Personal Technology Tips in Plain English
Posts tagged video
A Snapshot of the Top 5 Snapshot Cell Phones Today
Nov 10th
The photographic capabilities of mobile phones are increasing with each new batch of handsets and now it is almost impossible to find a high end smartphone which does not offer high definition video capture along with a high megapixel count for still shots.
Here are five of the best. . .
iPhone 4
With a five megapixel camera and LED flash the iPhone 4 is the best in Apple`s range when it comes to taking pictures. It also has the ability to shoot 720p video clips at a smooth 30 fps and has extra features such as touch to focus and various effects to apply. A forward-facing VGA camera supplements its rear-facing snapper for video calling and with 16GB or 32GB of storage space on board you can capture hours of footage and thousands of photos without filling it up.
Nokia N8
The N8 is intended to be a serious camera phone, so it is no surprise to see its 12 megapixel camera outclassing every other handset in this list. With a Xenon flash it is also the most capable when it comes to illuminating dark spaces. Digital zoom of up to 30x magnification is on offer when you are taking stills or recording video in 720p HD and like the iPhone it has a forward-facing secondary camera for video calls. Geotagging is applied to both videos and photos so you can find out the location later and there is 16GB of onboard storage space expandable by an extra 32GB if you buy a separate microSD memory card, which should be more than enough for all of your media.
HTC Desire HD
With an eight megapixel camera and dual LED flash the Desire HD is able to handle solid still photographs and can also shoot video in high definition at the same 720p resolution as its rivals. You can enable the LED flashes to act as a light for videoing in dark situations and you can tweak the settings from sharpness to exposure using simple on-screen sliders which are touch sensitive and intuitive. The autofocus is fairly competent although unlike other phones you do not get a dedicated macro mode for close-up shooting, which might be a problem for some users.
Samsung Galaxy S
Like the Desire HD this is an Android smartphone and it packs fairly similar five megapixel camera which matches up with the iPhone 4`s unit. Thanks to the 1GHz processor onboard it is responsive and easy to capture images or shoot video at 720p. You can find Galaxy S variants with 16GB or 8GB of onboard storage, which should give you enough room to work with as long as you upload images from time to time. Sadly the lack of any kind of flash, LED or otherwise, means that when the light is dim the Galaxy S is less than perfect.
BlackBerry Torch
Another five megapixel camera is affixed to the Torch, showing that this is the de facto image capture resolution for a high end mobile phone. An LED flash is also present although it is not as bright as the dual-LED solution of the Desire HD or the Xenon flash found on the Nokia N8. You can alternate between different shooting modes depending on the situation, but a lack of HD video capture lets it down.
DO YOU TAKE MORE PHOTOS WITH YOUR CELLPHONE CAMERA OR YOUR DEDICATED POINT AND SHOOT CAMERA?
How To Download YouTube Videos
Mar 6th
Sometimes you need a video clip that’s available online for offline use – like using it as an example for a class or workshop.
Other times, you may want to be able to play it offline for your own review at a later time when it’s more convenient for you, or when you know you won’ t have internet access (like on a plane).
There’s definitely a bunch of sites available now that let you download videos from YouTube and other video sharing sites out there.
Usually all you have to do is copy/paste the video page URL from Youtube, MetaCafe or other video site into the form on the video download site and you’re all set to go.
But once in awhile, your favorite Youtube video grabber site can’t download the video file. That’s when you have to go looking for other options.
Other than Kisstube and Vixy, I found another favorite that seems to work for me . . .
SaveVid.com works just the same. This site does give a couple of download options including flv format, mp4 as well as HD video which YouTube presents sometimes.
SaveVid.com also shares some of the videos that others have used the site to download so you can get a sense of what people are watching and downloading.
Do you have any other favorite sites to download videos from online video platforms? Please add them in the comments below.
Samsung Blackjack Tip: How To Perform A Hard Master Reset on the Samsung Blackjack i607 [video]
Jul 31st
Although I clearly still love the Samsung Blackjack even after the release of the iPhone, I came across a little glitch last week (which is a MICROSOFT PROBLEM, not Samsung Blackjack issue) with Windows Mobile. It would not let me re-boot past the Windows Mobile start-up screen. This problem started after I upgraded to ActiveSync 4.5.
AT&T Wireless / Blackjack tech support told me to go back to ActiveSync 4.2 becuase 4.5 wasn’t as stable in their experience. So uninstalling I went.
In the meantime, I had to get my phone back to normal so I could re-sync with the old ActiveSync.
After trying the normal troubleshooting, I just said, it was easier to do a hard master reset and wipe the phone clean. However, AT&T tier 1 support didn’t know how, since you had to be at the Windows Mobile desktop to do a “hard reset” supposedly.
Luckily, I asked to go to Tier 2 support, and as I guessed, there was another way.
Read the rest of this entry »
Convert & Watch Video On Your Samsung Blackjack (Windows Mobile Phone)
Mar 21st
Although watching streaming video over the cellular network is neat, the major problem is that you need a really good 3G signal to get crisp, non-jerky video. What’s the solution?
Well, I’ve now figured out that one way is to load up my Samsung Blackjack (on Cingular / AT&T Wireless) with various video that I’ve downloaded to watch on the go. The question was how do I convert video on the PC to the file format that can be watched on the Blackjack cell phone’s Windows Media Player?
Enter our one of our favorite file converstion websites: Zamzar.com. You’ll see that they’ve added support for .3GP file format conversions.
Just select the file, indicate you want to convert TO .3GP FORMAT, and off you go! All you have to do is move it to your microSD Card and play on demand! Your friends and co-workers will be amazed at your super-cellphone-powers!
I love tech, gadgets and the web. Hope you pick-up a useful tip or two here today that helps you use technology to your advantage! Better yet, why not share your own expertise in a comment on a post today to help the other readers that land here for answers!