Panoramalama Ding Dong

Lomo has added a new model to its line of analogue cameras. The Spinner 360 has a pull-string on it, like Bart’s talking Krusty the Clown doll, that uses rubber bands to quickly rotate the camera, capturing a 360 degree panorama with its 25mm lens. The Spinner takes 35mm film, and up to eight ultra-wide pictures can be captured on one 36 shot roll. The camera exposes the whole entire film, giving developed images a sprocket hole border, a tattooed testament to the real deal means of capture. The Spinner has two aperture settings – f8 and f16 – and the focus is fixed at 1 metre to infinity.

Price: RMB 1,130. No. 126, Jinxian Lu, near Maoming Lu. Tel: 6256 1054. Web: www.lomography.cn

Current Contender

HTC continue to produce the top Android phones, devices capable of taking bites out of Apple’s business. The Evo 4G is HTC’s latest, and the first Android phone to go 4G. Sure, there aren’t a lot of 4G networks in these parts, or any other parts, but the Evo wants to scare you with its bleeding edge irrelevance. The phone sold out everywhere on its launch in the US, thanks to its 4.3 inch display, an 8MP camera with a flash that shoots 720p video, plus a 1.3MP camera on the front, and such. When it comes to power consumption though, the phone chews up more than a frat guy at his first all-you-can-eat teppanyaki sit down. You’re looking at six hours’ typical use. There’s no word on availability in China just yet, but HTC’s Desire and Legend are already being sold in Hong Kong.

Web: www.htc.com/hk-en

iPhone Phwoar

On 7 June Captain Steve was back on the Jobs for the US launch of the iPhone 4. It’s 34 per cent slimmer than the 3GS, and Apple are calling it the thinnest smartphone ever. With a bigger battery and more efficient processors, the new phone also promises longer battery life, including up to 40 percent more call time.

Another big selling point is an ultra-high resolution 940 x 640 screen – that’s four times as many pixels as the 3GS – which Apple is calling “Retina”. The eye-phone’s retina should appeal to people who want to use the device for longer spells of reading. There’s also a new camera, still 5MP, but with a bigger lens, bigger sensor and an LED flash, which will all help out taking photos in low light. The iPhone 4 has a front facing camera for video calls, and can record video in 720p high def.

It’s an appealing package and one that seems likely to make its way to China through official channels, at least eventually. China Unicom says it’s in negotiations with Apple to get the phone in China, but there’s no timeline for doing so just yet. The iPhone will, however, be on sale in Hong Kong starting this month.

Price: USD 500-600 (purchased in the US, off contract). Web: www.apple.com