Stuff South Africa

Light Start: A solar powered car, Samsung sensor sets the bar, WiFi routers in a jar and Oppo’s camera the coolest by far

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Samsung might be making a 600-megapixel sensor

We know Samsung is fond of pushing the boundaries of camera technology if said camera is embedded in a phone but this just seems excessive. Rumour has it that Samsung is in the process of developing a whopping 600-megapixel sensor for an upcoming phone which is… gigantic, if we’re honest. It completely blows the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s 108MP sensor out of the water and will no doubt be the biggest in the industry by a long shot. Why anyone wants a sensor so powerful on the back of their phone is beyond us but someone will no doubt appreciate living in wanton excess like the hedonist they are.

The rumour (or leak if you want to be generous) comes from twitter user IceUniverse, who even dropped a diagram of what it will look like. The sensor will supposedly measure 1/0.57 inches which isn’t even the largest on the market, that honour goes to the Huawei P40 Pro+ with a 1/1.23 inch sensor. The diagram also shows how the 600MP sensor will take up roughly 12% of the phone’s surface area and clock in with a thickness of 22mm.

Source: TNW[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Router jails are now a thing because people are scared of WiFi

It’s been a year of terrible conspiracy theories, right? Not fun ones, either. We could talk about the CIA writing songs for The Scorpions all day but instead we’re saddled with 5G fear-mongers who’re boxing their WiFi routers in what are essentially Faraday cages. Some confused souls have come to fear the effects of the “harmful electromagnetic radiation” emitted by their routers and have thus resorted to placing them inside cages that don’t do anything but limit the signal.

A small industry of router prisons has seemingly sprung up over night as people look to cash in on some those who believe such outlandish nonsense. These metal and mesh boxes are selling from $70 all the way to $100 on Amazon and have been met with plenty of negative reviews. Some of which have complained that they kill the signal (surely that’s the point) while others claim that they don’t kill the signal.

It’s utterly ridiculous. WiFi routers don’t put out any kind of harmful signals and buying into the conspiracy is dumb. Buying a Faraday cage for your router is even dumber.

Source: The Verge[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

This three-wheeled EV doesn’t need charging (apparently)

Electric vehicles are supremely cool but one of the downsides is having to stop and charge the things, a problem that Aptera is trying to solve with its latest vehicle. After their previous three-wheeled EV didn’t secure the funding it needed to go into development, the company is trying again but this time it’s using solar panels. The inclusion of these panels means that the car will never have to be manually charged or at least, that’s what Aptera wants to be the case. Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen.

The panels will reportedly deliver roughly 45 miles (or 72km) per day to the two seater vehicle. So if you’re planning of simply driving within that range for a day, you should be sorted. Yet Aptera has claimed that the EV can do 1,000 miles on a charge which seems… unlikely to say the least.

Preorders for the vehicle are now open and Aptera is looking at shipping the vehicles in the early parts of 2021. Of course, something like this is going to cost you a decent chunk of cash as the price will range from anywhere between $25,900 and $46,000 (R394, 366 to R700, 419).

Source: The Verge[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Oppo looking into phones with removable camera

Why anyone would want to risk taking their camera out their phone and potentially losing it is beyond us but clearly Oppo thinks it’s a swell idea. According to 91Mobiles, Oppo has filed a patent for a smartphone design that would allow the user to remove the camera. What’s cool about this is that through the power of Bluetooth (presumably) the camera would still be able to take photos when detached, which certainly opens up a few cool options for avid phone photographers.

The actual camera module would be powered by a lithium-ion battery and the ability to detach the camera raises some potentially unique product avenues for Oppo. If they design ever sees the light of day, we could see the company selling different camera modules to slap onto the back. That would be a pretty cool collection to add to an accessory market but again, patents don’t mean anything until we actually see a prototype.

(Source: Engadget)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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