More people should know about this surprising risk to your phone's camera
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR A car's lidar sensor can permanently damage your phone camera if you point it directly at it.
A Galaxy S24 Ultra owner reported similar damage after attending a laser-heavy light show.
Experts warn that a laser can be safe for the eyes but still harmful to phone camera sensors, especially at close range.
Smartphone users used to be most concerned about the risks of dropping their devices or getting them wet. However, with the improvements to durability and waterproofing in flagship devices, perhaps you should be more concerned about whether you'll accidentally fry your phone camera with lasers.
As highlighted by The Drive, some Volvo EX90 owners are learning the hard way that the SUV's roof-mounted lidar sensor can seriously mess with your phone camera. A Reddit user shared a video showing exactly what happens when the device's infrared laser hits a phone's lens — fried pixels and visible damage that doesn't go away. The video is worth a watch to see the damage occurring in real time.
The issue was serious enough that Volvo issued a warning earlier this year, stating plainly on a support page, 'Do not point a camera directly at the lidar.' The company explained to The Drive that 'close-up' shots are the real danger, and offered a tip for cautious photographers: filters or protective covers can help, and some camera sensors have built-in defenses. But generally, if you see a lidar pod, it's best to keep your phone pointed elsewhere.
Reddit
The colorful specs in the video are pixels on the camera being fried by the lidar system.
And it's not just lidar. A separate Reddit post from last week, shared in the r/samsunggalaxy subreddit, tells a similar tale. After attending a local event with rooms full of colorful lighting and laser effects, one Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra user noticed their phone's main lens had developed a strange white dot and two intersecting lines. The pattern remained across apps that use the camera and only showed up on specific zoom levels. These are telltale signs of laser damage, according to other commenters in the thread.
None of this should be surprising to laser pros. The International Laser Display Association (ILDA) has long warned that camera sensors are more vulnerable than the human eye. While concert lasers are usually eye-safe, they can easily fry phone camera sensors, especially when the full laser beam enters a camera lens directly. That's why laser show producers avoid hitting professional video equipment and projectors where possible, but they can't be responsible for the camera in every audience member's pocket.
With lidar-equipped vehicles and laser-heavy light shows becoming more common, these incidents may become more frequent. It's a problem most people won't know about until it's too late, and their $1,000 phone is stuck with a permanent scar.
Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at
Email our staff at news@androidauthority.com . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
30 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Adapt or else? How the sell-side is adjusting to new risks
Among examples, Allright says, are market risk and credit risk capital requirements under the Basel framework. The proposal by the Basel Committee to strengthen banks' resilience to risks was written in 2019, but its introduction has been pushed back repeatedly since then. Banks are unsure when, or even if, they should invest in complying with the rule. There is also a trade-off to be considered – which other compliance project must be deprioritized to provide financial headroom for any new rules? 'Uncertainty of when, or if, a regulation is required adds a risk to a bank, who have to make a decision on how to invest engineering resources to meet regulations,' says Allright. Technology risks Technology itself is adding risks to banking operations. As Bloomberg's Global Head of Sell-Side Product Phil McCabe explained earlier in this report, the advent of electronic trading and automation has compressed investors' fees, hastening the diversification of their portfolios into new markets as they search of better returns. This has brought liquidity to once niche asset classes such as crypto, private equity and structured products Moving into new markets requires investment to develop new complex pricing models and deploy techniques to clean and smooth data. These costs can increase further when there is a requirement to provide portfolio level analytics in a timely manner. Search for innovative solutions Focusing on data and its increasing significance in banking operations: consistent datasets, particularly when used for pricing financial securities, provide banks with reliable informational bases for assessing and addressing emerging risks. Additionally, APIs facilitate connectivity to software and modeling tools, enabling banks to effectively utilise the expanding data pools accumulated by the sell-side on a daily basis. However, as the sophistication of data uses grows, many banks are unlikely to have necessary capabilities in-house to smooth curves and clean data sources as well as accumulate all data sets in a timely fashion, and so they increasingly need to turn to data- and technology-specialist vendors. Mitigation technology Sell-side organizations must consider how to achieve technological transformation to address new risk profiles. Building capacity is one option, but it is costly and requires ongoing updates. This strategy may be impractical if the organization's tech stack is fragmented, and systems are poorly connected. As the speed of technological change and the cost of implementation rise, it has become prudent for banks to outsource these operations. A key to meeting the challenges of the new regulatory landscape is access to consistent data sets and pricing models, says Allright. 'What you [as a bank] don't want to have is a risk solution at the top of the house that's different from a solution that the traders are utilizing, because it's likely they will be looking at different numbers,' he says. In organisations with siloed tech stacks, end users such as traders and compliance professionals, may not be working from single source of truth dataset, or a golden source of their enterprise intelligence. This becomes challenging when different departments may have to report to different regulators with different data sets. Having access to consistent data and pricing models ensures banks can satisfy modern reporting rules because regulators require data transparency and accurate pricing models that can justify the claims and assumptions built into disclosures. An additional reason to seek external support is the ability to connect to data and models in structures such as clouds and APIs, which allows for secure integration of external and internal data and provides organizations with a comprehensive view of their risk exposures. It is of great importance to banks to bring huge volumes of quality data into their systems ready for analysis and querying, says Allright. To that end, Bloomberg has developed tools and technology that allows -banks to access software and infrastructure through the cloud and APIs without the need to for large capital outlays. For instance, Bloomberg's Web Services technology delivers lightweight, industry-standard APIs. These APIs provide banks with flexible access to Bloomberg's software and infrastructure without requiring significant capital investment. 'A lot of investment in the past has gone into hardware on site, but these are machines that are not as flexible and scalable as we move into a new cloud-based computing world,' Allright says. 'We see clients trying to access our set of APIs rather than buy in a fixed product that sits on their desktop because they want to utilize the data and manage the data in different ways increasing deploying their own artificial intelligence – they want to commingle it with their data and create their own IP.'
CNET
32 minutes ago
- CNET
Death to Gmail? Google DeepMind CEO Wants AI to Solve This One Annoying Problem
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis might have won a Nobel Prize for his work on AlphaFold 2, an AI model that can predict protein structures, but the solution to the problem he really wants to solve still evades him. The problem in question is infinitely easier to grasp and more relatable than Hassabis' work in the field of chemistry. "The thing I really want that we're working on is next-generation email," he said, speaking at SXSW London on Monday. "I would love to get rid of my email." Based on the crowd reaction, it was a popular sentiment in the room, where earlier that day, the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted to sending only one email for the entire 10-year period he was in office. There is some irony to Hassabis' quest. The prize-winning scientist is responsible for developing some of the most complex and sophisticated AI models the world has ever seen, all in aid of working toward cures for diseases that are beyond anything we have access to today. His mission to render email (presumably Gmail?) – an annoyance of our own human invention – obsolete feels like small fry in comparison. But it also exposes the duality of Hassabis' responsibilities at Google. He is, and always has been, deeply committed to pursuing AI for the benefit of humankind. "My personal passion is applying [AI] to the frontiers of science and medicine," he said. At the same time he is beholden to the corporate interests of Google, which acquired DeepMind in 2014. Hassabis always imagined the development of AI to be more of a "scientific-led endeavor," spearheaded by a computer science equivalent to CERN, the famed particle physics lab in Switzerland. But the technology went a different way, becoming commercially viable much quicker than he anticipated. From there, he said, "the capitalist engine has done what it does best." Hassabis almost speaks as though he is separate from the "capitalist engine," but of course he is deeply embedded within it. DeepMind being owned by Google means that as well as pursuing his passion project of curing disease with AI – arguably the most noble use of AI – he must split his attention to ensure Google's AI products, from Gemini to Veo and everything else the company announced at I/O last month are up to scratch in a competitive market. In pursuit of AGI The competition is "ferocious" and it's a hefty work schedule for one man, who says he sleeps very little and doesn't expect to until "we get to AGI," or artificial general intelligence. Along with developing DeepMind's core AI models, and translating them into science, he continues to pursue the development of AGI, or AI that fully matches (or exceeds) human intellectual capabilities. "My feeling is that we're about five to 10 years away," he said. His vision for AGI is that it will unlock a world in which "we can cure many, many diseases – or maybe even all diseases," and "unlimited renewable energy." In some ways, the Google products are stopping off points on the way. One of the reasons DeepMind has built Veo 3, its latest video generation software, said Hassabis, is that AGI needs to have a physical understanding of the world around it. The world models built for Veo 3 are key to this understanding. In turn, these world models will be essential for a breakthrough in robotics, which Hassabis believes is due in the "next few years." While it's sometimes not clear where DeepMind's worthy mission ends and Google's commercial priorities kick in, it's clear that Hassabis is finding ways to make it work for him, and his long-term pursuit of an AGI breakthrough. In spite of the seismic shift he predicts this will cause, even he is skeptical of the hype around AI in the short term. "I mean, it couldn't be any more hyped," he said. "Therefore, it is a little bit overhyped."
Android Authority
3 hours ago
- Android Authority
Robot deals: Narwal Freo X Ultra and Freo Pro drop to record-low prices!
Jonathan Feist / Android Authority Are you looking for a robot vacuum and mop? They're the best way to keep your floors clean with little to no effort, and two of our favorite models are on sale right now, hitting new all-time low prices we've never seen before! Keep reading to learn more about the Narwal Freo X Ultra and Narwal Freo Pro. Buy the Narwal Freo X Ultra for just $549.99 ($350 off) Buy the Narwal Freo Pro for just $499.99 ($200 off) Both of these offers are available from Amazon and are labeled as 'limited time deals.' The discount is automatic, so simply add your favorite model to your cart and check out! Narwal Freo X Ultra Narwal Freo X Ultra Narwal Freo X Ultra Our floors have never looked cleaner Powerful suction, anti-clog dirt channels and brushes, LiDAR and laser sensors, and a convenient self-cleaning base station make the Narwal Freo X Ultra one of the best robot vacuums we've seen for home users. Safe and efficient operation for wood, tile, carpet, and nearly every floor surface in between. See price at Amazon Save $350.00 Limited Time Deal! For value per dollar, the Narwal Freo X Ultra is still my personal favorite robot vacuum and mop combo. It's literally the one I use. Sure, the newer Narwal Freo Z Ultra is better, but it is also significantly more expensive—it costs twice as much right now, to be exact. Also, that's only if you have an Amazon Prime subscription; it's more expensive if you don't! And while the Narwal Freo X Ultra isn't the latest, it's also not really that old, launched in early 2024. That said, the Narwal Freo X Ultra was the last premium offering from the brand, so it is very capable. It features a mighty 8,200Pa suction power. I've seen it pick up metal marbles with ease. Regular debris and dust will be no challenge. Additionally, the tri-laser system is really efficient at avoiding obstacles. I've had no issues with it in this department! One of my favorite things about this model is its mopping system. It's kind of life-changing. The two rotating mops rotate, effectively scrubbing your floors. My previous robot cleaners would just drag a rag across the floor. Not only that, but when the robot returns to the dock, the system will recognize how dirty the mops came back. The robot will continue going back to mop until the floors are actually clean. Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority While we are on the topic of the base, it is super convenient. The dock can store both clean and dirty water, and the app will let you know when it's time to dump or refill it. The detergent goes in the base, too, and it is dispensed automatically. Additionally, the base will wash and dry your mopping pads, keeping funky, humid smells at bay. The hands-off approach is amazing if you want a robot vacuum and mop that will require little maintenance on your end. The tangleless brush means you won't need to manually remove hair from it all the time, which is excellent news for those of us with long hair or pets. And the dust bin can store up to seven weeks of debris! I honestly rarely have to mess with it. I just dump the dirty water and refill the freshwater tank about once a week. Again, this is a brand-new all-time low price for this model. Get it while you can. You will not regret it! Narwal Freo Pro Narwal Freo Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo Narwal Freo Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo LiDAR and more in a mid-range bot There are not many compromises in the Narwal Freo Pro to help bring the price down. Only a few controls in the base station, manual detergent addition, but still some of the best floor cleaning capabilities we've seen from a robot vacuum. See price at Amazon Save $200.00 Limited Time Deal! Now, if you want to save even more, the Narwal Freo Pro is a great robot, and it is also at a record-low price! It was released as a more affordable alternative to the brand's more expensive 2025 units, but it is actually very similar to the Narwal Freo X Ultra! Of course, the manufacturer made some sacrifices to reach a lower price, but it is actually better in some ways, too. Let's talk about the differences. For starters, the suction power gets upgraded to 8,500Pa, so it's slightly stronger. Something that catches my eye is that the newer front brushes are better at avoiding tangles, making it an even better option for those of us with long hair and pets! The rest of the experience is very similar in terms of features. The dock will wash and dry the mopping pads, obstacle detection is still outstanding, and you get the same seven-week debris collection time. Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority But, where are the downsides? Well, they honestly aren't many, and they aren't that annoying. The Narwal Freo Pro base doesn't have physical controls, so you'll need to rely on the app. That said, I have yet to use the physical controls on mine, so I personally wouldn't mind the lack of physical buttons. Additionally, it doesn't have automatic detergent dispensing. You'll need to throw in a tablet whenever you replace the freshwater tank. It's an extra little step, but definitely not a deal-breaker either. If I were to pay full price for any of these, I would honestly go for the Narwal Freo Pro. Its downsides aren't that bad, and it is actually better in some ways. That said, today's deals put them very close in price. I would probably pay the extra $50 for the Narwal Freo X Ultra, mainly for the automatic detergent dispensing. Again, these are both record-low prices, so go take advantage of these deals while you can! We don't see them sticking around for long. If you're not convinced by either of these, here's our list of the best robot vacuums!
