Camera Archives - Derek's Reviews

Apple Announces iPhone 5

Posted on September 12, 2012September 23, 2016 by Derek

It seems that all the rumors were correct. It would be nice to see a big bang with a completely new take on the cellphone, but this evolution on the iPhone is very good.

From an engineers perspective I must say that I would be ticked off by people saying this is just a facelift, when there has obviously been some very complex engineering accomplishments. The iPhone 5 does look like a serious piece of kit.

A whole bunch of specs have been updated, what jumps out at me is obviously the bigger screen. Making the screen taller appeals to me because I would find more visible screen above the onscreen keyboard very useful.

Next the 720p front facing camera is a nice update. The rear camera is still the same spec wise, but benefits from improvements to the lens hardware additions to the software, which will account for better pictures. The picture capture time is also quicker, which was often a complaint of older iPhones and you can take pictures while shooting video.

Then the new dock connector. I have invested in a few 30pin Apple accessories, but making the connector now all digital, is a natural step forward. The connector is also reversible, so plug it in whichever way you like, good for finding your charger in the dark. There will be a 30pin to “Lightning” adapter

There is a new A6 processor, they say it’s 2x faster.

LTE gives much faster cellular network speeds, we will have to see if it works in SA when they launch LTE here.

And to top it all, some new earphones called “EarPods”. Also a bit of cool engineering.

I am due for contract update, and will order this phone as soon as I can. Can’t wait.

Apple iPhone 4S Release

Posted on October 5, 2011September 23, 2016 by Derek

On October 4th 2011, Apple announced the replacement for the iPhone 4 as the iPhone 4S. The much talked about iPhone 5 was not released “yet”. This continues a trend set when the iPhone 3G was replaced with the 3GS, looked the same on the outside, but was all new on the inside. The same happened now with the iPhone 4S. Looks the same on the outside, but in my opinion quite an update to the inside.

Image by Apple

Apple A5 chipset, dual core Cortex A9 for 7 times faster graphics.
Longer batter life – 8 hrs talk time on 3G, 9 hours browsing on Wi-Fi, 10 hours video, 40 hours music.
New intelligent switching between antennas
HSPA+ 14.4
CDMA + GSM World phone
8mp rear-facing camera, CMOS backside illuminated sensor, 73% more photons! High end IR filter. Wide f2.4. Super fast photo taking chip. 1.1 seconds for first photo.
1080p, real-time video stabilization, real-time temporal noise reduction.
SIRI artificially intelligent voice control.
16GB, 32 GB, 64GB

This breakdown from tipb.com

The decision to release iPhone 4S rather than an all new iPhone 5 has met with some disappointment, but if you think about the fact that most of these high end phones will be financed on a 2 year cellphone contract, then those that got the iPhone 4 still have around 12 months to go on their contract, ready for the 2012 release of the iPhone 5. But those sitting with the iPhone 3GS, are ready for an upgrade, and are over the moon with the iPhone 4S release.

Apple – Introducing the iPhone 4S

Apple- Introducing Siri on iPhone 4S

Apple – Introducing iOS 5

Siri Artificial Intellegence

Apple acquired Siri, and this is the outcome of integrating that technology into iOS. It’s like “voice command” on steroids. You can do all the normal stuff like calling and playing music with voice commands, but the real power comes with the ability of the system to understand what you are saying and respond with answers.

You can ask “what is the weather forecast for tomorrow” and it will bring up the weather info, but you could say “will I need an umbrella tomorrow” and the answer would be “no” or “yes just in the morning”.

Siri will also connect to Wikipedia and WolframAlpha to get answers, so you can ask any question really.

Camera

Now with 8 mega pixels and 1080p video recording, Apple is saying this is the best camera you have likely owned. They are probably right, but iPhone is not the first to offer this level of specification. I must say, there is really no point any more owning a compact digital camera, at least you will have your cellphone with you all the time.

A5 Chip

This is basically the iPad 2 chip, which improves the speed over the A4 chip in the iPhone 4, but vastly improves the graphics processing. Games will obviously work much better, but Apple says even browsing a website will be quicker.

I do think this is a great phone, if you are in the market for a smart phone, I would add it to the short list. If you are upgrading from an iPhone 3G or 3GS and you have invested quite heavily in the Apple universe, then it’s a no brainer, just get it. But if you have an iPhone 4, then maybe wait for the iPhone 5, iOS 5 will be available for free on October 12. The update will add some very nice features to your iPhone 4, so you could probably live without Siri, the extra power and the awesome camera for now.

By the way iOS 5 will update your iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3 and 4, as well as iPad 1 and 2. Look forward to testing that out.

Honda CRV Car DVD Install Part 1

Posted on April 23, 2010September 24, 2016 by Derek

This a quick walk through of the Waywell Car DVD install for a 2009 Honda CRV.

The model being fitted here the WD6009, but the site has been updated to reflect changes to this model. Waywell Website, so you cannot buy this specific one anymore

This is what the car looks like with the standard radio.

Radio with single CD, no MP3 capability, but it does have an aux in for a media device

This was replaced with the following

CD/DVD Player
MP4 Video Player
MP3 Player (Supported on CD and DVD)
Radio
USB Reader
SD Card Reader
Bluetooth (for cellphone)
AUX in (Audio and Video)
AUX out (Audio and Video, for rear screens)
iPod support
Reversing Camera
TV
GPS Navigation

Picture of the installed unit, showing the main menu.

Wiring

The unit comes with a wiring harness to suit the existing one in the car, so the plugs going to the original radio, plug straight into the new radios harness. This only really covers the wiring for the speakers, and the steering wheel controls, as you still have to supply wires for main power, key power and dash lights.

The harness going to the car

The main harness going into the radio

The steering wheel remote control wire

Steering Wheel Remote Control Issue

Plugging in the wires and getting the radio working was pretty easy, I did have a problem getting the steering remote controls working, at first none of the buttons would work, then after a bit of searching I found that the pink and brown wires you can see in the picture above, were the wrong way round. After fixing that I could get only volume up and channel down to work. I contacted Waywell and they sent me the follow pages from their manual.

Click on the image to enlarge

This worked first time, so all the buttons work as expected. In the CRV the steering has remote buttons for Volume, Channel and Mode. Because you can map any button to any function, I found mapping mode to mute on the radio was more handy.

This is what the setup screen looks like, as explained in the supplied fix.

A TV antenna and reversing camera were added to the radio when ordered as optional extras. The TV works the same as a portable TV with “bunny” ears. But you can’t move the antenna around as it is fixed in the roof lining near the windscreen, so you have to move the car around. TV reception moves from good to terrible, with the slightest change in direction. I did manage to pick up all the South African TV stations though.

Just a note, the TV and DVD only work if the handbrake is up, the rear DVD player will work while the car is moving, so the kids are happy, and you can use the radio in the front for something else.

Reversing Camera

Fitting this was the hardest part, the camera was mounted above the number plate in the rear hatch. This ended up to be a great place, with a good view behind. The unit automatically switches to the camera when you engage reverse, and works like a charm. Sometimes the light can be an issue, as you would expect.

The camera shows up 3 blue lines on the image, and with some practice, you can navigate very well using these lines as a reference for how close you are to objects.

iPod

I connected an iPod Touch to test the iPod connection and it works fine, audio is good, I have not managed to get video to work. There is a menu item for it, so I assume it would work, possibly only with the normal iPod.

I do find the menu rather small, and clicking on items with your finger is difficult, especially when driving. Once you are in the place you want to be, you can skip back/forward with the steering controls.

Bluetooth

The bluetooth cellphone interface is pretty basic, just gives you hands-free functionality, with incoming caller number only, no address book import. This is a bit of a downer, for a device like this, but as I see on the Waywell website, they are now adding this to new models.

Radio

This functions well, and there are 18 presets available, reception is ok, I have had better radios, but with a strong signal it’s fine. There is no RDS, so no channel names, as well as no auto-skip to a stronger signal.

Check back for part 2 on how I got the SatNav working.