Steve Litchfield

I did want to plug my friend Juan Carlos Bagnell's YouTube video here, as I'm essentially repurposing his bullet points, but in written prose rather than on camera! You see, the move to larger camera sensors in smartphones has been something I've been tracking for one and a half decades . And in each case, sensors getting larger has been a very.good.thing . Except that good 'ol physics, the same physics I've been touting as a benefit as sensors have gotten larger and more and more light is being gathered, and photos have thus got better even in dim lighting conditions - that same physics has meant that the trend has passed a tipping point and we're now starting to see real world issues in real world phones. Too shallow depth of field Starting off with something that's perhaps subjective, since it depends on exactly what you want your phone to photograph. But a larger (1") sensor means a larger aperture feeding it light, and the larger the aperture, the...

The story so far... I can't live without a belt case for my PDA/smartphone/whatever. Really. I've tried, and I kept leaving it behind. And don't talk to me about pockets - these are fine when I have a jacket or coat, but I find today's giant phones uncomfortable in a trouser front pocket. I'm clearly in a worldwide minority here - maybe I'm just too slender!  So belt case it is. And my go to for the last decade has been PDAir - I won't link to their web site because it's effectively dead now. Either coronavirus or just market forces or mis-management caused their demise. Which was a great shame, since their slender vertical belt pouches were/are perfect for me. Here's an early sample, from 2013 for the Lumia 1020: Since then I've managed to get half a dozen (gradually larger) PDAir belt pouches and these have done my various Android and then iPhones right up to date. In each case, I like to have the phone in a slimline TPU case (for grip) and the...

Now, don't get me wrong, the camera on the Surface Duo is pretty bad. By modern standards (take it back to 2008 and it would be doing well). Though in fairness, Microsoft never pitched the Duo as a consumer phone and only ever talked about its one camera, above the right screen, as suitable for video/Skype?Team calls. However, I've talked about 'GCam' before - essentially Google's Pixel Camera software extracted from updates and adapted for other phones. This combines images taken fast, one after the other, to reduce noise and improve detail (plus other enhancement tricks). It was created originally for the Google Glass project. This original wearable had such a tiny (and thus relatively 'bad') camera that Google called on the software expertise of its imaging department to work miracles, pulling usable images from digital soup. So, unsurprisingly, it can work wonders too on the unspectacular camera hardware of today - in this case, the aforementioned Surfac...

(Originally published by me on AAM , I'm including it here for wider interest and in case the All About servers go down.) Many have bemoaned the death of Continuum circa 2016, with Samsung's DeX taking up a lot of the slack, albeit in the Android world. And then we have the Microsoft Surface Duo pair of devices, ostensibly without a desktop interface but I hope to prove in the video below that the very nature of USB 3.1 (here over Type C), along with a landscape-first device like the Duo and a capable standard lapdock, means that 90% of the functionality you'd expect from a 'desktop' interface is in fact taken care of automatically. See what you think. The video is captured zoomed in a little, for framing reasons, plus it's almost impossible to get everything in focus all the time at such close range, so do forgive production quality - you'll easily get the gist: Watching this back a year later, it occurs to me that I didn't demo all the things you can p...

You'll have seen my previous review of the rather wonderful 140W GaN charger from VOLTME ? This is from the same people but rather than mains-driven, this is a totally mobile, and wireless-focussed solution for iPhones (and Android phones that are, perhaps with case help, MagSafe-compatible). The idea of a MagSafe power bank isn't new, of course. I also have the Apple version, pictured below with the MagPak 5K - the Apple one is very slightly smaller and lighter, but has significantly less capacity (2920mAh at 3.8V compared with 5000mAh, etc.) and features.  Now, this VOLTME accessory doesn't have the Apple magic in terms of inserting its charge status into your iPhone widgets, but aside from this, there's no reason not to consider this a direct replacement for the Apple version.  It's finished in a lovely soft touch plastic, in a variety of colours (I was sent purple because it was the first one off the production line, apparently!) The styling matches the MagSafe ...

The specifications war in the charging world never ceases to amaze me. And this is the next step, for 2023.  Freed from the shackles of users charging via whatever came in their phone or laptop's box (since they often don't have anything), third party power solutions have prospered in recent years. I hadn't heard of VOLTME before but I'm impressed by this, the highest rated mains charger I've ever owned. Especially with the (bulky) UK three pin plug variant here, this isn't the smallest charger on the block, but given the capability I think some bulk can be excused. It's a shame, mind you, that the mains pins aren't a bolt on for international travelling, i.e. have UK or USA or EU mains pins on adapters which can be snapped on - as this would qualify as a perfect travel companion. Oh well. So we're essentially talking a 'home office' or perhaps domestic travel gadget, one accessory that can charge up to three things at once and with substanti...

I have a very peculiar attitude towards protecting my crown jewels. No, not those , but my smartphone, full of my stuff, signed-in sessions, and secrets. Though the exact device isn't critical, it's currently an iPhone 14 Pro Max, which comes with stainless steel chassis and 'Ceramic Shield' glass. So it's pretty damned tough on its own. (If it was an Android flagship, especially from Samsung or Google, then we'd be looking at aluminium and Gorilla Glass Victus, so still reasonably strong.) The traditional holder of one's smartphone is a pocket, but I find this to be both uncomfortable and impractical, especially when sitting down - try getting a phone out of a jeans pocket when in a car etc. (And don't even mention the unmentionable - keeping a phone in a back pocket, at risk of robbery and destruction.)  So, at the risk of seeming horrendously unfashionable (I don't care any more!), I keep my phone in a slimline vertical belt holster (made by PDair...

Now this is embarrassing. I've bought and sold and then rebought the same accessory two or three times. And it's this one, from Microsoft, designed originally around the time of Lumia's, so 2012 ish, but with a view to working across all three(!) mobile platforms (now only two, of course). Bluetooth keyboards have gone into and out of fashion over the years, but they're definitely still relevant, thanks to the use of tablets and 'phablet'-style large-screened smartphones, where a wireless full size keyboard can turn the device into a mini-laptop. Microsoft's offering is still ultra-premium, has a few unique features and is worth looking out for, not least having full size keys and yet folding to pocket size without needing hinges and any moving parts. (Well, so there must be a ribbon cable of some kind embedded in the tough textured body, but that's about it...) I'm aware that revisiting this accessory so long after first release means that availab...

So. Mum died about eight years ago, aged 75, and then my dad died at the end of 2021, aged 83. A pretty normal timescale for my parents and for that generation. But, amidst a house full of 80 years of mainly err... junk odds and ends (that took months to sort through), was my mum's prized photo collection. It spanned four bookcases and comprised 100 albums, beautifully indexed and numbered, each with roughly 100 photos in. So 10,000 photos in all to do something with. (one of the few of my 'dad on a cliff path' that I actually kept. He's IN the photo, not a dot on the horizon!) There is no way I wanted my own house to inherit 10,000 physical photos, so the big sort out commenced. Despite taking over a man day, the process turned out easier than I'd expected. You see, in this collection, there were a huge number of: landscape shots of the Cornwall and Devon cliffs and coastal path, usually in grainy gloom flower beds from public gardens visited - so many flower be...

This is going to sound strange to those reading my camera phone test articles over the last 15 years on various sites, but I contend that phone cameras don't actually need to be capable of more than about 3x zoom . There I said it. Controversial, moi? True, from 2005 through to the present day, even I tested shots at 5x and even 10x zoom sometimes (though I always stayed away from 'silly' zoom factors like 15x and 30x, unlike some YouTubers), where warranted, but only occasionally and with the majority of test subjects at 1x, 2x, and 3x. And with good reason. Here's why. I've been doing some 'rainy day' sorting through my digital photo library, trying to prune out duplicates, test shots, and anything not needed. And in the process, have got a good idea of the gamut of shots that are actually worth keeping - of interest to myself long term or to family in the future. From people to food to pets to nature to landscapes  to transport , and I'll bet th...

A week ago I delivered a largely positive review of the SnapGrip, as used with a modern iPhone  (do please go and read it!) And I teased using the SnapGrip with an Android phone, thanks to the inclusion by ShiftCam in the box of a circular 'sticker' of MagSafe magnets. It turns out that this sticker is very substantial and beautifully made - and with one obvious and potentially large caveat, means that SnapGrip is very much 'go' on Android too. Snapping and charging. The idea is that you find the right spot on your Android phone, the centre of its Qi wireless charging coils, in my case by trial and error and using a ruler(!) And you then carefully press on the sticker, which has very strong adhesive. Now, not wanting to devalue my Android test phone, a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, and also mindful of the fact that when out and about I always keep my phones in TPU cases anyway, I obviously stuck the errr... 'sticker' to the case, not the naked phone. But it all turned ...

When is a phone camera really a DSLR? When it has a SnapGrip on its back? Not quite, but it kind of feels like it. So. I bought and am reviewing the ShiftCam SnapGrip , £70 in the UK. Partly spurred by fond memories of the Lumia 1020 PD-95G Camera Grip , which it strongly resembles, in functionality and ambition: You'll possibly remember the Lumia 1020, from 2013. The camera phone champion of its day, thanks to a 41MP back-illuminated 1/1.5" sensor, OIS, Xenon flash, and computational oversampling. That all sounds rather special today and indeed the 1020 still works well today, see my detailed imaging comparisons over on the archived All About sites: The famed Lumia 1020 takes on the DSLR Next up... the Lumia 1020 trounces the iPhone 12 Pro Max?! A 2021 'PureView' battle: 808/1020/Pixel/iPhone ...among other pieces. Do go and have a read. The upshot? In ProRAW (unsharpened, un-edge-enhanced, but much larger file size) mode, the modern iPhones comfortably defeat the dec...