New smartphone ‘just like a DSLR’

A forthcoming model from emerging Chinese smartphone manufacturer Weihua (pronounced ‘WahWah’) is to be called the DSLR 1 because, according to the company, it’s the first smartphone ever with a camera which delivers ‘DSLR-like’ performance.

‘You look at say, the Nikon D4s for instance. Just 16 megapixels. Our Weihua DSLR has 18 megapixels. So better resolution for a start,’ explained Dr Gordon Bennett, Weihua’s team leader, External Sales Enhancement Reach Out Champions, Weihua Asia Pacific.

Weihua also claims the DSLR 1’s sensor is ‘full frame’: ‘Full frame, yes. Just like the Nikon D4s or Canon Mark 5. We use the full frame of the sensor – right to the edges. Nothing is wasted – not one pixel. We call this Weihua Full Frame Sensor Technology (WFFST).’

Weihua says the new smartphone will have a 60x lens which when married to the sensor will deliver images with the sharpness and clarity of the Hubble telescope after they fixed it.

‘With old-style DSLRs, there is too much glass. The more glass, the more chance for flaws in the glass. And glass is very heavy, too. With the new DSLR 1, we reduced use of glass dramatically. And the glass we do use is best quality Weihua synthetic glass from our own factory. We call this Best Lens Ever Technology (BLET)’

The new smartphone also has In-Camera Post-Processing (ICPP). For instance, if the user takes a picture of a landscape, the DSLR 1 camera recognises, say, that the sky is a little less than spectacular, and will suggest an alternative that can be swapped in – from Dulcet Sunrise, through to Shimmering Cirrus and Doomsday Sunset. In all there are 23 Weihua Skies and some 40 Pleasant Backgrounds to choose from. Users can even add their own!

In Weihua’s Auto-Surrealism mode users can choose from a spectrum of effects ranging from ‘HDR Lite’ right through to ‘Bloodless Phantasmagoria’. This function is based on a sophisticated algorithm developed by examining thousands of World Press Photo images.

The default ICPP mode also automatically removes telephone poles and wires, and will either add or remove people from a scene in Auto Self-Selfie mode (ASS).

‘This is the new way to capture selfies. No tiring arm activity – so less chance of repetitive strain injuries (RSI) and no need for a selfie-stick.’

Weihua DSLR 1 users can even download a Celebrity Selfie app which allows the users to add an image of a range of celebrities to their selfies (arranged in A, B, C and D Lists). Options include several of the Kardasians, through to Queen Elizabeth and of course, Donald Trump. New celebrities are being added (and dropped) on a weekly basis. Images are automatically uploaded to the users nominated social network suite and of course the Weihua Cloud. 

The DSLR 1 will also selectively eliminate specific groups of people from a scene in Identity Politics (IP) mode. If a user doesn’t want say, white men over the age of 50 in an image (and who does!?) the camera will disappear them.

Another In-Camera Post-Processing option is Beautification Style (BS). Pimples, boils, blackheads, chancres and other blemishes are removed from the subject’s skin and open pores are closed. But BS mode also uses biometrics to identify any facial asymmetry – a key factor in reducing optical attractiveness – and correct it. So for instance BS mode will recognise if a subject’s left and right ears aren’t exactly horizontal to each other and level them. 

The Weihua DSR 1 is slated for release some time later in the year. Price is yet to be determined. 

‘We believe the Weihua DSLR 1 will change the course of 21st Century history,’ said Dr Bennett. ‘But in a good way.’