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Camera Module Problems May Delay Samsung's Galaxy S5
concertina226 writes "There's less than a month to go before Samsung launches its new flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone worldwide on 11 April, and the new device has still not gone into mass production due to camera module manufacturing problems. The 16 megapixel camera module consists of six plastic pieces, one more piece than in the existing 13 megapixel camera modules in the Galaxy S4. The problem that Samsung is having is that even though the number of plastic pieces has gone up, the thickness of each piece has remained the same, so in order to fit the new camera module into the Galaxy S5, the lens makers will likely have to develop new technology to make thinner lenses. Not only that, joining six pieces together instead of five for the 13 megapixel camera modules increases the risk of optical faults surfacing at the lens manufacturers' plants dramatically."
There are good glass / alternative options out there that will hold up to some abuse a little better. i.e. it won't look frosted over time from minute scratches.
The true reason for the production problems is that it's difficult to fit the tiny NSA module in there.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
How quaint.
Favouring a structural plastic part over the lens, the lens is everything.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
These are photographs, not telescopic images of the universe. How many megapixels does a camera phone need? Are people going to be sending me the full pictures and then I have to spend time reducing them to a reasonable size?
the lens makers will likely have to develop new technology
They will likely have to develop it eh? When are they going to do that?
Answer: If they would have to, they already have. If Samsung is going to ship this thing in 3.5 weeks, then I'm guessing it's done if it needed to be.
This whole thing sounds like some fanboy taking guesses with no basis in reality.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
I think it's nice that a consumer device is actually being delayed because technology hasn't caught up with its design yet. It's a good thing (for us) when consumer-grade products are on the leading edge of technology rather than trailing behind industrial grade devices as they commonly do.
Not just the hardware, have you actually tried to use one of those things?
HTC's android skin blows away touch wiz.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Apple's cameras aren't bespoke engineering; they're usually Sony ones, and I'd be terribly surprised if Apple's suppliers weren't engaged in similar engineering challenges themselves at the moment.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
What good is a tiny 16MP sensor if the lens cannot match that resolution?
[sarcasm] Yes, because Apple's history of being the forefront of technology has been why they have succeeded so far. [/sarcasm]
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
So optical engineers have to develop an entirely new plastic lens molding technology because the mechanical engineers who got Cs at mediocre schools can't build a simpler holder.
Nice.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
I agree that Apple's designs are very good, but they still make plenty of mistakes that Apple enthusiasts overlook... The roll-out of their GPS road map software was so buggy they even recommended customers use other services temporarily. Apple had that antenna issue where if you held the iPhone incorrectly it hung up on you. That bug probably would have bankrupted another Android-based company, but it was barely a blip on their earnings because Apple has hordes of people locked into their systems. But worse is Apple's controls over their system and 3rd parties is simply anti-consumer...from iTunes control, attempts to manipulate e-book markets, litigiously pursuing their overly broad patents to stifle competition, to their non-removable batteries. Not even Microsoft was/is as bad as Apple with the manipulation and control. And then there's the Apple price tag. No thank you.
Fucking Christ! The original Mac was just a 68000 and generic parts . . unlike the Amiga 1000
You're bringing up history from 30 years ago as your examples instead of something maybe within the last decade?
Apple NEVER makes custom parts, apart from their cases.
Oh really? So their A7 CPU or M7 motion coprocessor are not custom parts? Checkmate.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
This is a fairly new development. Steve Jobs was once shown an Amiga prototype. His comment? TOO MUCH HARDWARE.
I was rushed into a phone purchase by my parents who needed me to pick a new phone while I was driving through a traffic circle. I was talking to them via handsfree but couldn't concentrate enough and they were in a time crunch and NEEDED and answer. I begrudgingly chose the S4 because I liked the Samsung-made Nexus I had been using.
To my dismay, it's lock via Knox and made secure for use by the NSA apparently. I can't install CyanogenMod and their touchwiz UI is horrid. I'm never buying another Samsung phone again, regardless of how nice the hardware looks on paper.
-SaNo
And? Steve Jobs said a lot of wacky shit in his day.
(Also, you mention this but don't care to bring up NeXT Cube?)
I can't defend the GP's point about Samsung throwing off the shelf parts into a box and calling it a phone, but, no, it's not a new development. Woz, Burrell and a whole host of Apple engineers did design custom hardware. It's only during the Dark Age of Apple did shit slip. Even then, I believe the Newton had custom silicon in it.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
The NeXT cube was made of a bunch of market available components. The only thing NeXT manufactured was the box and the software.
Where can you buy a "cheap feature phone" that isn't a smartphone?
Fuck design. SGS5 will whip the collective ass of iphone, htc, xperia, lumia in terms of everything that matters (picture quality, screen quality, display quality, audio quality, connectivity, options, battery life, speed, useful features, power). The lack of design is a statement in itself. It says "Fuck you, you fucking wannabe nerds who really just want 'teh shinys'."
Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.