February 16, 2005
Zoom lenses next for mobiles
Varioptic, the French private company which invented a tiny liquid lens for mobile phones, said it has added an optical zoom which will give a handset the same functionality as a digital camera, reports CNN from 3GSM in Cannes.
"Varioptic's liquid lens, which can focus on objects as close as five centimeters without moving mechanical parts, are expected to be commercially available by the end of this year, Chief Executive Etienne Paillard told Reuters in an interview on the fringes of the conference."
Other Auto Focus Cameraphones and Technologies:
-- A Korean Start-Up Develops Auto-Focus in Camera Phone - Hysonic, a Korean venture firm, developed world's first linear zoom(2x) actuator that could be adopted to camera phone. It would make it possible to put an auto focus function, like digital cameras, in camera phones. (Feb 2005)
-- First auto-focus camera phone - NTT DoCoMo has announced the release of the mova P505iS handset, which is reportedly, the world's first camera phone equipped with auto focus. (Nov 2003)
-- Origami helps cellphone cameras to focus - Camera phones may be about to get a whole lot more intrusive thanks to a novel and ultra-cheap micromotor technology, enabling the handsets to zoom and focus with the same precision as the autofocusing lenses used in expensive stills cameras, thanks to a technique closer to origami than engineering. (Sept 2003)
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