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Back in 2000, the bullet-time special effect was all the rage. Made famous by the Matrix in 1999 and found in countless video games and music videos thereafter (Creed’s “Higher” comes to mind), the effect could best be described as a virtual camera that spins around a subject in slow motion. Typically, this done during a kickass fight scene, gun action in mid-air, or anything else that considered “eXtreme” in ‘oo. Well, it looks like it’s making a comeback.
To showcase the raw power of Qualcomm’s SoCs, the chipset maker built what they’re calling the Snapdragon Booth. The rig is comprised of 130 HTC One handsets, and using a special custom made Android app, they’re able to take a snap-shot in time, spiraling around subjects in 540 degrees. Okay, so a throwback to 14 years may not sound very exciting, the results are actually kinda rad.
Qualcomm’s will be taking the Snapdragon Booth on tour over the next few weeks, where it was just set up over the weekend in Venice Beach, CA. Had I known, I would have made the trip to play around with it. If you’re thinking something like this would be fun to check out yourself, you have until January 31st to vote in Qualcomm’s poll and bring the Snapdragon Booth to your city. Promise me you’ll do something awesome like smash an iPhone (just kidding… sorta).
Video of the Snapdragon booth in action can be found below and don’t forget to check out the official page where Qualcomm is uploading the shots into a fun GIF gallery.
This must be the Android version of the slashdot Beowulf cluster meme
Very cool, wonder why the ONE, hopefully it’s not because HTC had a lot laying around.
other smartphones probably not up to the task. Even worse perhaps they preferred a ring of cool looking shiny metal over…. ugh… plastic, lol
I’m surprised that Qualcomm didn’t put plastic cases on these like every other One user
I’ve seen more one owners without a case than with a case. other phones may need a case to compensate for flimsy build and cover up ugly though
i’ve seen maybe only 5-6 One’s out in the real world.. only one of them had a case. Cases are much more dominant in numbers on iphones, on other phones its closer to 50/50 ratio in my personal observations
I had a case at first but couldn’t stand to see it covered up. oddly I’ve never dropped it but that may be attributable to the ones design. the curved back and chamfered edges probably have something to do with a sturdier grip but idk.
i’ve done the same thing, buy a case at first, then a month or so later i’m like pfft what am i doing. And rip it right off.
Phones are too thin for me to use a case. They feel weird. Back then I didn’t really use a case, though. Like on my HTC G2.
Probably because the lower MP count on the sensor means smaller files which are easier to work with.
no, they didn’t want pictures with over saturated colors and a smartphone with a bluish screen
Says the fanboi with no working knowledge of post processing large amounts of data.
Uh huh shill
Evidence?!? What evidence do I need? The One has the least number of MP of any “flagship” Android phone out right now. Fewer MP’s mean less data coming off of the sensor which means a smaller file to work with which taxes a processing system less. It’s simple digital photography. Files from my D700 fly easily on any of my computers but if I want to work with files from my D600 or D800, they only work well on one machine. Why? Because of the increase in MP.
from what you are saying, do I take that to mean that the lesser in quantity, but larger pixels in the HTC One have no bearing on file size?
Photo site (Photo site is the actual term for the light gathering wells.) size means nothing for the file size. The number of sites, output format and and compression of said format rule all when it comes to file size. A 4MP camera’s superfine jpg will be smaller than that of a 8 or 13MP camera’s. One file next to the other won’t be too large in jpg format but once you start adding up a 100 or so files, that difference can start choking a system not ready for it.
Good use for all of the unsold Ones lol. Should’ve used XZ1s instead
htc one was the only one worthy of the gig. the rest are weren’t up to snuff, lol
Nah they chose the HTC One because it’s a disposable aluminum phone. They’ll make beer cans out them after.
uh.. and plastic gets dumped in the garbage
I would actually drink from a can made from the HTC One. WTF!? I want that now.
Ah man its way better when it comes out of chilled glass instead.
Now that’s sweet!
meh… lol
envy…. jealousy…. which one?
how about crap quality gifs
id take that over crap quality build any day
STFU, you fucking gook. Go back to Kolea.
We will always remember Virginia Tech.
Pretty cool, but like the top comment on the video says, it doesn’t really show the power of the processor.
You could do that with just about any flagship smartphone released in the last 2 years.
except cheap and flimsy plastic won’t look as good otherwise they would have done it by now wouldn’t they?
HTC needed some desperate publicity since Samsung’s “flimsy” phones keep kicking it’s @ss in every corner of the world.
P.S. I used to support HTC
stationing Samsung marketers and shills and paying college students to hype their products and denigrate competing ones on blogs and websites, and paying industry pundits for favorable reviews seems more desperate than anything. this is what happens when a phone can’t stand up on its own merits
“have you seen the gs4 sales lately?”
I’m going to take wild guess assume the Note3 has something to do with this.
so what you are asserting is that most of the people who were going to buy the Gs4, did not buy the GS4 but rather waited for the note 3, in phablet category, to come out so they can buy IT instead?
aritee then…..
Ahh venice beach one of my favorite places to hang out. The gat in my profile pic was acctually purchased at the boardwalk there. But cool things are always going on there.
You have a gun in your pic?
I ment hat stupid touchscreen
lol, I was looking for a gat too!
I understood Bullet Time to be the slowing down of the environment around you to emphasize a person’s action while the bullets fly past them. Like in the Max Payne games or in the Matrix when Neo dodges the bullets.
That gif looks more like stop motion than bullet time to me.
Throw some bullets flying past in that gif and it’ll be perfect! :P
I thought that too but it’s not, the term includes the ability to move the cameras view point around scene during the period of slowed down time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullet_time
Heh…I guess I stand corrected then..
meh…gimicks
Meh..no
meh… sour grapes
Dude, what it’s your problem? Are you really so butt hurt about HTC’s competition that you have to basically spam this story? Yeah, the HTC One was nice. So is the LG G2, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and many other phones. If you can’t handle that, you can’t handle android. I suggest you buy an iPhone. It has a metal back, which you seem to be so overly obsessed with.
Good day sir. Here is a link to your new home. http://isource.com/
just my opinion. don’t get all bent out of shape from me expressing them now…
Didn’t you get on someone before about posting an opinion a few days back?
i wouldn do that. more than likely they we’re trying to contradict or refute something but couldnt back it up
Says the guy that makes 10+ posts on this story about his own opinion.
I guess I’m irrefutable
That last line, though. LoL!!
I’m like, “No he di’int.”
They should have run a stitch program on it to smooth out the movement. Seems like shaky cam this way. But I love the effort
my Aunty Kate just got a nearly new white Mercedes GLK-Class Diesel just by some part-time working online at home. look here www.JAM20.com
Denver Colorado wasn’t an option I could vote for :(
If Seattle gets enough votes they will have to use a waterproof phone like the Sony honami or cat b15 :P
So I’m at work and I click the link. Well DeVry has blocked the link because it’s Online-Gambling. Like WTF!?
This is why I have my phone. =.=
Houston is at 2%…
Oh well…
I feel like those poses are more Harlem Shake style in frames
My Uncle James got a great Hyundai Genesis 5.0 R-Spec just by some part-time working online with a lap-top. official statement www.JAM20.com