Visit any tourist destination, and you are bound to see individuals and groups taking photos of themselves to share on social media. It is a declaration to the world that they were there.
Pop stars such as Rihanna and Justin Bieber have helped popularize the trend by posting stylized selfies to their leagues of followers. Even politicians are taking selfies with ordinary folks these days as a way of showing how close they are to voters.
It was only a matter of time before tech companies responded with phones and apps specifically designed to help people take more and better selfies.
Photo: EPA
Several phones unveiled at the IFA tech show in Berlin this week have higher-resolution front cameras, so selfies can come out more sharply. Some even have apps that let the user take pictures with the rear cameras, too. That means even clearer photos — and the use of the flash if needed.
One of the phones Microsoft Corp announced on Thursday, the Lumia 730, has a 5 megapixel front camera and software to help users touch up their image after taking it.
For even better shots, it is possible to take selfies with the 6.7 megapixel camera on the back. Users cannot see themselves on the screen, but an app called Lumia Selfie will use face-detection technology and beep to tell users where to hold the camera.
With a starting price of 199 euros (US$258) before taxes, the phone is likely to be particularly attractive to younger buyers and the aspiring middle classes in developing countries.
It also fits neatly with Microsoft’s stated strategy of prioritizing mobile phones and Internet-based services. The phones come with sizeable online storage space on Microsoft’s OneDrive, where users can back up their photos or share them with friends.
Microsoft’s announcement follows Samsung Electronics Co’s new Galaxy Note phones unveiled on Wednesday. The Note 4 and the Note Edge come with a special wide-angle option, which allows users to fit more people into their selfies by stitching multiple images together.
The feature could help avoid bloopers such as the time Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres snapped a selfie with Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lawrence but cut out Jared Leto, who had just won an Academy Award but was too far over to the side. Coincidentally or not, Samsung was a sponsor of the Academy Awards, and DeGeneres was using a Samsung phone.
Not to be outdone, PC maker Lenovo Group (聯想) launched its Vibe Z2 and Vibe X2 phones, with 8 megapixel and 5-megapixel front cameras, respectively. The phones also have a feature that triggers the camera to snap the shot by smiling, blinking or making a “V” gesture.
HTC Corp (宏達電) also unveiled an 8-megapixel front-facing camera for its new Desire 820 device, while China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) can claim to have pioneered the selfie-phone idea earlier this year when it released the Ascend Mate2 4G. The Mate2 has a 5 megapixel front camera and a wide-angle option similar to Samsung’s.
However some are wondering whether users would really embrace the idea of capturing themselves in high resolution.
“I’m not sure people want selfies to be very sophisticated to start with,” University of Illinois at Chicago professor of communications Steve Jones said. “There’s something to be said about having selfies be kind of the modern-day version of the Polaroid instant, but it has its own look and had its own style.”
For users who do not want to send around high-resolution images of themselves without a bit of prior enhancement, Microsoft’s selfie app offers tools that let users make tired eyes bigger, whiten teeth and slim down like airbrushed models on magazine covers.
Meanwhile, LG Electronics Co wants to take selfies to a whole new place. The South Korean firm presented a refrigerator on Thursday that can send pictures of its contents to users while they are out shopping.
That is right, your fridge is soon going to be sending you selfies.
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