Uber is expanding its electric car rentals to Europe. The ridesharing service has expanded its deal with Hertz to provide up to 25,000 EVs to European capital cities by 2025, including those from Polestar and Tesla. The rollout will begin in London thi…
Canon EOS R6 II review: An excellent hybrid camera with few flaws
Sony and Canon are locked in a pitched battle for the full-frame mirrorless camera market, and Canon’s latest salvo is the $2,500 EOS R6 II. It’s not just a key rival to Sony’s like-priced 33-megapixel A7 IV, but gives Canon the opportunity to rectify …
Samsung unveils 200MP camera sensor that’s likely to appear in the Galaxy S23 Ultra
Samsung is continuing its “more pixels is better” mantra with the launch of its latest 200-megapixel (MP) sensor. The ISOCELL HP2 is a relatively large (for a smartphone) Type 1/1.3 sensor (around 12mm diagonally) with a pixel pitch of 0.6 micrometers (μm) — in between the 200-megapixel HP1 and HP3 sensors. It offers more light gathering than past sensors along with new HDR features and will likely be used in Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone.
The HP2 uses something Samsung calls Dual Vertical Transfer Gate (D-VTG) technology. This essentially doubles the number of electrons available from each photo diode, “boosting the pixel’s full-well capacity by more than 33 percent,” the company wrote. That means a pixel can hold more charge before saturating, reducing overexposure and improving color reproduction in bright light conditions.
As before, it can transform into either a 1.2μm 50MP or 2.4μm 12.5MP sensor by binding either four or 16 neighboring pixels, allowing for better performance in low light. It can shoot up to 8K 30 fps video in 50MP mode (up from 24 fps on the Galaxy S22) to minimize cropping while still allowing for sharp video. It also uses something called Smart-ISO Pro to capture 12.5MP HDR images and 4K HDR at up to 60 fps. And as before, each pixel acts as a focus agent to allow for quick autofocus, even in low-light situations.
Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra “only” had a 108MP sensor, with the 200MP HP1 chip used in other devices like the Motorola 30 Edge Ultra and Xiaomi 12T Pro. However, rumor has it that the S23 Ultra will have a 200MP sensor, and the HP2 fits the bill as it’s already in mass production, Samsung said. The Galaxy S23 is set to be revealed in just two weeks on February 1st, 2023.
The Morning After: Twitter may have deliberately cut off third-party app access
Twitter appears to have deliberately cut off third-party clients from accessing its API. Since Thursday evening, many of the most popular apps that scroll Twitter without going through the company’s own software, including Tweetbot and Twitterrific, ha…
Awesome Games Done Quick 2023 raises $2.6 million for charity
With its first event of 2023 in the books, GDQ’s Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) has raised more than $2.6 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Following more than a week of some of the world’s best speedrunners showing off their skills, AGDQ 202…
England is banning the sale of some single-use plastics
England will ban businesses from selling and offering a variety of single-use plastics, including plates and cutlery, by the end of the year, the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced on Saturday. The government will begin e…
iRobot’s Roomba Combo j7+ vacuum and mop is $200 off right now
If you need a little help keeping your home clean in the new year, a robot vacuum can help. It may not be an essential piece of tech, especially if you already have a decent vacuum, but it can make consistent cleaning much easier by letting you automat…
Leaked Galaxy S23 Ultra and Plus images reveal design details
The Dutch publication Nieuwe Mobile posted leaked images today of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and S23 Plus. The alleged renders show the camera placement, colors and design of the new flagships, which Samsung is set to announce next month.The…
The best tablets for 2023
Following the release of the 2022 Apple iPad Air and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 line last year, there hasn’t been a ton of movement in the tablet world. At IFA, Lenovo announced refreshed versions of the Tab P11 and P11 Pro featuring updated internals and…
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 falls back to an all time low
If you have your eye on Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 but have been waiting for a sale, Amazon has a good one right now. It’s selling the 40mm model in several colors (Grey, Pink Gold and Silver) for $230, saving you $50 or 18 percent off the regular price….