Samsung showed up at MWC to announce their new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge flagships, but they also let us in on some of their future technology as well. Two of their big advances are in the area of the front-facing camera (FFC) and the Near Field Communication (NFC) integrated circuit (IC) with improved Radio Frequency (RF). Dr. Kyushik Hong, Vice President of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics said, “We are always looking for innovative ways to create leading logic solutions that meet the rapidly evolving requirements of the mobile industry and give consumers new and more exciting mobile experiences. With our new RWB ISOCELL image sensor for richer images and NFC IC with outstanding RF performance, we are excited to offer mobile users more convenient imaging and connectivity applications.”
As you may know by now, Samsung placed a 5MP FFC on its new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge – quite a jump from the 2MP found on the Galaxy S5. But Samsung has come to realize that the FFC is rapidly becoming a very important part of the smartphone’s overall enjoyment by the user. Social selfies are a hot commodity and will continue to grow in usage as a means to ‘socialize’ with others. Many of these selfies are taken in less than ideal light conditions – bars, restaurants, dimly lit rooms, parking lots and did I mention bars.
Sony has developed a new 8MP FFC that includes its ISOCELL technology and newly developed RWB (Red-White-Blue) color pattern filter – by combining these technologies, Samsung’s new image sensor maximizes the quality of digital images. Their proprietary ISOCELL technology increases light sensitivity even in poorer lighting conditions. The newly devised RWB color pattern eliminates the need for a RGB (Red-Green-Blue) convertor, which prevents unnecessary color deviation and improves over 3 decibels in the Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (SNR) in low-light settings.
Samsung also introduced their fourth-generation NFC IC with an increase of about 100-percent of the RF performance in card mode and about 20-percent in the reader mode. Because of this break though, it can operate with one of the smallest film-type antennas and it can be attached directly to the smartphone battery and does not need the old booster IC. Those factors mean a slimmer and lighter weight mobile device. The NFC IC follows the strict Point-of-Sale (POS) requirements. It is already in mass production and ready for sale and should help boost purchasing items using your smartphone.