Wondering what HTC has up its sleeve for 2013? In an infographic just posted to its official blog, the company seems to have tipped us off to two features that it'll be focusing on this year. Dubbed "A Brief History of Photography," the infographic contains several highlights in camera history, and several of the recent entries point out features found on HTC smartphones. The list ends with a big question mark in 2013, and next to that image HTC says that it will "[kick] off a new sound and camera experience" this year.
That's not a terribly specific statement on its own, but it could add some credence to a new rumor from Pocket-lint that relates to the camera on the upcoming M7. The site claims that HTC is planning to introduce a new Ultrapixel sensor on the M7 that's made up of three 4.3-megapixel sensor layers. When a photo is taken, those three layers combine their data to create one final image that will be crisper than a shot produced by a typical camera.
HTC's rumored Ultrapixel sensor sounds like its meant to produce a sharper image in a way similar to Nokia's 808 PureView. The PureView featured a 41-megapixel sensor, but when taking standard 5 or 8-megapixel shots, the camera would perform some pixel oversampling and take the data from a group of pixels and then cram all of that data into a single pixel. The Ultrapixel sensor is expected to be a main focus of the M7. Previous rumors claimed that the M7's camera will be of the 13-megapixel variety, which is actually just about the amount of info that three 4.3-megapixel sensors would gather, though Pocket-lint says that the Ultrapixel camera won't actually output shots at a 13-megapixel size.
While this Ultrapixel feature is still very much a rumor at this point, it certainly sounds like something that HTC would try to create. The company has been known to make the camera experience an important part of its past smartphones, like with the 3D shooter on the EVO 3D and the ImageSense functionality in devices like the One X. The upcoming M7 is expected to be a big deal for HTC, and it wouldn't surprise me if the Peter Chou and Co. cooked up a new camera feature for the device.
Speaking of the M7, some images shared by Pocket-lint and HTCInside show that listings for HTC's upcoming flagship device have begun appearing in the inventory systems of U.K. retailer Carphone Warehouse as well as the German arm of carrier Vodafone. There are entries for both black and silver versions of the M7 in both inventories, which lines up with the leaked images that we've seen of the device so far. Thankfully, all of the rumors and speculation will likely be coming to an end soon, as HTC is holding an event on Feb. 19 at which the M7 is expected to make its official debut. We'll be at the gathering to cover the M7, the Ultrapixel sensor or whatever else HTC might show off, so be sure to keep it locked to PhoneDog for more.
Via Android Central, HTC, Android Community, Pocket-lint (1), (2), HTCInside.de
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