ZenFone 3: Built for Photography, Camera Modes explained

Over the past few years, smartphones have undergone a radical transformation. From being considered gadgets meant to only talk and text one’s contacts, their role has become versatile enough to include a plethora of tasks which earlier required specific gadgets. A visible change in the user’s busy lifestyles meant that they required gadgets that could excel at more than just one function. Photography has, quite understandably, emerged as one of the key functions of a smartphone. Camera is often considered as one of the features that can actually influence a consumer to recommend a phone. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that smartphones have actually replaced other cameras to become the preferred device for photography for the larger section of the audience. In fact, it is very common to find even professional photographers with a smartphone having a good quality camera for impromptu photography. But what constitutes a good photography smartphone? Listed below are a few features that throw light on the same.

Camera Hardware and Software Modifications

The most obvious feature on the list. A good camera forms the very basic of a good photography smartphone. Just like a magnificent monument is the result of the labour of an experienced architect, trained craftsmen and disciplined workers, a stunning photograph requires a good camera sensor, lens and aperture among other hardware specifications. It is near impossible to expect a smartphone that utilizes lower-quality camera components to click an image that impresses the users. Similarly, an innovative software for the smartphone camera is a great way to enhance the quality of images. Such a feature can help in capturing photographs that are vibrant, real and stunning always.

ZenFone 3 packs a 16MP camera with the latest Sony® IMX298 sensor, six-element Largan lens with a large f/2.0 aperture. The camera is protected by sapphire glass that is resistant to scratches and damage. This ensures crystal clarity in images at all times. ZenFone 3 is equipped with ASUS-exclusive PixelMaster 3.0 that elevates the level of smartphone photography. The phone offers exclusive TriTech auto-focus technology that combines three focusing technologies — laser, phase detection and continuous contrast-detection auto-focus — to achieve clear focus in 0.03 seconds, up to 10x faster than the blink of an eye.

Faster Laser AutoFocus

Image Stabilization

Shooting a precious moment on camera only to see a blurry image is not the most ideal situation to be in. This is where optical image stabilization (OIS) plays a key role. It ensures that movements and jerks do not interfere with the sharpness of an image. After all, most extraordinary shots happen by chance and are not actually composed. For instance, spotting a tiger drinking water in a sanctuary is a once-in-a-lifetime moment and no one would want it to be ruined because of a smartphone that does not offer OIS. Furthermore, we are increasingly capturing our memories in video format. Be it weddings, parties or travelogues, all of such moments are captured in extended videos which would be ruined if not for electronic image stabilization (EIS).

ZenFone 3 offers 4-axis, 4-stop OIS with 8-direction OIS compensation and 3-axis EIS with 6-direction EIS compensation to ensure steady shots and blur-free memories.

Optical Image Stabilization

The EIS video output of the ZenFone 3 has a maximum resolution of 4K (3840 ×2160). Owing to the phone’s high resolution sensor, ZenFone 3 provides 4K video recording facility that offers incredible details to match the resolution of the highest resolution TVs currently in the market.

Camera Modes

A good camera-smartphone should provide multiple modes to suit various photography requirements and styles of the user. This ensures that the user is able to make modifications to suit his or her vision for each photograph.

Here are few shots taken by me using Zenfone3 I will be updating this space with more images. Click on images to view in full size.

Some of the modes offered by ZenFone 3 include:

HDR Pro and Real Time HDR – In HDR Pro mode, the camera analyses the images and improves the contrast levels by lowering the brightness in overexposed sections, and increasing the brightness by up to 400% in underexposed parts, providing more details in the picture. However, unlike other smartphones, ZenFone 3 displays HDR photo results in real time when framing the shot resulting in increased accuracy of photographs 

HDR Vs Non-HDR

Super Resolution Mode – ZenFone 3’s Super Resolution Mode allows the user to create a super-high resolution, 64MP photos. It employs special image-processing techniques to capture and combine four 16MP photos to create a single image with exceptional 4X clarity, greater detail and less noise.

Low Light Mode – ZenFone 3’s Low Light Mode combines four adjacent pixels on its sensor to work as a single large pixel to provide greater light sensitivity. This mode, in combination with OIS helps reproduce images that are clearer and sharper than the ones shot on other smartphones.

Professional manual creative controls – Every smartphone photographer has a different interpretation of a scene and often likes to be in total control of the frame that he or she has in his or her mind. ZenFone 3’s manual controls allows the user to input custom settings for white balance, Exposure Value (EV), ISO sensitivity, shutter speed and focus, allowing for greater creative independence.

32 second slow shutter mode – ZenFone 3’s allows photos to be shot with and exposure time of up to 32 seconds. This allows the smartphone photographers to use their creativity when shooting low light or night-time photos. It is best suited to capture the light streaks of passing traffic or stationary subjects in very low light conditions without the harsh lighting of a flash.

Comprehensive Preset Modes – ZenFone 3’s camera offers multiple preset modes to enable the users to shoot in multiple situations. Some of these include special effect filters, a miniature mode that makes subjects appear like mini toy figures, automated unwanted element removal, an automated beautification mode for human portraits as well as an automated time-lapse mode.

Panorama Mode – This allows the users to take beautiful landscape shots by simply panning the camera from one side of the landscape to another. The camera captures individual frames and glues them together to form one panoramic photo.

Depth of Field Mode – This mode increases the focus on the main object by blurring the background.

Miniature Mode – This mode makes subjects appear like toy models giving a whacky touch to the image!

Time Rewind Mode – This mode is used to shoot fast moving subjects like children or pets. The camera shoots a rapid burst of frames in sequence for up to two seconds, allowing the users to select the frame that they would want to save.

All Smiles – Quite similar to the Time rewind Mode, All Smiles mode shoots five frames allowing the user to save the best ones.

Gif Animation Mode – ZenFone 3 also allows the users to create fun gifs. Users only need to click an image and the camera compiles the photo sequence as an animated gif image.

Performance

A good photography smartphone needs to be backed by high performing technical specifications. It is important to be able to capture shots at a moment’s notice without facing any lags and hang-ups. A slow smartphone that makes one wait in between shots hinders the freedom that a photographer should enjoy.

ZenFone 3 is designed for photographers and is powered by a 64-bit, 2.0GHz octa-core Snapdragon™ 625 – the first 600 tier processor that uses 14nm finFET process technology  making it 35% more power efficient than 28nm processors. Furthermore, PC-grade graphics combine with up to 4GB RAM to deliver an outstanding performance with improved efficiency.

Storage

Every picture clicked requires a certain amount of storage space. “Memory low” or “Please delete old data” are two of the most fearful messages for a smartphone photographer. Nobody wishes to part with their memories and why should they? A smartphone should deliver sufficient storage space to the users to be able to save their pictures, both old and new.

ZenFone 3 offers up to 64GB of internal storage that can be expanded to 2 TB through a micro-SD card.

Design

A smartphone should be designed to support the user’s photography expeditions. It is generally noticed that when smartphones are packed with features, they tend to appear bulky, which is not the most ideal design element for a smartphone photographer. It should be sleek, easy to hold and feel good in the hands of the user, making it difficult for him or her to put the phone down and motivating him to explore the world through the smartphone’s camera a little more!

The ZenFone 3 range is constructed out of materials like glass and metal in a sleek packaging making it really comfortable to use. ZenFone 3 is only 7.69 mm thin and bears the aesthetics of Zen’s signature concentric-circle pattern, rendering it as beautiful as the images it captures!

Disclaimer: This article is an informative article about Asus's latest smartphone Zenfone 3 camera  modes and should not be taken as review of the same.

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DoorKeys.com, India’s first real estate buyer-centric platform goes live with promise of spam free experience

DoorKeys.com today announced its launch officially in Delhi NCR after being in private beta mode for past three months, the platform is said to be India's first buyer-centric technology platform which is conceptualized by Real state and technology veterans and funded by top investors and developers. DoorKeys.com claims to democratize the home-buying process by giving buyers the power to choose, negotiate and transact online in a spam-free environment.

DoorKeys.com HomePage

Doorkeys.com has received an initial investment of around 2 million USD. Backed by top developers and investors, DoorKeys aims to reach 8 cities in India, targeting 50,000 DoorKeys affiliated ‘Neighborhood Experts’ in FY18.

The platform is co-founded by Subhash Bedi, Chairman and MD - Rising Straits Capital and a real estate veteran, and Arjun Basu, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of mydala.com (one of India’s largest local services marketing platforms and considered to be India’s equivalent to the Chinese coupon major Meituan).

According to Subhash Bedi, Chairman and MD - Rising Straits Capital &Co-Founder and Chairman- DoorKeys, “Our aim is to build more transparency in the industry across all 3 groups - (buyers/ developers/ agents) that is facing a lot of flak/criticism at the consumer’s cost. Online property buying and selling is fragmented in India as there is no benchmark for service offerings which leads to unpleasant experiences for the buyer in search of a genuine property at the right price. DoorKeys is going to change that by standardizing service levels and by making consumer ratings the criteria for seller/agent visibility on the portal rather than the capacity to pay for advertising. DoorKeys understands and appreciates the role of an agent in making home buying a simple and enjoyable process. The way it should be.”

DoorKeys core proposition to the buyers is “Buy at your price” which essentially gives the buyer power to negotiate online with sellers. Currently in most Indian cities, there is a huge mismatch in pricing expectation between what the buyer is willing to pay and what sellers are asking for. This has created distress in some markets today with minimal transactions which is resulting in buyers holding off from completing purchases and record unsold inventories.  A zero spam portal with data analytics at its core, DoorKeys lets the buyer see what his peers are offering for the same property which is a better way of assessing the true market price. The platform’s objective is to get buyers and sellers on the same page with respect to market pricing and move inventory/enable transactions through negotiation in a discreet environment.

According to Arjun Basu, Co-Founder and CEO – DoorKeys, “Technology is the biggest enabler for DoorKeys as it sets the platform apart from rest of the options available today. The platform makes the seller-buyer interaction transparent, giving more power to the buyers yet ensuring sellers gain through its pay for performance model. We are trying to bridge the gap between real estate purchase needs and adequate hand holding beyond information sourcing with the optimum use of technology.”

The platform also addresses genuine category issues from a consumer's perspective and has to its credit the largest database of brokers/agents basis expertise and is backed by actual consumer reviews and ratings of their services along with a host of other unique technology enabled features. Its business model has similarities to a Chinese real estate tech company, FangDD.com

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IHS Markit Announces Innovation Awards Winners at ShowStoppers at IFA in Berlin

IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, today announced winners of the IHS Markit Innovation Awards. Presented at the ShowStoppers IFA event in Berlin on Thursday, September 1, 2016, the awards showcased the most innovative technology products submitted by event exhibitors.

"Congratulations to all the ingenious technology industry leaders that took part in the IHS Markit Innovation awards at IFA," said Ian Weightman, vice president of research and operations, IHS Markit. "The only downside to having an awards program is how difficult it was to select the final winners from all the inventive and unique submissions."

Selected from 42 submissions, following are the winners of this year's IHS Markit innovation awards at IFA:

Apps, platforms and ecosystems - CURIO from SAM Labs is an out-of-the-box inventing experience for kids. Equipped with five paper-fold car bodies, a car base, and remote control, kids can build and program their own creations.

Audio technology - The Here Active Listening System from Doppler Labs consists of two wireless buds and a connected app that lets listeners control real-world sound. Here gives you a volume knob, equalizer, and preset filters. Tune In to what you want to hear, and tune out unwanted noise.

Design and style - The HP Pavilion Wave is for people who want to modernize their home or home office with a beautiful, compact desktop engineered for entertainment and productivity.

Health, fitness and wearables - ReSound Micro Mic and ReSound Multi Mic connect wirelessly to all ReSound Smart Hearing aids to enhance users' sound experience in even the most challenging listening environments. The devices provide direct sound streaming and connect with loop/FM systems to improve speech understanding.

Robotics and drones - Jimu Robot is an interactive system of robotic building blocks; build your own robot, program its movements, and share your creation with the Jimu Robot Community.

Smart home and appliances - The Pico Brew makes craft beer with the push of a button. Biodegradeable PicoPaks pre-package all the ingredients needed - making brewing and cleanup easy.

Video displays and devices - Lenovo Yoga 910 is a stylish four-in-one form factor convertible ultrabook with a 4K edgeless in-plane switching display. Weighing only three pounds, the Yoga 910 provides a crisp, vibrant display along with an Intel Core i processor, Windows 10, PCIe SSD, and more. For Indian readers the company doesn't need any introduction and is already storming the consumer electronics market with products such as Yoga series ultrabooks and smartphones like Lenovo K5 Note.

Wow factor - The Yoga Book two-in-one tablet from Lenovo provides natural note-taking with pen and paper, a halo keyboard, and Wacom technology. Weighing only 1.3 pounds, Yoga Book sports an Intel Atom processor, FHD display, and the option of Android or Windows.

The following technology industry research analysts at IHS Markit, and internationally recognized journalists, judged the awards at the IFA conference in Berlin:

    --  Tom Morrod, senior director, consumer electronics

    --  Paul Gagnon, senior manager, consumer devices

    --  Paul Gray, principal analyst, consumer devices

    --  Dinesh Kithany, principal analyst, home appliances

    --  Ian Fogg, senior director, mobile and telecommunications

    --  Ken Park, senior analyst, consumer devices

    --  Rich Trenholm, senior editor, CBS Interactive and CNET

    --  Eli Haboosh, reporter, HT Mobile Israel

    --  George Buhnici, news correspondent, ProTV Romania

The IHS Markit Innovation awards will continue at upcoming ShowStoppers events at Mobile World Congress (MWC), NAB Show, CE Week and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Exhibitors at upcoming ShowStoppers events can submit up to three candidate products, technologies, or services for IHS Markit Innovation awards. IHS Markit and ShowStoppers have agreed to an embargo on any announcements that should not be made public prior to the awards. For more detailed information, visit http://awards.showstoppers.com/

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Bharti Airtel responds to RJIO launch by welcoming the latter in 'Digital World'

Reliance JIO has already created a buzz in the country with people queuing up in Reliance Digital stores for the preview offer which is synonymous to that displayed by people waiting for latest iPhones in long queues in several countries. As was the case 13 years ago in month of July, Reliance had disrupted the mobile network market by offering instant multimedia phones and connection for just Rs 501, the company went on to set world record by acquiring one million customers in 10 days. The biggest competitor in those days to RIL was Airtel. 13 years later we have a similar situation, same players, same battle ground. With launch of JIO services Reliance has already disrupted the telecommunications segment by offering free voice calls. From past few days Airtel has responded by slashing the data rates for its customers in lieu of JIO's preview offer picking up fame and demand.

RJIO Data Tariffs

Today when the RJIO services are officially launched , Bharti Airtel welcomed its latest and most possibly fiercest competitor in the market.

A statement from Bharti Airtel read, “We welcome Reliance Jio’s entry to the digital world and wish them the very best. We also welcome Jio’s call to leading operators to work together. As a responsible operator we will fulfill all our regulatory obligations as we have always done.

Over the last 20 years, Airtel has been contributing towards building a digitally enabled India and remains fully committed to and take leadership in supporting the Government’s Digital India vision. We will continue to innovate and deliver best-in-class products and services to our customers.”

It is worth noting that Airtel continues be the most favored network in many cities courtesy excellent network coverage and services. With the JIO likely claiming a good chunk of market space in coming days, its only Airtel who has responded to the competition from JIO while we have not seen any such moves from other operators such as Vodafone or Idea.

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Reliance launches JIO digital services officially, All you need to know

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (“Jio”) today announced the launch of its digital services with Jio Welcome Offer which will be effective from 5 September, 2016. As part of the Jio Welcome Offer, users will have access to unlimited LTE data and national voice, video and messaging services along with the full bouquet of Jio applications  and content, free of cost up to 31 December 2016. The Company today filed its tariff plans  with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (“TRAI”).

10 Tariff Plans from JIO

The announcement was made by the Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, Mukesh D. Ambani, at the Annual General Meeting of RIL today. Mr. Ambani emphasised the benefits of digitalisation and said in his speech that Jio is dedicated to realising the Prime Minister’s inspiring vision of “Digital India” for 1.2 billion Indians.Shri Ambani also announced that domestic voice calls to any network across the country would be free for Jio subscribers even beyond the Jio Welcome Offer. Domestic roaming services would also not be charged separately. Average data prices would be around Rs. 50/ GB, which would be amongst the lowest in the world.

Jio is rolling out a state-of-the-art pan India digital services business. In addition to fixed and wireless broadband connectivity offering superior voice and data services on an all-IP network, Jio will also offer end-to-end solutions that address the entire value chain across various digital services in key domains such as education, healthcare, security, communication, financial services, government-citizen interfaces and entertainment.

Shri Ambani spoke about the five fundamental pillars of the Jio ecosystem: (i) The best quality

broadband network with the highest capacity; (ii) A world of affordable, cutting-edge devices;

(iii) Compelling applications and content; (iv) Superior digital service experiences; and

(v) Affordable and simple tariffs.

Shri Ambani also said that the key brand values for Jio included affordable, high quality and abundant data; connected intelligence; smart, simple and secure services; and bringing people together. Shri Ambani also announced that Reliance Retail Ltd has introduced a line-up of superaffordable 4G LTE smartphones under the LYF brand, starting at Rs. 2,999. More feature-rich models will be available at progressively higher price-points like Rs. 3999, Rs. 4999 and so on.

Jio announced the setting-up of the Jio Digital India Start-up Fund. Jio will work on creating Jio Digital Entrepreneurship Hubs in key cities and towns of India. The Jio Digital India Startup Fund has set aside Rs. 5,000 crores to be invested over the next 5 years. Jio Welcome Offer The Jio Welcome Offer provides an opportunity to every Indian to learn, try, customise and experience high quality digital services, without paying for the services up to 31 December, 2016 after which the applicable tariffs will apply. The Company also proposes to use this time period to fine-tune its services as well as for resolution of interconnection and MNP related issues that it has faced with several other operators. Jio may extend the period of free services in case Jio subscribers are not able to get adequate experience of seamless connectivity across network due to POI congestion and MNP restrictions and the quality of service parameters are not as per the benchmarks desired by RJIL management. The other terms and conditions of these special benefits under the Jio Welcome Offer have been filed by the Company to TRAI as well as provided on its website ‘jio.com’.

The existing test users of the Company, who have enrolled for the Jio Preview Offer, will be transitioned to the Jio Welcome Offer under the terms thereof. Tariff Plans The Company filed its detailed tariff plans with TRAI today. Shri Ambani enumerated the following principles used for formulating the tariff plans:

i) Benefits of technology would be passed onto customers. All domestic voice calls for Jio

customers will be absolutely free, across India and at any time. Domestic roaming

charges will not apply in Jio tariffs.

ii) Data tariffs have been made highly affordable, with full transparency, without any

associated conditions. The Company is offering the lowest LTE data rates in the world.

Additionally it would offer unlimited night time LTE data.

iii) The Jio-Apps bouquet, which is worth Rs. 15,000 for an annual subscription, will be

available complimentary for all active Jio customers up to 31 December 2017. This has

been done to make Digital Life available to everyone.

iv) A special student discount offer, with 25% more data on the main tariff plans, would be

offered to all students.

v) Jio has introduced a simple tariff structure with only 10 main plans, designed to fit every

budget, as against the 22,000 tariff plans prevailing in the country today. These are

summarised here:

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