SMaL Camera Technologies has announced SMaL-enabled devices by RadioShack. The company has released a digital still camera based on SMaL’s Ultra-Pocket digital camera design and technology.
Based on its proprietary CMOS digital imaging technology, SMaL’s solution has made possible for credit card-sized designs, 1/4-inch thickness, low power consumption, and its proprietary Autobrite technology. These features allow consumers to take between 500 and 1000 pictures on a single charge, SMaL spokesperson Romney Williams told MacCentral. The SMaL technology is Mac compatible, though it’s up to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that distributes the camera to make the finished product Mac friendly, he explained.
“We’re leading the push toward making digital photography simple for everyone,” Williams said. “SMaL is allowing digital cameras to cross the cavern to the mass market. Consumer benefits of our technology is affordability, transportability (thin, not just compact, something that’s difficult to pull off), style and long battery life.”
Additionally, each SMaL-enabled camera automatically recharges itself each time the camera is connected to a computer via the supplied USB cable. SMaL’s Autobrite technology lets consumers capture crisp details without worrying about backlighting or glare — eliminating an annoying pitfall of most digital cameras — as the technology automatically adjusts the exposure so that details in both bright and dim areas of an image are clear, according to Williams.
“With Autobrite, you can take images in scenes in very bright light that would otherwise be very washed out,” Williams said.
What’s more, SMaL delivers a complete solution that features a kit of core components with reference design, offering a turnkey solution and quick time-to-market for their partners, he added. Manufacturers and specialty retailers have the option to apply their own unique industrial design, manufacturing and distribution channels to differentiate their camera in the marketplace.
RadioShack is currently distributing the SMaL-enabled FlatFoto at over 5,100 retail stores. Oregon Scientific, best known for its manufacturing and marketing of timing, weather, and personal communication devices, is currently distributing the SMaL-enabled DS6610 in North America and Europe. See our November 19 article for details. This summer FujiFilm released the world’s thinnest digital camera — the 6mm thin eyeplate — that’s based on SMaL Camera Technology’s Ultra-Pocket digital camera design and technology. In fact, the SMaL technology holds the Guinness World Record for enabling the world’s smallest digital camera, and was recently voted by Popular Science Magazine as powering “One of the Best New Photography Products of 2003.”
“As cameras are released, they’re Mac OS 8/9 compatible right now out of the box,” Williams said. “We’ve committed a Mac OS X beta of the SMaL technology to Apple for review. It should be posted to their Web site by January at the latest.”