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Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Camera Phone History

EETimes publishes a nice history of camera phone, from the first one in 1995 to nowadays, and how it changed the imaging.

5 comments:

  1. Image sensor in “First Commercial Camera Phone: J-SH04” is not CCD but CIS which resolution is CIF (352x288) and optical size is 1/7”.

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  2. The EE Times article seems to neglect the impact of CMOS image sensor technology on enabling camera phones. It has been a synergistic technology push and pull over the past 15+ years, but without the form factor and low power of CMOS image sensor technology, as well as it accessibility and full digital interface, that has enabled camera phones to develop, and in many ways, surpass their standalone counterparts. It is a testament to the 1000's of engineers working in this field, and it has changed the world.

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    Replies
    1. OK, let's try this again:
      It has been a synergistic technology push and pull over the past 15+ years, but the form factor and low power of CMOS image sensor technology, as well as its accessibility and full digital interface, is what has enabled camera phones to develop, and in many ways, surpass their standalone counterparts.

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    2. Valid comments, but this seems to be an article about the phones and not the technologies that enabled them. CMOS does get mentioned on the first page (although kind of backwards, as being propelled by the camera phone boom, rather than enabling).

      If this was an article about the enabling technologies, voice coil motors; high-performance molded plastic aspheric mini lenses; and APs with integrated, low-power ISPs could also make a claim of being neglected.

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    3. I would agree except for the featuring of Kahn who generally tries to claim full credit for invention of the camera phone. He just wrote some code AFTER the camera was in the phone to speed up picture sharing. If he had been left out of the article, I would not feel bad for all the image sensor technologists who made the camera phone as useful and powerful as it is today, and who were NOT mentioned in the article. I have made this comment to the EE Times article already (about what I said above, not about Kahn), and the author, who I have known for nearly 20 years, responded.

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