According to new sources, Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo will ship the first device with MEMs camera technology.
Rather than the Google Nexus 5 as originally tipped, Oppo will release the first MEMs camera technology smartphone, with the company having already signed an order for the camera modules.
According to DigitalOptics Corp, the maker of the MEMs camera technology, Oppo has signed a high volume order for the smartphone components and Google isn’t mentioned at all.
Earlier this month, leaked log files suggested that the Nexus 5 could pack the powerful MEMs camera technology when it is unveiled sometime later this year. However, DigitalOptics has made it crystal clear that this isn’t the case.
“There has been speculation on who would be the first to bring the significant benefits of mems|cam to the mobile imaging market,” said DigitalOptics in a statement. “Last week, several technology news blogs reported that mems|cam was first being brought to market in another smartphone platform. Those reports were inaccurate.”
It’s certainly a shame that the Nexus 5 won’t feature the MEMs camera technology, but it will be a fantastic feature for an upcoming Oppo device.
MEMs stands for microeletromechanical technology and offers a host of benefits over the usual voice coil motor (VCM) modules used in smartphones.
Still as small as the VCM units, the MEMs camera is capable of focusing seven times faster than the existing smartphone cameras and can take a quick succession of shots rapidly. Similar to Lytro camera, MEMs means you can almost shoot first and focus later.
The power consumption of the MEMs camera is around 1mW as well, which means hundreds of times less battery drain than VCM units.
DigitalOptics also highlights MEMs technology’s 80 per cent less tilt and the enhanced “corner image quality”, asking users to check out the quality at the edges of images taken on a smartphone. Apparently MEMs improves this too.
Next, read our pick of the best cameras of 2013.
Via: Forbes
