{"id":641201,"date":"2013-02-04T06:57:23","date_gmt":"2013-02-04T11:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/betanews.com\/?p=127836"},"modified":"2013-02-04T06:57:23","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T11:57:23","slug":"microsoft-researchs-blink-adds-burst-shot-mode-to-windows-phone-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/641201","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Research&#8217;s Blink adds burst-shot mode to Windows Phone 8"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-127930\" title=\"blink logo\" src=\"http:\/\/betanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/blink-logo.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"253\" height=\"253\" \/>In the camera department, Windows Phone 8 is an interesting piece of kit &#8212; users have access to a high number of customizable options and there is even support for add-ons, or lenses, as Microsoft likes to call them. But one major feature is still missing to nail that perfect picture, namely burst-shot mode.<\/p>\n<p>The software giant&#8217;s research arm, Microsoft Research, has introduced a new app for Windows Phone 8 devices, dubbed Blink, that fills the gap in the otherwise competent camera bag. Blink works both as an individual app as well as a lens, and allows users to snap a significant number of shots, all in one go, and save the best one afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>The app starts taking pics before you even press the camera button and stops moments after releasing it. Users are presented with all the snapped photos in a bottom row and can navigate between them by swiping left and right. Support for on-screen autofocus is also present.<\/p>\n<p>Blink features &#8220;advanced image stabilization technology&#8221; which, according to Microsoft Research, &#8220;removes camera shake&#8221;. Based on my own testing, the best results are delivered when holding the device still. When following a moving target the pics suffer from motion blur in out-of-focus areas.<\/p>\n<p>As one reviewer points out, &#8220;the picture quality of the images does not match my normal photos. The app has no access to things like flash. I doubt it does facial recog&#8221;. Indeed, Blink snaps pics at a low resolution of only 1280 by 720, instead of the maximum one supported by the smartphone. Users cannot take advantage of the built-in flash, nor does the app display the usual face detection rectangle when taking portrait pictures.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-127929\" title=\"wp_ss_20130204_0004\" src=\"http:\/\/betanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/wp_ss_20130204_00041-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/>Basically Blink gives the impression of a technical exercise with the sole aim to prove that burst-shot is available for Windows Phone 8 devices. The app could use more features, some of which I mentioned above. Blink would undoubtedly be much more useful as a built-in feature, readily available from the default camera software, not as a lens or individual app.<\/p>\n<p>Blink is available to download <a title=\"Blink\" href=\"http:\/\/www.windowsphone.com\/en-us\/store\/app\/blink\/3e185ac7-2d21-4a74-9cad-3d4729509446?signin=true\" >from the Windows Phone Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.betanews.com\/~ff\/bn?a=mICBM2eQIHg:E0VzXp3lbOQ:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/bn?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.betanews.com\/~ff\/bn?a=mICBM2eQIHg:E0VzXp3lbOQ:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/bn?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/bn\/~4\/mICBM2eQIHg\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the camera department, Windows Phone 8 is an interesting piece of kit &#8212; users have access to a high number of customizable options and there is even support for add-ons, or lenses, as Microsoft likes to call them. But one major feature is still missing to nail that perfect picture, namely burst-shot mode. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7446,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-641201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7446"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}