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When we first saw pictures from NASA’s Curosity mission to Mars, many of us asked, “That’s it?” Yes, the images weren’t as detailed as we wanted, but they were from another planet, so we happily gobbled them up.

But why does the Mars rover feature paltry 2-megapixel sensors on its main imaging cameras? The decision stems from planning of the rover’s systems back in 2004, Malin Space Science Systems project manager Mike Ravine told Digital Photography Review.

The planning team selected the 2-megapixel sensor on Curiosity for several reasons. First, it had to produce a reasonable amount of data for transmission back to Earth via a UHF transmitter. Second, it had to meet the needs of four different camera types. Third, the team had deep familiarity with this imaging technology.

“We developed all four cameras around a common architecture, so the choice of sensor was hedged across all of them,” Ravine said. “We wanted to be able to capture high frame rates, particularly with the descent camera. We also looked at a 4MP sensor, but it would have run around half as fast. And the state of CMOS sensors wasn’t credible in 2004. They’re an interesting option now, but they weren’t then.”

In light of advanced camera technology featured on today’s smartphones, Ravine seems slightly disappointed the images on Mars aren’t more breathtaking.

“There’s a popular belief that projects like this are going to be very advanced, but there are things that mitigate against that,” Ravine said. “These designs were proposed in 2004, and you don’t get to propose one specification and then go off and develop something else. 2MP with 8GB of flash [memory] didn’t sound too bad in 2004. But it doesn’t compare well to what you get in an iPhone today.”

As you might know, the latest iPhone features an 8-megapixel sensor with 1080p HD video recording. It’s ultimately more powerful than what Curiosity has, showing how far camera technology has come in the past few years. Heck, Nokia even has a 41-megapixel camera in one of its phones.

To compensate for having less powerful sensors, Curiosity’s Mastcam can take multiple images and stitch them together. In the photo above, you can see how this function can create panoramas and better detail.

You can view more photos from Curosity at NASA.gov. Or check out the gallery below:

Filed under: science

Wikipad, the company developing an identically named tablet that will ship with an attachable gamepad for console-style gaming, has revealed the specifications of the device in an exclusive interview with GamesBeat.

The Wikipad (tablet, not company) will have a 10.1-inch IPS display with 16:10 1,280 x 800 resolution. The actual tablet will weigh 560 grams and be just 8.6mm thick, making it one of the thinnest and lightest 10″ tablets ever, only slightly thicker than the iPad 2 and nearly 40 grams lighter. When the Wikipad was first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, it was a 7″ tablet that was more similar in design to the Amazon Kindle Fire.

The final design model, which the company revealed to us at a design office in Thousand Oaks, Calif., will feature the NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30 1.4GHz quad-core processor with 1GB of DDR2 RAM. For comparison, the recently released Nexus 7 uses the T30L, which is a 1.2GHz quad-core processor with a 416MHz GPU (compared to 520MHz on the T30) and slower DDR2 RAM (667MHz vs. 1066MHz), and the ASUS Transformer Prime Infinity 700 and upcoming Ouya will use the more powerful T33, which clocks at 1.6GHz and has bandwidth for faster 1600MHz DDR3 RAM.

The Wikipad will also ship with at least 16GB of internal storage, though the amount of local storage hasn’t been finalized as of yet. However, according to Fraser Townley, President of Sales at Wikipad, “we will not go down, we will only go up.” 16GB is the standard amount of storage for tablets today.

The battery is 23.46Wh, capable of six hours of continuous gaming and eight hours of video playback.

Instead of tapered edges, the Wikipad will have flat sides similar to the iPhone 4/4S. The rear panel will also have an elevated plastic lip designed for a better grip in any holding arrangement. This also enables the speakers on the back of the tablet to bounce off of any flat surface and deliver strong acoustics.

Every Wikipad will ship with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and the controller add-on. The controller, which connects to the Wikipad from the bottom with a proprietary connector, is designed similar to the Xbox 360 controller, though according to the company there is little relation to Microsoft’s nearly seven-year-old design. The controller features two sets of triggers, bumpers, and analog sticks, as well as four face buttons, start, and select. The controller is also designed to cover the speakers and flow sound through acoustic tubes out the front grill for better audio performance. The controller also has a port to connect it to a power source on the back.

Wikipad will also feature a built-in 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera.

Finally, the Wikipad will not ship the first line of the tablet with a 3D display, which the company originally showed off at CES. Future models may ship with a 3D display. The Wikipad doesn’t have a definite release date yet, but according to Wikipad President James Bower, it will release later this year, and the company will reveal much more regarding the tablet in the very near future.

Filed under: games, mobile, VentureBeat

De Nokia 808 Pureview is de beste camphone die momenteel in de winkels ligt. Die ‘titel’ heeft het toestel mijns inziens vooral te danken aan de hele goede 41 megapixel camerasensor en Rich Recording Audio waarmee je in rumoerige omgevingen toch……

With the Atrix HD cat out of the bag for almost a week, Motorola is finally getting around to giving the Android phone the offical treatment.

Specs for the device are identical to the ones that were leaked previously: The device features a Gorilla Glass-protected 4.5-inch, 720p high-definition display, 8-megapixel camera, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and will run Android 4.0. No Jelly Bean, sadly. Another notable bit of info: At 8.4mm, the Atrix HD is bit thinner than the 8.9mm Droid Razr Maxx and far thinner than the 10mm Atrix 2. Clearly, Motorola’s engineers have made some big improvements.

The device is also the first from Motorola to feature the so-called “Circle Widget”, a homescreen addition that allows easy access to the weather, time, data usage, and battery status. While the feature sounds great in theory, we’ll withold judgement until we actually test it out.

Unfortunately, confirming previous reports, the Atrix HD’s battery features a 1,780 mAh battery, which, as we noted before, is sure to cause some issues with the device’s large display.

Motorola, however, did drop two big piece of new information: The Atrix HD will be exclusive to AT&T, which gives it access to AT&T’s fast 4G network. (It’ll come to Canadians via Bell.) What’s surprising, however, is that the device will only sell for $100 on-contract, which is half of what you’d expect it to cost. And here’s a question: Is anyone really going to pay attention to Nokia’s Lumia 900 when the much more capable Atrix HD is sitting right next to it? We’re not so sure.

While there was no word on when the device would be available, we can expect the news from AT&T and Bell fairly soon.

Filed under: mobile

Rumors and questionable leaks of Motorola’s next Atrix device have been making the rounds for what seems like ages, but Motorola finally put all that speculation to rest last night. The company recently revealed the new Ice Cream Sandwich-powered handset on their website, albeit with a notable lack of fanfare.

With its rounded corners and gently sloping back, the Atrix HD looks an awful lot like a softer version of its Verizon-bound cousin, the Droid RAZR. The similarities don’t end there though — like the Droid RAZR, the new Atrix sports an 8-megapixel main camera, and its rear-end is also clad in Kevlar (though it sports a slightly different weave pattern). Meanwhile, the device’s 4.5-inch 720p Colorboost display is swathed in a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass to help things from betting too hairy when the Atrix takes a spill.

A quick look inside reveals that the Atrix HD is running on an unspecified 1.5GHz dual-core processor, and packs 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, an LTE radio, and an embedded 1780 mAh battery. While it isn’t quite as thin as its Verizon counterpart, the Atrix HD squeezes all of that into a (titanium or “modern white”) frame that comes in at 8.4mm thick.

Though the device’s spec sheet is now available for our prying eyes to pore over, we’re still left without some salient details. Even though its logo is displayed prominently under the Atrix’s screen, AT&T has yet to officially acknowledge the device’s existence. As such, there’s no word on a release date or pricing, but I wouldn’t expect things to stay that way for too much longer.

Over de Nokia 808 PureView is hier al heel wat gezegd en geschreven. Dit nieuwste Finse toestel is toch vooral een camera telefoon met een bijzondere 41 megapixel camera sensor en Rich Recording audio. Nu zou ik daar weer een paar alinea’s over……

Its bigger brothers have long since made their debut in the U.S., and now the smallest member of HTC’s One series is joining them. HTC’s pint-sized (relatively speaking) One V is now available for all you no-contract types on Virgin Mobile’s website, where it’ll set you back a cool $199.

In case you’ve forgotten about the ICS-powered One V (I don’t know that I can blame you), it sports a 3.7-inch display running at 800 x 480, a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor, 512 MB of RAM, and a 5-megapixel camera around the back. What’s more, the stock Ice Cream Sandwich UI is still covered up by HTC’s Sense 4.0 overlay, though I expect Virgin to have tweaked it a bit before letting the One V out into the wild.

Oh, and unlike the rest of its brethren, it retains the handsome, Leno-esque chin as seen in its forbearers. Thanks, HTC.

Alright, fine, the One V’s spec sheet may not be the most thrilling — even compared to some of the other devices in Virgin’s lineup — but it’s still a damn sight cheaper than the pair of iPhones that will soon hit the carrier’s virtual shelves. And hey, it’s always nice when a family manages to reunite in a different country, right?

Nokia’s killer new camera phone is finally coming to America, but unless you’ve got $700 to burn, we recommend holding off.

Nokia announced today that the 808 PureView, which is now infamous for its 41-megapixel camera, will soon be available for $699 on Amazon for U.S. customers. You’re paying a pretty penny since you’re buying the phone off-contract, and you’ll have to provide your own AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card (it’s 2G-only on T-Mobile).

We’ve covered extensively why the 808 PureView’s camera is so remarkable. It packs an astounding number of pixels into a tiny sensor, allowing you to zoom into photos in extreme ways. But the phone also runs Nokia’s aging Symbian Belle OS, which is nowhere near a worthy competitor to the iPhone and Android.

Is it really worth suffering through a clunky OS and app ecosystem just to get your hands on a cool cellphone camera? I would say no — unless you just love being the only person in the room with a quirky gadget (breaking: the 808 PureView is now the perfect hipster phone). For everyone else, you’re better off nabbing one of the latest Android phones (the HTC One series, or Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S III), the iPhone 4S, or just holding out for Apple’s upcoming iPhone.

Nokia has previously mentioned that the PureView camera technology will eventually make its way to the company’s Windows Phones. Wait a year or so, and you’ll be able to get this crazy camera tech on a platform that won’t make your hate yourself.

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Filed under: mobile, VentureBeat

De Nokia 808 Pureview stond al bekend als een van de beste, zo niet DE beste, camphone die tot op heden gemaakt is. De 41 megapixel camera sensor is uniek (voor een mobiele telefoon), maar de Rich Recording functie is zowaar nog een veel knapper……

LTE is a wonderful thing. It’s like seeing the ocean for the very first time, or taking off in a plane. The speed is brand new, and it’s beautiful. But unfortunately, most LTE smartphones tend to hang out on the expensive end of the shelf, and not everyone has $200-$300 to slap down for a phone, especially considering that none of it goes toward data and airtime.

But Samsung is known for building the greatest variety of phones, from feature to low-end to super smart, and the latest member of the Samsung mobile family is sure to offer high-speeds at a low price.

Meet the Samsung Galaxy Exhilarate.

The phone will run on AT&T’s 4G LTE network with availability beginning June 10. And it’s just $49.99 on-contract. But before you try to start placing pre-orders get a load of the specs and make sure this thing can keep up with you.

It’s a mid-range device, but for the price I’m somewhat impressed with what’s being offered here, which includes a 4-inch Super AMOLED display at an unspecified resolution. The phone is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Scorpion processor running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and sports a 5-megapixel (720p) rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

The case is also made from 80 percent recycled post-consumer materials making it AT&T’s first LTE smartphone to get UL Platinum certification. Go Earth!