SD Camera for Pocket PC

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=SDC-01&amp;asource=">http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=SDC-01&amp;asource=</a><br /><br />Well, Expansys has an SD Camera that they claim will work with Pocket PCs and Smartphones with an SD slot. The drivers are included on the SD Camera card. It is available for pre-order and is £72.47. No info on shipping date, and many of the specs below still have TBD (To Be Determined) listed next to them<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2003/20030114-sdcamera.jpg" /><br /><br />• Image sensor: 300K pixels, color; Resolution: Up to 640 x 480; Preview Mode: Support 160 x 120, 128 x 96, 80 x 60, Format : RGB 16-bit &amp; BW 4-bit; Still Capture Mode: Support 640 x 480, 320 x 240, 160 x 120, Format : JPEG in YUV 4:2:2; Picture Transfer: Through SDIO (SPI 1-bit mode); Frame Rate: 7-20 frames per second @ 160 x 120; Exposure/White Balance / Color adjustment: Automatically and Manually <br />• Viewfinder: PDA on screen 160 x 120 16-bit color; Picture Number (per M byte), pictures @640 x 480 (TBD), pictures @320 x 240 (TBD), pictures @160 x 120 (TBD); Recording time (per M byte) seconds @160 x 120 (TBD) <br />• Image Transfer: Direct Beam to Palm OS Device; Palm Application Software: Image Address Book and Photo Take <br />• OS support: Pocket PC, and Smartphone <br />• Optical : Adjustable Focus - F no.2.8, 4.5mm focal length; View Angle: 54 degree; Focus Range: 20cm to infinity

[smittyofdhs]

what doesn't make sense is that in one spec it refers to the Palm OS, and in the next, Pocket PC/SmartPhone.

Looks to me like the specs have some issues already. i bet this is for Palm OS not Pocket PC.

[Ed Hansberry]

what doesn't make sense is that in one spec it refers to the Palm OS, and in the next, Pocket PC/SmartPhone.

Looks to me like the specs have some issues already. i bet this is for Palm OS not Pocket PC.
:?: It is for both if you go to their page.

[Janak Parekh]

:cry: I have a 3870, no SDIO.. :cry: :cry:

--janak

[smittyofdhs]

Maybe someone can supply a list of all PPC devices that have SDIO?

[vincentsiaw]

why all this ad on camera only capable of taking vga resolution, i always wish to have add on camera for my pda with say 2.0 megapixel with flash built in , like the sony clie one, how long i have to wait untill this come true...

[gadgetguru]

Hope the pictures are good and sharpness great. The Flyview CF camera (almost same specs but CF card) is unuseable , pictures are grainy and very bad. I just hope this product from Expansys is better.

[ipaqabilities]

The manufacturer is a Tawainese company called Spectec - http://www.spectec.com.tw/en/ - and the SDIO camera info is posted at http://www.spectec.com.tw/en/camera.htm.

Sounds sweet, but only time will tell what the quality of this product is...

[Andy Sjostrom]

I have ten bucks saying that Master of Mayhem already has three of these! :lol:

[Fzara]

how much is £72.47, in dollars?

This looks like an amazing solution. I would never have really expected an SD camera. Nice job guys.

However, usually most people have their CF slot for some device, and their SD card for memory. Therefore, this might not appeal to some.

It amazes me that people will go out and buy this camera for their PPC/Palm OS PDA, however, when Sony released their supped up, supercharged Clie last week, many flamed it and bashed it, as being nearly useless on a PDA.

I think theres a double standard, which really bothers me how people can be really one-sided.

[bdegroodt]

how much is £72.47, in dollars?


http://www.expansys.us/product.asp?code=SDC-01 $99.00 if you pre-order on the U.S. side of Expansys.

However, if you prefer, the current exchange (http://www.xe.com/) would be $116.371

[Kevin Daly]

Maybe someone can supply a list of all PPC devices that have SDIO?

Not me unfortunately, but I don't think it would be a very long one.

My impression is that PPC manufacturers have been caught on the hop by this recent burst of activity in the SD card area - a short time ago there were almost no non-memory SD add-ons, so manufacturers held off adding SDIO support.

Now we've suddenly got lots of yummy add-ons coming out and the world is fully of 3870s and XDAs that can't use them (HP have corrected this in their newer machines AFAIK, and it would be great if this year's revisions of the XDA and its myriad siblings did likewise, especially since I really want one).

PS. Is it just me that perceives a sudden rush of these SDIO cards or does it seem like that to others too?
It sure seems to have gone from "hardly any" to "lots" (or at least "several") within the space of a couple of months.

[gorkon280]

:?: What I want to know is will this bloody thing swivel? If it will swivel, then we have a winner! Right now, going by the pics, the only way I would be able to take a picture is if it was of myself. At least thats the way my SD card slot is positioned.

[bdegroodt]

:?: What I want to know is will this bloody thing swivel? If it will swivel, then we have a winner! Right now, going by the pics, the only way I would be able to take a picture is if it was of myself. At least thats the way my SD card slot is positioned.

Would seem to swivel the same way any other camera does...manually :D

[johncj]

Chris DeHerrera keeps a pretty current hardware comparision at:

http://www.cewindows.net/wce/30/ppc2002/ppc2002comp.htm

Toshiba e740, e310, and the HP 5450.

[MR_E]

Before getting too excited: Expansys have a reputation of announcing products months and months before they can start shipping them. Don't hold your breath!

[bdegroodt]

Before getting too excited: Expansys have a reputation of announcing products months and months before they can start shipping them. Don't hold your breath!

True. I've been waiting on that SD WiFi card for 2 quarters now.

[MR_E]

The Sony Ericsson P800 has been on the 'products coming soon' list for what must be about a year now - though in that case, Sony Ericsson are to blame too.
And then there's the HP iPAQ H5000 GSM/GPRS Pocket PC already available for pre-order: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=IPAQ5000GPRS

On the positive side: great site, and good service, too.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

It amazes me that people will go out and buy this camera for their PPC/Palm OS PDA, however, when Sony released their supped up, supercharged Clie last week, many flamed it and bashed it, as being nearly useless on a PDA.

I think theres a double standard, which really bothers me how people can be really one-sided.

Well, I was one of those that applauded Sony for their "originality" (it's becoming a fad to avoid the "i" word around here so I'll avoid it myself).

That being said, the comparison is apples-to-oranges in my opinion. The SD camera is a very small device, first of all, adding little in terms of bulk (the Sony OTOH is HUGE). Secondly, the user has the option of when to insert the device and when to leave it at home in favor of smaller form factor (Sony users would have no such choice).

Finally and probably most importantly is cost. Consider the price difference. 74 pounds translates to roughly $100-115 (I'm estimating) which is significantly less than the added cost that went into Sony's $800 gorilla.

Again, I applaud Sony for pushing the envelope but if you read that thread again, most compaints related to size and price. Neither concern appears to be present with this device. So I don't think the "double-standard" is as strong is it appears.

[Will T Smith]

why all this ad on camera only capable of taking vga resolution, i always wish to have add on camera for my pda with say 2.0 megapixel with flash built in , like the sony clie one, how long i have to wait untill this come true...

It's just SD for peats sake. BTW, is your PocketPC device even capable of displaying a VGA resolution image??????

Thought so, nuff said. This device is a cheapie add-on to take little fun pics. Or it could be very useful as an information gathering tool, registration take a low-res pic and put it in the database.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

why all this ad on camera only capable of taking vga resolution, i always wish to have add on camera for my pda with say 2.0 megapixel with flash built in , like the sony clie one, how long i have to wait untill this come true...

It's just SD for peats sake. BTW, is your PocketPC device even capable of displaying a VGA resolution image??????

Thought so, nuff said. This device is a cheapie add-on to take little fun pics. Or it could be very useful as an information gathering tool, registration take a low-res pic and put it in the database.
Phones capable of taking sub-VGA pics are selling pretty well, especially in Japan where they are a HUGE hit!! Obviously you can't print photo-quality pics, but I'd venture to guess that for casual situations, most people just want something they can view on their phone / pda / computer.

[Will T Smith]

BTW,

It's really cool to see SDIO devices starting to come out. SD/IO is a cool format and should go really far.

Now that Sony has undermined Memory Stick with "Advanced Memory Stick". I predict that consumers will be a little more weary of Sony due to lack of stability and customer confusion. Sony really had me going there for a while. I thought they were doing great with pushing Memory Stick, now this, bleck.

[whoopus]

Forget about taking pictures...I want to video conference. Right now I can do it with my laptop, wireless card and web cam, but with alot of bulk and a cable. I would love to be able to sit on the couch with my two kids and my iPaq and have a videoconference with "Nana and Grandpa" over Bluetooth or 802.11b.

Mark

[Gerard]

Mr. Smith; Like with so much in life, seeing or not seeing the point in having better than 480x640 JPG capture in a PPC add-on camera is simply an expression of your particular needs, as you perceive them at present. Try not to squash the needs or desires of other based upon one narrow opinion, 'kay?
Ive used a Casio CF camera with 480x640 max. for about 31 months, and it has been an invaluable tool besides just being fun to use. The Casio software to run it is bulky and awkward, but a bit of deleting here and there chopped it down to about 2/3 size (a lot of unwanted skins for albums and such frilly nonsense), and a small JPG capture app by Marauderz rendered quality a notch or two higher than the Casio app allowed, with other great options like unlimited series captures with a variable timer, screen killing during use to save power (cool as a sort of short-term security cam, for instance, letting one grab hundreds of 5KB JPG files at 240x320, seconds apart), and a few other nice things. But the 480x640 resolution and edge blur/brightness drop-off are a pain, very limiting, and so I've been hunting for a better camera add-on. I have no desire at all to carry around a dedicated camera. Did more than enough of that with multiple film cameras for many years! No, I want a tiny add-on, not a studio camera, but not a toy either. I want something capable of grabing a printable still in almost any light level and getting a watchable video at half-screen or close to it, with decent sound, in a format that's easy to share, and at least a minute in length per video. Not a lot to ask, really. When my iPAQ mic-in mod eventually gets done (Leonard? Whassup with that?) I'll have the decent sound input thing covered. And then there's Alexander's NoteM version I need to test, but it's ARM-only.... But that's another story.
Anyway, I have the Pretec OCCAS 1.3MP CF camera now. I can shoot incredible stills in low light - if I hold it very, very still. Up to, well, incredibly large resolution, in only 40 watt light. In daylight it sucks though, big time. And the video is extremely bad, not video at all. Better is wanted, so once I'm done testing I'll very likely be sending this in for a refund, if HandHeldCanada answers my emails ever.
This SD camera doesn't fill the bill it seems. I want CF anyway, but I'd settle for SD whenever my next PPC gets decided, some day. One huge thing missing in the descriptions here is the actual length of video allowable. It says something about it, but the numbers are missing! The Casio I can push to about 50 seconds if I prepare for a few minutes by moving files amd memory slider around, and soft resetting, and adjusting the lighting preset... at very small resolution. But at least the frame rate is decent. The Pretec cuts out around 45 seconds, at about 2 fps in large, and at 4 fps in the smaller res. That's sad. Not video at all. And it's heavily distorted.
I'll stop dumping on y'all now. But if anyone's curious, have a look at this close to 2MB page of my little critique:
http://www.luthier.ca/other/forum/pretec/pretec.html

[dean_shan]

i always wish to have add on camera for my pda with say 2.0 megapixel with flash built in , like the sony clie one, how long i have to wait untill this come true...

Yeah that would be great. I wouldn't mind paying $200 for a CF camera that can take 2megapixel photo.

[vybe23]

will this sd camera work on my pocket pc phone edition from t mobile??!?!??!!?!?!?

[Fzara]

It amazes me that people will go out and buy this camera for their PPC/Palm OS PDA, however, when Sony released their supped up, supercharged Clie last week, many flamed it and bashed it, as being nearly useless on a PDA.

I think theres a double standard, which really bothers me how people can be really one-sided.

Well, I was one of those that applauded Sony for their "originality" (it's becoming a fad to avoid the "i" word around here so I'll avoid it myself).

That being said, the comparison is apples-to-oranges in my opinion. The SD camera is a very small device, first of all, adding little in terms of bulk (the Sony OTOH is HUGE). Secondly, the user has the option of when to insert the device and when to leave it at home in favor of smaller form factor (Sony users would have no such choice).

Finally and probably most importantly is cost. Consider the price difference. 74 pounds translates to roughly $100-115 (I'm estimating) which is significantly less than the added cost that went into Sony's $800 gorilla.

Again, I applaud Sony for pushing the envelope but if you read that thread again, most compaints related to size and price. Neither concern appears to be present with this device. So I don't think the "double-standard" is as strong is it appears.

True. I full agree with your argument, and I definitely think you have a valid case.

However, the camera is not the only thing which makes the PDA so big. Take a look at the NX70, the one without the camera. No doubt that is without the camera, and that is still complained as being a brick. Therefore, i think the camera argument is weak, since its not the camera which adds the weight, but Sony's lack of engineering a lighter, smaller device.

About the option to insert and take out whenever, the user has this option in the Clie, built-in. I think this is an aweseome solution. I mean, I'm starting college next week (dont remind me), and it would just be amazing if I could take pictures of people using my built-in camera in my PDA, and stick them into my Contact entries.

Price: Well, agreed, Sony def. did overprice their Clie. Wait for a couple of months, and the price will tumble.

You also forgot the third most important complaint of Sony's, the proprietry memory format they use, however that is def. off topic.
About the size, you also have to remember they're including a higher res screen, and a built-in keyboard. Im sure the high res screen would neccessitate a bigger battery (higher res), and the built in-keyboard would also generate some extra weight within the unit.

When I wrote the post about the double standard, I meant how PPC owners started to flame Sony for including this 2 MP camera, and many other lousy, little complaints, which really did bother me. I mean, if this came out for the PPC, I dont think anyone would be complaining about anything. Exactly what I mean: double standard.

Just my compalnts/raves. Sorry to go off-topic guys. :roll:

[snapper]

will this sd camera work on my Orange SPV Smartphone ?

[GregWard]

Before getting too excited: Expansys have a reputation of announcing products months and months before they can start shipping them. Don't hold your breath!

This sounds a bit unfair on Expansys. What they do is to list products as soon as the Manufacturer announces them but they flag them as "coming soon". It's not really down to the Retailer that Manufacturers announce vapourware!!! The Ericsson Chatpen has to hold some sort of record!

You can also tell (normally) when a product is getting close by the way that Expansys flag it - eg "coming soon" (but no date and no price) means they've been told about it but they'll believe it when they see it! By the time they put a price/date on it you know they have firm commitment on getting stock.

They're also pretty good at getting imports - eg they started shipping Nokia 3650's a couple of days ago.

All in all I think they're a good site to keep an eye on. They help me (anyway) separate vapourware from "real" products. :D

[Pony99CA]

Chris DeHerrera keeps a pretty current hardware comparision at:

http://www.cewindows.net/wce/30/ppc2002/ppc2002comp.htm

Toshiba e740, e310, and the HP 5450.
I believe the iPAQ 3900 series has SDIO, too.

Steve

[bdegroodt]

will this sd camera work on my pocket pc phone edition from t mobile??!?!??!!?!?!?

No. No SDIO support on the PPC PE. Yet another reason why I dumped mine after 2 months.

[snapper]

And for Smartphone Oranhe SPV (HTC Canary with numeric password software by Orange) ?

[bdegroodt]

And for Smartphone Oranhe SPV (HTC Canary with numeric password software by Orange) ?

I'm not familiar with the SPV. If it doesn't support SDIO though, you're out of luck. My guess would be that it doesn't. Seems that few devices do just yet.

[bdegroodt]

And for Smartphone Oranhe SPV (HTC Canary with numeric password software by Orange) ?

I'm not familiar with the SPV. If it doesn't support SDIO though, you're out of luck. My guess would be that it doesn't. Seems that few devices do just yet.

I found this spec (http://www.mobileshop.com/mobilephones/popups/orange_spv.htm) detail and it says that the SPV does support SDIO (In fact, this retailer (http://www.mobileshop.com/mobilephones/orange/paymonthly/orange_spv.php) is giving away a camera specifically made for this phone.

Sure is a nice looking phone. Nicer work than any of the other HTC phones (IMHO). Anyone using one of these in the U.S. (T-Mob)?

[snapper]

Ok, thanks. But where it's possible to buy the SPV Camera in US shop ? In France, the camera phone are not delivery for the moment...

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

will this sd camera work on my pocket pc phone edition from t mobile??!?!??!!?!?!?

No. No SDIO support on the PPC PE. Yet another reason why I dumped mine after 2 months.
Just out of curiosity, what were your primary reasons. SD I/O support is rather scarce, so that couldn't have been a major reason why...

[bdegroodt]

will this sd camera work on my pocket pc phone edition from t mobile??!?!??!!?!?!?

No. No SDIO support on the PPC PE. Yet another reason why I dumped mine after 2 months.
Just out of curiosity, what were your primary reasons. SD I/O support is rather scarce, so that couldn't have been a major reason why...

OT for this post, but basically, I found it to be under powered (Processor and RAM), incredibly poor reception, locked up SMS/RF signal issues, ergonomically flawed, unstable OEM additions, and some of the features of a full version of PPC OS disabled/Unuseable (Repeat alarms, power saving etc.), and the headset drove me nuts (Easily fixed, but I was already $600 in.).

It's a great concept that I'm totally for, but the first generation is obviously first generation.

[Pony99CA]

OT for this post, but basically, I found it to be under powered (Processor and RAM), incredibly poor reception, locked up SMS/RF signal issues, ergonomically flawed, unstable OEM additions, and some of the features of a full version of PPC OS disabled/Unuseable (Repeat alarms, power saving etc.), and the headset drove me nuts (Easily fixed, but I was already $600 in.).
You know that anybody with Pocket PC 2002 doesn't have repeating alarms either, right? For some reason, Microsoft removed them from Pocket PC 2000. :-(

Steve

[bdegroodt]

You know that anybody with Pocket PC 2002 doesn't have repeating alarms either, right? For some reason, Microsoft removed them from Pocket PC 2000. :-(

Steve

Yes. Grrrr! Something I don't understand and I'm not sure why it was done. I listen to my fiance's Palm beep it's little head off when she isn't here and misses the alarm.

[Sven Johannsen]

Forget about taking pictures...I want to video conference. Right now I can do it with my laptop, wireless card and web cam, but with alot of bulk and a cable. I would love to be able to sit on the couch with my two kids and my iPaq and have a videoconference with "Nana and Grandpa" over Bluetooth or 802.11b.

Mark

I searched for threads about this Camera because it is one of the ones listed in MS Portrait's supported list. So you could do VTC with it. I'd recommend a 2215 (BT VTC) or possibly a 4155 0r 4355 (WiFi VTC), but the camera page doesn't list those last two. Can't imagine they wouldn't work. Figure maybe they weren't out and nobody bothered to update the page?

I have incidentally got BT VTC to work using Portrait on my 2215 and the Lifeview CF Cam (.3Mp).