Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jun 2013 10:59

^^Actually if you replace "followers of old region" with "followers of new religion", you will have the numbers that reflect reality today.

The old region is passe, its followers weak, old and endangered prepare to make a Last Stand! Remember Barbad Bunker! JEEHAARDDD!!! Even many years ago, guess who was the largest seller of cameras in the world? - not Canon, not Kodak, not Nikon, it was GB. And that was much before even the iPhunwa/Instagram/Flickr/Picasa came into the scene. Now its a no-contest.

I still have my grandpa's Brownie camera which he got from massa or UK in the early 50s and sis's Hotshot camera. Rescued the former from getting sold by dajjaal relatives to fund their aish-o-haraam. There is something in the Bong culture which has cultivated a mindset of not working and selling off heirlooms to temporarily fund a decaying lifestyle.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jun 2013 11:38

the largest seller of toys in the world is mcdonalds via their happy meals.

"healthy food for the masses". surprisingly good and durable too if you test them.

but its not what clued in munnas really want to seriously play with beyond 15 mins.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jun 2013 12:24

^^clued-in munnas are too elitist a bunch, not enough purchasing power or strength compared to the unwashed grubby masses sire - the trends are set by the latter, not the former.

In fact the mark of an endangered species is the one who claim special powers, visions and insights not bestowed upon the hordes of the unwashed - the chosen, the few

One will always find the hardy faithfool hunkered down in deep bunkers, protecting their way of life, chanting the verses of the ancient, keeping the old ways alive. But the rest of the world marches on, oblivious to these hold-outs....forgotten, forbidden, ignored.

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 19 Jun 2013 12:24

I saw the Xolo Q700.

VERY TFTA phone onlee ...and marketed in India by SDRE company Xolo. Very very good. I was thinking of buying an HTC One. But, I may even think of getting this one instead.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jun 2013 12:53

MMX is trying to compete directly with galaxy line with canvas4 releasing 28 june - price expected around 24k....

lets see if they are able to eat into samsungs hitherto secure high end niche as well...having already done major damage in the middle segment 10-15k

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 19 Jun 2013 14:29

Gents, does any one know of a good open-source/license free software which can manage the Address Book in a Samsung Galaxy Duos phone? My idea is to weed out unused numbers and addresses from the phone. Doing this manually on the phone is becoming a pain.

Singha wrote:we used to have a russian mechanical cam (uncle gave it to me from some junkyard) and a hotshot110 pocket camera...

A friend of mine had this russian camera and faced a problem routinely. The cog wheel which moves the film forward was made of good solid steel. So at times this used to cut the film's edges (where there were slots to which the cogs in the wheel should get into and move the film). Do not know what the camera make was.

The old low-cost cameras, looks like all of them have vanished now. Buying the film rolls, carefully feeding them in, taking the snaps, winding the roll back, and then rushing off to the studio all seems to be old stories. There was a time when every event, I used to plan it to be covered by 36 snaps

(one film roll). BTW, some times it gives a great nostalgic feeling to see the old pictures/photo albums. The "online albums" just dont give the same feeling

.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jun 2013 20:22

I am sure there still exist grizzled survivor types who are prepared to defend the soup-e-riority of fillum cameras vs digital ones but again,the world passed them by....join up or fall behind forever is the mantra of the relentless march of technology....plus it looks like photography is like driving, most people think they are great at it and need all the fancy kit, most are not.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Jun 2013 21:02

yawn sirji yawn..every dawn brings a new leader out of the desert...all claiming to know the answer and wiser than PBUH himself.

people will definitely buy somewhere beyond what they need in anything - phones , houses, tesla S (several are salivating here itself), wives , concubines...cameras...its human nature to stretch a little up than curtail a little down

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 19 Jun 2013 22:06

Raja Bose wrote:I am sure there still exist grizzled survivor types who are prepared to defend the soup-e-riority of fillum cameras vs digital ones but again,the world passed them by....join up or fall behind forever is the mantra of the relentless march of technology....plus it looks like photography is like driving, most people think they are great at it and need all the fancy kit, most are not.

Medium format film hung on until recently, but now with digital medium format (very large sensor size 50x39mm) Pentax, Mamiya and others being affordable, film is less used. Medium format is for glossy advertising and bill boards. Though medium format film cameras have fallen in price quite a bit and a friend picked up a nice Rollei for ~$1200 to play with.

You may not like to take pictures, others do, it's not for everyone and is like painting. I do about a couple of hundred shots a month, and keep about 80%, because they are mostly of my kids doing things as they grow up. I do back up off site and get regular prints.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jun 2013 22:07

Singha saar, onlee if they don't have to haul extra load. Sir jee this is the age of healthy metrosexual males claiming that a phone weighing 5 oz is too heavy and cumbersome....now you want them to pay $400 extra and carry 5 oz extra?! That is a hyooman right violation

The folks who have the ability to buy the little extra are very important for evolution of technology....they fund the development and initial refinements based on consumer feedback. Without them most cutting edge technology would be DOA. That is why despite all its warts I love the kickstarter model.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 19 Jun 2013 22:12

Mort Walker wrote:
Raja Bose wrote:I am sure there still exist grizzled survivor types who are prepared to defend the soup-e-riority of fillum cameras vs digital ones but again,the world passed them by....join up or fall behind forever is the mantra of the relentless march of technology....plus it looks like photography is like driving, most people think they are great at it and need all the fancy kit, most are not.
Medium format film hung on until recently, but now with digital medium format (very large sensor size 50x39mm) Pentax, Mamiya and others being affordable, film is less used. Medium format is for glossy advertising and bill boards. Though medium format film cameras have fallen in price quite a bit and a friend picked up a nice Rollei for ~$1200 to play with.

You may not like to take pictures, others do, it's not for everyone and is like painting. I do about a couple of hundred shots a month, and keep about 80%, because they are mostly of my kids doing things as they grow up. I do back up off site and get regular prints.

I agree but its never about the enthusiast crowd....they will always exist as a niche and will be passionate and willing to take the pain for the gain. What I am talking about is the mango Abdul who is not an enthusiast....they are always the 90% of the market and they define the trends. It doesn't mean that the enthu crowd gets wiped out but it does mean that you don't look at them when designing for the mass market. That's why stuff like "what do the unwashed hordes know about good photography etc" don't fly becoz if the hordes don't know or can't be made to care then its not core to the UX. Claiming that only intelligent or smart people should be allowed to use a device is stupid (& this is a classic geek refrain I come across often) You never design for the top 1%...you always design for the bottom 90%....thats what defines a good UX - something which the average brain dead abdul can use without a hitch. That's what the Mahdi excelled at in terms of technology and marketing.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 19 Jun 2013 23:06

SaiK wrote:pandyan, i have not touched it for eons.. last time i used it was some at least 10 years back. it must work, if battery is placed. but, i will test it out soon just fyi.

do you think it is of any use if it works? btw, it was the first camera with advanced eye controlled focus. i can focus by looking at the object, and get my shots pucka! tons of features.

The lens is an EOS mount. You may want to get a cheap Rebel DSLR (used) and play around with it if you're interested.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jun 2013 02:27

Stratasys to acquire 3D printing company MakerBot

Stratasys is really consolidating itself into a monopoly for 3D printers (the already acquired Objet before). 3D systems seem to be sleeping on the job.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 20 Jun 2013 04:10

Microsoft Pulls a Pakistan and Does a U-turn

So, no more constant internet connection or DRM and allowing used games, but what about backwards compatibility to XBox 360? So far, Sony has made the right noises with the PS4.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 20 Jun 2013 04:13

mort, i was thinking more on the lines of attachments.. like remove the back cover, and replace with a DSLR back kind of plugin, where I can re-vitalize my fillum slr camera. all it needs is a digital view, and a storage device. they could use the same controls.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jun 2013 04:25

Mort Walker wrote:Microsoft Pulls a Pakistan and Does a U-turn

So, no more constant internet connection or DRM and allowing used games, but what about backwards compatibility to XBox 360? So far, Sony has made the right noises with the PS4.

Basically Mickey went from the Steam model to its legacy XBox360 model. Mickey may have downhill skied too much leaving Sony exposed on the front lines. Sony might have to downhill ski itself to catch up becoz right now they have now gone from being the less restrictive to the more restrictive. For example, Sony is leaving DRM upto the publishers whereas Mickey in now enforcing no DRM regardless of what publishers want (180 degree reversal). So if Sony doesn't reciprocate Mickey will just coolly bring back the same DRM policy as Sony at some point down the line without getting penalized while Sony will lose out.

They wont do backwards compatibility with XBox360 unless its for some old legacy games - HW is different, Kinect is not optional any more plus they want people to buy the XBox One, not hold on to their XBox360. They will take the FruitCo approach here of forcing HW upgrade on the users.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 20 Jun 2013 05:07

Apparently M$ tried to buy Nokia. I always thought exclusivity with windows was a bad idea for Nokia. They should have used android, windows and their homegrown OS like sammy. Hope GB does not die. It would be bad for smartphone ecosystem in general. The first sign they are dying is if they sue everyone left and right. Like TiVo.

http://bgr.com/2013/06/19/microsoft-nok ... otiations/

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jun 2013 05:13

It would make more sense for Mickey to buy GB's L&C (aka NAVTEQ) business including all their automotive contracts. Buying the devices business doesn't make too much sense given the liabilities GB has in terms of unionized labour in its factories worldwide and Mickey already has the required HW expertise in-house. GB was in no position to do android, windows phone and meego at the same time back in the day - it would be dead before anything got off the ground so focus was important. It can do so perhaps in another year or so when its finances are more stable. Sammy will make Tizen compatible with Android apps to seed the ecosystem - they already have a separate Android app store which Chacha has no control over.

Anujan wrote:The first sign they are dying is if they sue everyone left and right.

You mean like FruitCo?

Nandu · Post by **Nandu** » 20 Jun 2013 05:53

The Paki move here by Mickey is denying that they tinkered with the autocomplete. The very fact that there is only one suggestion shows that they tinkered with it.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/a ... ng/277012/

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jun 2013 06:09

Right on cue.....Now that Mickey reversed its policy, tech blogs are claiming the original policy was better

The Xbox One Just Got Way Worse, And It's Our Fault

BhairavP · Post by **BhairavP** » 20 Jun 2013 06:39

Marten Saar , weren't the contacts synced with a Google/Gmail account? They should still be there , just re sync with the gmail account the phone was set up with.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 20 Jun 2013 07:18

The contrarian Gizmodo article is full of nandi droppings and written just for pageviews and is a clickbait.

If M$ policies were so user friendly, why did they have to downhill ski? They could have stuck it out and users would have realized the value of the console. In any case, the life cycle of a console is atleast 5 years -- plenty of time to people to see the value.

Why this "disk should be inside xbox to play" hainji? Require the disk to be inside the first time you play. From the next time, register the game to you in the cloud, unless someone else uses the same disk, in which case cancel your license. Is that so hard to do?

The question behind the resale policies are simple: Who controls the resale market? M$ and game publishers or third party? In the current setup, third party like Gamestop can purchase games from users and re-sell them. Game creators and M$ have no control over it. OTOH, if games were in the cloud, Gamestop could not resell it and publishes and M$ can set terms. And M$ would want licensing fees from publishes for resold games. And publishers would raise the prices of resold games to pay M$ the licensing fee.

"If we give publishes boatloads of money, they will make games cheaper next time" is a load of BS. Games are a fungible commodity. If a game is costly, you will buy another game. Game prices are purely set by the market and the desirability of the game. It is like arguing that if we banned movie DVD resale and did it through movie studios, cinema ticket prices would come down. That is incredibly stupid. By the same argument if we stopped lending and resale of books, book prices would come down.

I heard M$ is now offerring deep discounts on surface and pro. Maybe because lending and resale of surface is banned?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jun 2013 08:19

The DRM/cloud based blah policy while great for the long run is not going to fly in the short-term. Steam has similar policies but none of the consoles ever did so its hard to get consumers to agree on that. Sony unless they downhill ski in response has done something more sneaky which is allow game publishers to dictate the DRM terms if they want to - most big name publishers will do so if given a chance. So right now Sony is exposed to flak.

Anujan wrote: Why this "disk should be inside xbox to play" hainji? Require the disk to be inside the first time you play. From the next time, register the game to you in the cloud, unless someone else uses the same disk, in which case cancel your license. Is that so hard to do?

Well that won't work becoz the console doesn't need to be online anymore for games to be played so where's the foolproof way of doing cloud validation, hain ji?

So either you have the 24 hour mandatory internet check-in (which all tech blogs went

over and was removed) or you require the disk in drive during game play. You can't remove both requirements otherwise which game publisher will trust their games on that platform from being pirated? Games today are produced like movies with similar budgets hence, piracy is the #1 concern for publishers of hit games.

Anujan wrote: The question behind the resale policies are simple: Who controls the resale market? M$ and game publishers or third party? In the current setup, third party like Gamestop can purchase games from users and re-sell them. Game creators and M$ have no control over it. OTOH, if games were in the cloud, Gamestop could not resell it and publishes and M$ can set terms. And M$ would want licensing fees from publishes for resold games. And publishers would raise the prices of resold games to pay M$ the licensing fee.

This will happen regardless as game discs become passe just like FDDs. In the long-term the Steam model will become the next norm. Actually the price may even fall becoz brick and mortar middlemen like Gamestop will get cut out of the deal and online trading has much less operational overhead.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jun 2013 09:36

Marten mullah, is this desi operator or videshi? For example in massa, Verizon automatically backs up phone book in the cloud to protect against such issues.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 20 Jun 2013 09:59

If the memory card hasnt been formatted there might ne a chance to recover data fro. It.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 20 Jun 2013 21:57

Nvidia lowers Shield price to $299 ahead of June 27th release date

A very interesting device though price is too high to buy personally. Will have to dig into KB fund to get it I guess.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 20 Jun 2013 22:54

It's coming....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe lalmullah is there scouting out the SaMILF.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 20 Jun 2013 23:05

Marten wrote:
BhairavP wrote:Marten Saar , weren't the contacts synced with a Google/Gmail account? They should still be there , just re sync with the gmail account the phone was set up with.
No sir. It appears once the contacts are deleted from the phone, they also get deleted from Google.

I have also backed up on a free anti virus cloud. I have done it many times when I used to change the s/w using xda forum.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 20 Jun 2013 23:06

Raja Bose wrote:Marten mullah, is this desi operator or videshi? For example in massa, Verizon automatically backs up phone book in the cloud to protect against such issues.

at&t also has it unformtunately my sony xperia tl is not able to access it.
I am living with it.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 21 Jun 2013 05:39

Post-process: why the smartphone camera changed photography forever

Mortullah, take note. Its written by pro photographer and the fella is not even using the best smartphone camera out there (he is using an average one) - should he be stoned for blasphemy now?

Times are changing as usual. When GB just launched the Lumia 925, they shot the TV ads using the phone itself instead of the expensive kit typically used for shooting such ads.

Like he said (and I reiterated many times on this dhaaga), history is simply repeating itself. Like it or not, P&S is getting retired to the niche corner.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 21 Jun 2013 06:48

Im not sure you get what the others are saying. Everyone knows its not the camera that matters but the monkey behind it. That doesn't mean a 5D3 is the same as an iphone, which that guy says too. For the aam admi who views photos on an uncalibrated 17" monitor it wont be evident at all . For the person who wants to print or take nice pictures its no question. There are many things the iphone can't do yet. Until then there will be a market for the mirrorless and dslrs of the camera world. Volumes? Anyones guess.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 21 Jun 2013 07:04

^^^Thats the point - good standalone cameras will remain and cater to their respective niches. Nobody is saying a phone can take pics like a DSLR or even the Mirrorless camera Sammy launched today. In fact that is not even germane to the issue. But P&S segment which was basically for the mass market will die out - its academic whether that is due to the machine or the monkey? How does it matter except for pill-o-soppy chai biskoot semantics? People who purchased P&S cameras exclusively (which is 90% of the mango population) are not the print nice photo types. In fact after advent of digital cameras, how many hardbound photu albums have you seen unless it is for some major occasion like shaadi? Compare that to your childhood days when everything would be logged in hard copy photu albums - trips, occasions, childhood pics, everything. Now only some special pics are printed and framed for placement on the living room shelves.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 21 Jun 2013 07:15

Raja Bose wrote:Post-process: why the smartphone camera changed photography forever

Mortullah, take note. Its written by pro photographer and the fella is not even using the best smartphone camera out there (he is using an average one) - should he be stoned for blasphemy now?

Times are changing as usual. When GB just launched the Lumia 925, they shot the TV ads using the phone itself instead of the expensive kit typically used for shooting such ads.

Like he said (and I reiterated many times on this dhaaga), history is simply repeating itself. Like it or not, P&S is getting retired to the niche corner.

The best camera is the one you have with you, and if that happens to be a smart phone, so be it and I'm in that situation often, but the smart phone is not going to replace a good mirror-less compact camera. As the author says, since most people view photos on devices and not in print, you can get away with 1024x1024, but if you can carry better, why not? The P&S, as said before, more correctly a compact mirror-less camera, is where the interest is in. Not for you or the 90% of smart phone users, but for the 10% of the 7 billion on this planet.

Dehko, na aap ki shaadi na bal baache hain. Ek din aap ko apni bibi aur baache ki yaad daash rakhna hain. Phunwa istamal karo, ya kamera, aap ki maarzi.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 21 Jun 2013 08:06

Mort Walker wrote: The best camera is the one you have with you, and if that happens to be a smart phone, so be it and I'm in that situation often, but the smart phone is not going to replace a good mirror-less compact camera. As the author says, since most people view photos on devices and not in print, you can get away with 1024x1024, but if you can carry better, why not?

That is an example of asking the wrong question and would be considered a red flag if included in a user study. It assumes that the user is a hobbyist/enthusiast who is willing to bear some inconvenience for some additional quality. This in turn assumes the user can perceive the quality delta. That already reveals the question maker's inherent bias.

The questions most consumers will ask in this context is do I see a perceptible difference in quality? If yes, do I care? Do I care so much that I will buy and carry an extra device?

Mort Walker wrote: The P&S, as said before, more correctly a compact mirror-less camera, is where the interest is in.

Looks like you are trying to change the definition of what a is P&S camera into a narrow one.

Are all P&S cameras considered compact mirror-less cameras? Is this something to be marketed as a compact mirror-less camera? I don't think so.

Mort Walker wrote:Not for you or the 90% of smart phone users, but for the 10% of the 7 billion on this planet.

Except its not 10% of the 7 billion - its much much less and its not 90% of smartphone users but 90% of the combined target market for phones and cameras. And those of the 7 billion who don't use a camera yet are not buying standalone cameras any more - this is the crowd which would typically buy a P&S camera. Remember the Hotshot camera that started the P&S craze in India? Now conversion rate from standalone P&S to smartphone-only camera usage is increasing YoY at a rate which will pretty soon turn camera-only manufacturers into an exclusively niche industry just like the PND industry. They keep their high margins as before but volumes drop.

Mortu-tau, it doesn't matter to me if people used P&S cameras or their smartphones or if the camera is at fault or the user behind it. Rather the fact that they are not using the former too much and majorly shifting to the latter is what interests me becoz it signals trends worth paying attention to. Why do you think Instagram became such a success - they exploited this very trend. One can have infinite chai-biskoot discussions of purity of standalone cameras, lack of skill on part of mango abduls, lack of taste for good pictures and all that - none of it matters in the real world, its all for academic magaz-maari.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Jun 2013 08:40

I personally find it a lot easier to carry and use my slim canon P&S in pocket than attempt to use the phone camera. first of all the thin glass slate shape of the phone is hard to hold properly, secondly even a scene mode change needs digging in SW menu forget any A,S,M modes which might exist 10 levels down, thirdly zero optical zoom so not at all possible to take any pic from distance and the shooter is the zoom having to move back and forth to avoid the horrid digital zoom. the flash is also pretty measly and unable to make an impact against strong backlight.

by the time I do all that, the canon is all done and back in pocket.

the only advantage is easy sharing to fbook or emailing it .... but we all know thats coming soon to all cameras.

someone needs to figure out how to put 5X optical zoom, largeish sensor, easier menu system, fast aperture f4 atleast onto a phone that costs 12,000/- and features a dedicated camera button and zoom key.
before that all is hogwash....1.2 billion people tolerate and use indian roads and infra all day everyday...doesnt mean they are in love with it..if they had the chance to migrate to anywhere better.

just the tag of 13 MP before a dust mite size lens doesnt solve the quality and speed problem.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 21 Jun 2013 08:45

^^^Then why are people ditching these standalone P&S and using phones more and more for taking pics saar, hain ji? Its certainly not out of lack of accessibility or choice unlike say, users of Indian roads?

Convenience talks, everything else walks. Even something as supremely capable as a BlackBerry keyboard couldn't survive the onslaught of touchscreens becoz of this convenience factor. People are not willing to give up convenience for great functionality in one specific area - that's the mango consumer of today.

Singha wrote: someone needs to figure out how to put 5X optical zoom, largeish sensor, easier menu system, fast aperture onto a phone that costs 12,000/- and features a dedicated camera button and zoom key.

GB already did except the price but then the price comes down as the technology gets commoditized - that much is inevitable and pretty much true for all mass market HW. HTC is also there. Others like Sammy/FruitCo/YellG will follow suit pretty soon. My phunwa comes with all the above already except optical zoom (or its PureView replacement - which is apparently going to be announced on July 11). Duniya badal rahi hai saar, zara agay mur ke to dekho.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Jun 2013 08:55

> Then why are people ditching these standalone P&S

well I dunno how much time you have spent in india lately other than vacations, but most people only using these phone cams cannot afford a proper camera or have a more urgent use for their money. yes even part time maids and construction workers have phone cams. good for them it serves a purpose. grandmas also use phone cams a lot on the kids, with mixed results.

nobody who has a P&S or can afford a P&S I know is ditching it. they might not use it to send a drunk photo at 3am to fbook but use it all the same when they want good quality like family functions, birthdays, outings, eating outs etc.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 21 Jun 2013 09:06

^^^Saar I am not talking about the lower income consumers or the high-end consumers, rather the trend among middle class consumers onlee. People who already own a P&S will use them but those who don't or those who have old ones and typically would have been in the market for a purchasing new P&S camera are no longer doing so and its not like they are majorly jumping to DSLR/compact system kit either - the ones who jump are typically folks who become interested in photography down the line but overall they are a tiny fraction of the market. That's why I mentioned a few posts ago that conversion rate from P&S cameras to phones is high - this is true across both developed and growing markets. This signals negative growth for the camera industry in this segment.

In hindsight the seeds of this were sown once photography became digitized. Digitization of any technology has led to demise of special machinery and skills whether it is photography, maps, printing but on the plus side has always led to making it more accessible and mass market.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 21 Jun 2013 09:18

The definition of a P&S comes from the film era of fixed focal length cameras that had an aperture of f/8-f/11. These typically took C110 cartridge film at ISO 400 or 35mm film. When digital cameras first started to appear relatively cheap in the late 1990s. They followed this model. Later you had zoom, but the sensor size was still small and has continued to present. However, today compact mirror-less camera refers to a camera with a larger sensor, optical zoom from 3-20 times with fast AF, AE, shutter and aperture control along with extended video. The people who buy these cameras want something more for the same price that covers the functions of a DSLR - they want to take pictures of their kids in action.

Raja Bose wrote:Then why are people ditching these standalone P&S and using phones more and more for taking pics saar, hain ji? Its certainly not out of lack of accessibility or choice unlike say, users of Indian roads?

As said before, the best camera is the one you have with you and a phone is what most people have. It is a good thing that cameras in smart phones are getting better, no one is saying otherwise. There is a place for better compact mirror-less cameras and are in fact selling. Those sales are increasing at least 10-12% a year in North America. Not as fast as tablets and smart phones, but still respectable for a mature device.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 21 Jun 2013 09:24

Singha wrote: well I dunno how much time you have spent in india lately other than vacations, but most people only using these phone cams cannot afford a proper camera or have a more urgent use for their money. yes even part time maids and construction workers have phone cams. good for them it serves a purpose. grandmas also use phone cams a lot on the kids, with mixed results.

nobody who has a P&S or can afford a P&S I know is ditching it. they might not use it to send a drunk photo at 3am to fbook but use it all the same when they want good quality like family functions, birthdays, outings, eating outs etc.

Well said. In India my family members and friends will always MMS pics or posts to social networking using a camera phone, but on planned events and outings, it's always done with a decent compact camera.