Panasonic surprised visitors with some new products at MWC that are relevant to our readers. The first was a CCTV software solution for storing and analyzing video streams with face recognition software. If you think that sounds like science fiction you may be absolutely right, but in this case it actually works. With privacy laws varying from country to country, the applications and functions vary depending on where you are, but from a technology standpoint the system allows for analyzing a video stream for a number of people within the video camera’s field of view. In addition the software can also identify stored faces in the video stream and find the time/location of the person within the camera’s range. This feature is, of course, popular with law enforcement, military, border patrol and similar organisations.
In addition to face recognition, the software can give an estimated age of the identified person, a key feature for use in retail locations to give feedback on how many people watch a particular display and other demographics, adding additional value to the software package.
Panasonic also showed its Lumix CM-1 smartphone/camera combination. The device was released at the end of last year and is now available in parts of Europe for €899 – not a cheap solution, but a unique one. The front view suggests that the camera is the more important aspect of this device, while from the rear it looks like a phone. The phone has a 4.7″ FullHD display.
Analyst Comment
The combination of a smartphone with a camera is not new, as basically every smartphone is more or less a cheap digital camera. The Lumix CM1 comes with a 1″ sensor that allows for better low light images. The camera layout also adds a focus ring and a trigger on the top/side of the smartphone. The smartphone portion is a more or less standard phone, which highlights the weakness of the device. What are you doing with the smartphone function when the technology of the phone has evolved to the point that the phone function is more or less useless?
On the other hand, the camera allows for better pictures as well as 4k video capture. The device will let the user take up to 10 minutes (4GB file size) of 4k video, after which the video is written to the 128 GB optional SD card. The device will also be available in other markets later this year. (NH)
