate and away you go

[EvilCycle]

I think the above comment is bang on the money, different lenses at different zooms so that the phone can stay as flat as possible whilst offering a robust choice of options.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Oh,FFS just actually spend some money on the modules,and make one with a proper zoom,and something like a 1/1.7" sensor. All they seem to be doing is raiding the parts bin,using the cheapest parts they can get away with the tiniest sensors they can get away with, and plonking in mass produced modules and stitching stuff together using software.

Edit!!

Also twistable lenses are not a big deal - there film compacts which had them,and it was done primarily to save money on having a proper zoom,since you can use simpler optics.

[3dcandy]

Oh Cat.... they won't make a "proper" zoom as you can't fit it into a phone body without making it huge, and then they just don't sell. Look at the Galaxy Camera for example

[krazy_olie]

Doubt it's twisting lenses.

Pureview was heading in the right direction but now everyone is afraid to add a mm to phone width so they have to come out with weird designs

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Oh Cat.... they won't make a "proper" zoom as you can't fit it into a phone body without making it huge, and then they just don't sell. Look at the Galaxy Camera for example

OFC they can - optics have moved on since 20 years ago,with high refractive index lenses,folded optics,etc. The tech exists,but it costs money so they CBA. Most of these modules are mass produced,which is produced at the cheapest cost. This is why you find certain newer models having worse image quality than older ones,since they have just raided the parts bin.

Do people actually think integrated a billion lenses won't make the camera bigger or bulkier?? No,this is all done to save as much money as possible,using POS tiny sensors and primitive cheap to make lenses. I mean apparently using glass in some of these lenses is a big deal. When you look at the breakdown in actual costs of the smartphones,the camera modules are not even the most expensive part by far,in fact far from it.

These companies are making billions of dollars with these phones,they are getting more and more expensive,ie,now hitting the £800 to £1000 mark,and yet the hardware innovation is dropping more and more. They spend very little on actual R and D and its coming to bite them in the arse.This is what happens when bean counters run companies,they only look at maximising short term profits,and then spend the rest on PR bumpf.

But more and more people are getting wise to it,and it is why people are now keeping smartphones longer and longer,as the innovation is now just plateauing:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/smartph...g-your-iphone/
https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...eir-old-phones

How many times over the last few years I have argued the lack of true innovation and rising costs would have an effect,and its starting to happen,and that cheaper models would start catching up and get more sales. How many people argued that I was wrong. I was correct.

[3dcandy]

OFC they can - optics have moved on since 20 years ago,with high refractive index lenses,folded optics,etc. The tech exists,but it costs money so they CBA. Most of these modules are mass produced,which is produced at the cheapest cost. This is why you find certain newer models having worse image quality than older ones,since they have just raided the parts bin.

Do people actually think integrated a billion lenses won't make the camera bigger or bulkier?? No,this is all done to save as much money as possible,using POS tiny sensors and primitive cheap to make lenses. I mean apparently using glass in some of these lenses is a big deal. When you look at the breakdown in actual costs of the smartphones,the camera modules are not even the most expensive part by far,in fact far from it.

These companies are making billions of dollars with these phones,they are getting more and more expensive,ie,now hitting the £800 to £1000 mark,and yet the hardware innovation is dropping more and more. They spend very little on actual R and D and its coming to bite them in the arse.This is what happens when bean counters run companies,they only look at maximising short term profits,and then spend the rest on PR bumpf.

But more and more people are getting wise to it,and it is why people are now keeping smartphones longer and longer,as the innovation is now just plateauing:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/smartph...g-your-iphone/
https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...eir-old-phones

How many times over the last few years I have argued the lack of true innovation and rising costs would have an effect,and its starting to happen,and that cheaper models would start catching up and get more sales. How many people argued that I was wrong. I was correct.

Not saying your wrong.. but I think it's far simpler currently. If zoom lenses etc. can be made to fit and cost isn't an issue why do manufacturers go down the twin sensor/lens arrangement? That must mean that a zoom lens is more than twice the cost of a sensor and lens assembly currently. I bet it's more to do with the fact that a zoom lens isn't reliable enough to be made that small and last the abuse a phone gets. Also remember that a zoom lens assembly would have to be tiny and IP68 rated to be in most models as well

[Rubarb]

I actually like Nokia and if I had to buy a phone tomorrow.... very unlikely as I don't even use a phone now .... it's a brand I would trust.

That said camera wouldn't interest me, email wouldn't ... browsing ....etc etc (ohh that was the lot !... same as an old sony p800 then ... but with crappier battery life)

Honestly most phone users now buy phones that cant hold a charge for a day ..... you shoudl really take a good look at yourself people !

[3dcandy]

Galaxy S7 is approaching 2 years old, has been hammered and still lasts nearly a day on full charge

[Xlucine]

6 positions make sense - if the ring is manually rotated, you'll need one of the positions free for a dent to put your finger in to index the ring round. Without a convenient location to do that, you'll end up with greasy lenses

[Saracen]

What would you think of a built-in five-lens (rear) camera in your phone, wouldn’t that offer something ‘moar’ in the imaging department?

Well, I think I'd think that the vast bulk of users fall into one of two categories :-

1) Phone users that use a phone camera for "snaps" but aren't demanding users, photographically.

2) Serious photography fans, for whom a phone's camera is just for snaps.

This Nokia idea, assuming it's true, is going to be too fiddly for type 1. As for type 2, it's entirely superfluous for snaps, and never likely to be enough for serious use.

Rather than trying to build decent optical zooms into phones, where size seems to be the absolute priority, I'm a bit surprised none of the major camera manufacturers making high-end compact cameras .... where size isn't overwhelmingly critical, haven't built a phone into cameras, for type 2's.

[kalniel]

Rather than trying to build decent optical zooms into phones, where size seems to be the absolute priority, I'm a bit surprised none of the major camera manufacturers making high-end compact cameras .... where size isn't overwhelmingly critical, haven't built a phone into cameras, for type 2's.

Don't Sony make a lot of the cameras that go into phones? Plus they (and Oly?) did that snap on lens/camera thing for phone I think.

Edit: I misread a bit, understand your point now. Think Samsung tried?

[3dcandy]

Sony make the vast majority of camera sensors and sensor packages yes. Only Canon and Samsung make any large numbers outside of Sony, and even then recent Galaxy S sensors have been Sony. And Saracen - been tried and failed. Nobody seems to want the 2 combined mainly I think because most people just can't be faffed. Majority of people I know feel that an old iphone camera is awesome, guess once it's been facebook'd and killed who cares?

[Saracen]

Been tried? Fair enough. Pased me by, but that's no grest shock.

One thing .... roughly when was it tried?

Sometimes, an idea is tried, and fails, before the tech, or the market, or both, are ready for it.

[spacein_vader]

Been tried? Fair enough. Pased me by, but that's no grest shock.

One thing .... roughly when was it tried?

Sometimes, an idea is tried, and fails, before the tech, or the market, or both, are ready for it.

Nokias Pureview 808 phone was the closest thing I've seen to that. It was their last effort of keeping symbian relevant before they went all in on Windows Phone.

41mp sensor iirc.