Sony Ericsson launching 12.1 megapixel camera phone
Sony Ericsson are launching the Satio which is a 12.1 megapixel camera phone. It is powered by the Symbian OS S60 5th edition that can be found in phones such as the Nokia 5800 and the N97.
The phone it’s self is just 13mm thick and weighs 126 grams. As the Satio has such a large megapixel camera built in the lens cover bulges out slightly that kind of takes away a little from the quite small frame that houses the rest of the camera.
As with the Sony Aino mentioned yesterday, the Satio also excels in both the camera and in music. The 12.1 megapixel sensor has a nice lens to work with along with a xenon flash and video light which helps provide decent pictures in low light situations. As with the Aino, the Satio also has smile detection, face detection and touch focus. What touch focus does is allows you to tap the screen at the point where you want it to focus and then the camera focuses on that particular spot. Other camera features include 12x digital zoom and image stabilisation.
The display on the Satio measures 3.5″ and is a TFT screen with a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels. The screen is also touchscreen (resistive) and can display 16 million colours. A stylus is included with the phone but rather than storing it in the phone, it is attached on a lanyard. The symbian S60 5th edition is finger friendly so using the stylus is not mandatory like it would be for an older Windows Mobile OS for example. An onscreen portrait or landscape QWERTY keyboard is also provided as well as an onscreen number pad for making calls.
Connectivity wise the phone is 3G with HSDPA and HSUPA support. As can be expected, the phone also has Wi-Fi, A2DP, Bluetooth and aGPS that has pretty much become a standard on most phones these days.
An interesting move on this phone see’s the memory stick slot dumped in favour of the more popular microSD card format which is a step in the right direction. However, they unfortunately don’t use the standard 3.5mm headphone jack on this phone so you’ll need to use the specific headphone on this phone.
The Satio looks to be ideal for anyone wanting a good music experience along with a fantastic 12.1 megapixel camera.
The Sony Ericsson Satio at a glance
Satio
Camera
- 12.1 megapixel camera
- Up to 12x digital zoom
- Auto focus
- BestPic™
- Face detection
- Geo tagging of photos
- Image stabilizer
- Photo feeds
- Photo fix
- Send to web
- Red-eye reduction
- Smile detection
- Touch focus
- Video light
- Video recording
- Xenon flash
Music
- Album art
- Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
- Media player
- Music tones (MP3/AAC)
- PlayNow™
- TrackID™
Web
- WebKit web browser
- Bookmarks
- Web feeds
Communication
- Call list
- Speakerphone
- Vibrating alert
- Video calling
Messaging
- Conversations
- Email
- Exchange ActiveSync™
- Handwriting recognition
- Instant messaging
- On-screen QWERTY keyboard
- Picture messaging (MMS)
- Predictive text input
- Sound recorder
- Text messaging (SMS)
Design
- Auto rotate
- Gesture control
- Media
- Picture wallpaper
- S60 5th edition Symbian™ OS
- Touchscreen
- Wallpaper animation
Entertainment
- HD and 3D games
- Facebook™ application
- FM radio with RDS
- Java
- Video streaming
- Video viewing
- YouTube™
Connectivity
- Bluetooth™ technology
- Modem
- PictBridge
- Synchronisation
- TV out
- USB mass storage
- USB support
- In-built WiFi™
Organizer
- Alarm clock
- Calculator
- Calendar
- Contacts
- Document readers
- Document editors
- Flight mode
- Notes
- Tasks
Location-based services
- A-GPS
- Google Maps™
- Turn-by-turn navigation
Accessories
In-Box:
- Satio
- Battery
- Battery Charger
- 8GB Memory card
- USB cable
- Media manager
- Colour-matched stereo portable handsfree
- User guide
Optional:
- Video Viewing Stand IM920
Facts and Figures
- Size: 112 x 55 x 13.3 mm
- Weight: 126 grams
- Colours: Black, Silver and Bordeaux
- Main screen: 16,777,216 colour nHD TFT
- 16:9 widescreen
- Resolution: 640 x 360 pixels
- Size: 3.5 inches
- Phone memory: 128 MB
- Memory Card Support: SanDisk microSD™
Availability and versions
Networks:
Satio
- GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
- UMTS HSDPA 2100
Satio(a)
- GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
- UMTS HSPA 850/1900/2100
Technology
Technology is a broad concept that deals with human as well as other animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment. "technology" can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include "construction technology", "medical technology", or "state-of-the-art technology".
The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The prehistorical discovery of the ability to control fire increased the available sources of food and the invention of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling their environment. Recent technological developments, including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. However, not all technology has been used for peaceful purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing destructive power has progressed throughout history, from clubs to nuclear weapons.
Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today's global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.
Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it. Neo-Luddism, anarcho-primitivism, and similar movements criticise the pervasiveness of technology in the modern world, opining that it harms the environment and alienates people; proponents of ideologies such as transhumanism and techno-progressivism view continued technological progress as beneficial to society and the human condition. Indeed, until recently, it was believed that the development of technology was restricted only to human beings, but recent scientific studies indicate that other primates and certain dolphin communities have developed simple tools and learned to pass their knowledge to other generations.
Role in Human History
Paleolithic (2.5 million – 10,000 BC)
The use of tools by early humans was partly a process of discovery, partly of evolution. Early humans evolved from a race of foraging hominids which were already bipedal with a brain mass approximately one third that of modern humans. Tool use remained relatively unchanged for most of early human history, but approximately 50,000 years ago, a complex set of behaviors and tool use emerged, believed by many archaeologists to be connected to the emergence of fully-modern language.
A primitive chopper
Stone tools
Human ancestors have been using stone and other tools since long before the emergence of Homo sapiens approximately 200,000 years ago. The earliest methods of stone tool making, known as the Oldowan "industry", date back to at least 2.3 million years ago, with the earliest direct evidence of tool usage found in Ethiopia within the Great Rift Valley, dating back to 2.5 million years ago. This era of stone tool use is called the Paleolithic, or "Old stone age", and spans all of human history up to the development of agriculture approximately 12,000 years ago.
To make a stone tool, a "core" of hard stone with specific flaking properties (such as flint) was struck with a hammerstone. This flaking produced a sharp edge on the core stone as well as on the flakes, either of which could be used as tools, primarily in the form of choppers or scrapers. These tools greatly aided the early humans in their hunter-gatherer lifestyle to perform a variety of tasks including butchering carcasses (and breaking bones to get at the marrow); chopping wood; cracking open nuts; skinning an animal for its hide; and even forming other tools out of softer materials such as bone and wood
The earliest stone tools were crude, being little more than a fractured rock. In the Acheulian era, beginning approximately 1.65 million years ago, methods of working these stone into specific shapes, such as hand axes emerged. The Middle Paleolithic, approximately 300,000 years ago, saw the introduction of the prepared-core technique, where multiple blades could be rapidly formed from a single core stone. The Upper Paleolithic, beginning approximately 40,000 years ago, saw the introduction of pressure flaking, where a wood, bone, or antler punch could be used to shape a stone very finely.
A Clovis point, made via pressure flaking
Fire
The discovery and utilization of fire, a simple energy source with many profound uses, was a turning point in the technological evolution of humankind. The exact date of its discovery is not known; evidence of burnt animal bones at the Cradle of Humankind suggests that the domestication of fire occurred before 1,000,000 BC; scholarly consensus indicates that Homo erectus had controlled fire by between 500,000 BC and 400,000 BC. Fire, fueled with wood and charcoal, allowed early humans to cook their food to increase its digestibility, improving its nutrient value and broadening the number of foods that could be eaten.
Clothing and shelter
Other technological advances made during the Paleolithic era were clothing and shelter; the adoption of both technologies cannot be dated exactly, but they were a key to humanity's progress. As the Paleolithic era progressed, dwellings became more sophisticated and more elaborate; as early as 380,000 BC, humans were constructing temporary wood huts. Clothing, adapted from the fur and hides of hunted animals, helped humanity expand into colder regions; humans began to migrate out of Africa by 200,000 BC and into other continents, such as Eurasia.
Neolithic through Classical Antiquity (10,000BC – 300AD)
scovery of agriculture allowed for the feeding of larger populations, and the transition to a sedentist lifestyle increased the number of children that could be simultaneously raised, as young children no longer needed to be carried, as was the case with the nomadic lifestyle. Additionally, children could contribute labor to the raising of crops more readily than they could to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
With this increase in population and availability of labor came an increase in labor specialization. What triggered the progression from early Neolithic villages to the first cities, such as Uruk, and the first civilizations, such as Sumer, is not specifically known; however, the emergence of increasingly hierarchical social structures, the specialization of labor, trade and war amongst adjacent cultures, and the need for collective action to overcome environmental challenges, such as the building of dikes and reservoirs, are all thought to have played a role.
Metal tools
Continuing improvements led to the furnace and bellows and provided the ability to smelt and forge native metals (naturally occurring in relatively pure form). Gold, copper, silver, and lead, were such early metals. The advantages of copper tools over stone, bone, and wooden tools were quickly apparent to early humans, and native copper was probably used from near the beginning of Neolithic times (about 8000 BC). Native copper does not naturally occur in large amounts, but copper ores are quite common and some of them produce metal easily when burned in wood or charcoal fires. Eventually, the working of metals led to the discovery of alloys such as bronze and brass (about 4000 BC). The first uses of iron alloys such as steel dates to around 1400 BC.
Energy and Transport
Meanwhile, humans were learning to harness other forms of energy. The earliest known use of wind power is the sailboat. The earliest record of a ship under sail is shown on an Egyptian pot dating back to 3200 BC. From prehistoric times, Egyptians probably used "the power of the Nile" annual floods to irrigate their lands, gradually learning to regulate much of it through purposely-built irrigation channels and 'catch' basins. Similarly, the early peoples of Mesopotamia, the Sumerians, learned to use the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for much the same purposes. But more extensive use of wind and water (and even human) power required another invention.
According to archaeologists, the wheel was invented around 4000 B.C. The wheel was probably independently invented in Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq) as well. Estimates on when this may have occurred range from 5500 to 3000 B.C., with most experts putting it closer to 4000 B.C. The oldest artifacts with drawings that depict wheeled carts date from about 3000 B.C.; however, the wheel may have been in use for millennia before these drawings were made. Th
ere is also evidence from the same period of time that wheels were used for the production of pottery. (Note that the original potter's wheel was probably not a wheel, but rather an irregularly shaped slab of flat wood with a small hollowed or pierced area near the center and mounted on a peg driven into the earth. It would have been ro
tated by repeated tugs by the potter or his assistant.) More recently, the oldest-known wooden wheel in the world was found in the Ljubljana marshes of Slovenia.
The invention of the wheel revolutionized activities as disparate as transportation, war, and the production of pottery (for which it may have been first used). It didn't take long to discover that wheeled wagons could be used to carry heavy loads and fast (rotary) potters' wheels enabled early mass production of pottery. But it was the use of the wheel as a transformer of energy (through water wheels, windmills, and even treadmills) that revolutionized the applic
ation of nonhuman power sources.
Modern history
Tools include both simple machines (such as the lever, the screw, and the pulley), and more complex machines (such as the clock, the engine, the electric generator and the electric motor, the computer, radio, and the Space Station, among many others). As tools increase in complexity, so does the type of knowledge needed to support them. Complex modern machines require libraries of written technical manuals of collected information that has continually increased an
d improved — their designers, builders, maintainers, and users often require the mastery of decades of sophisticated general and specific training. Moreover, these tools have become so complex that a comprehensive infrastructure of technical knowledge-based lesser tools, processes and practices (complex tools in themselves) exist to support them, including engineering, medicine, and computer science. Complex manufacturing and construction techniques and organizations are needed to construct and maintain them. Entire industries have arisen to support and develop succeeding generations of increasingly more complex tools. The relationship of technology w
ith society ( culture) is generally characterized as synergistic, symbiotic, co-dependent, co-influential, and co-producing, i.e. technology and society depend heavily one upon the other (technology upon culture, and culture upon technology). It is also generally believed that this synergistic relationship first occurred at the dawn of humankind with the invention of simple tools, and continues with modern technologies today. Today and throughout history, technology influences and is influenced by such societal issues/factors as economics, values, ethics, institutions, groups, the environment, government, among others. The discipline studying the impacts of science, technology, and society and vice versa is called Science and technology in society.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.