My iPhone is one of the best cameras I’ve ever owned, but it’s also incredibly boring compared to a Leica M11 – and that feeling has been rammed home by the arrival of Leica’s new Leitz Phone 3, its third and most interesting smartphone so far.

The Leitz Phone 3’s allure has, I admit, been enhanced by its Leica red dot and the fact that it’s also only available in Japan. This has naturally made me want it more, but even from a distance, I can see it’s packed with little touches that make me wish smartphones weren’t all functional, grey rectangles that take technically ‘perfect’ photos.

For a start, there’s its design. The Leitz Phone 3 is probably a rebranded Sharp Aquos R8 Pro (another Japan-only phone), but it’s also the closest thing to a cross between a phone and a Leica M-series camera. Leica’s given the phone a lovely textured finish and, yes, a lens cap. It’s ridiculous, and I’d lose it in ten minutes – but it’s also a lot of fun. 

On a more practical level, the Leitz Phone 3 also has a lot of new software touches. You get an exclusive Golden Hour widget, to tell you when to dash out and get that landscape shot. As much as I love Photopills and its iPhone widget, Leica’s one looks particularly classy and it’s great that it’s built-in. The feature I really like the sound of, though, is the lens simulations.  

Glass master

The Leitz Phone 3’s best, and most interesting, new feature is the virtual camera lenses in its Leitz Looks camera mode. These simulate the various aperture stops of three of Leica’s most popular lenses; the Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.2, the Summilux-M 28mm f/1.4, and Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4.

The combined cost of those three lenses is $21,085 / £18,220 / AU$35,070. The Leitz Phone 3 doesn’t have a hope of getting anywhere close to the image quality they can produce – its lenses are likely mostly made from plastic. But I find the concept of software-simulated lenses fascinating, and it’d be great to have the character of Leica-tuned bokeh and vignetting, plus color simulation, in my phone by default.

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It wasn’t long ago that smartphone portrait modes were artifact-ridden nightmares, but according to Leica, the Leitz Phone 3 can simulate the look of those three classic lenses at each aperture stop, from f/1.2 to f/8. Film simulations, like those on Fujifilm cameras, are now pretty common (in this phone they’re called Leica Tones), but software that can simulate the character of specific lenses is something else.

That doesn’t mean the Leitz Phone 3 is a replacement for an M11, but it does make it way more interesting than my iPhone’s Camera app.

What about the actual cameras?

As you’d hope from a Leica-branded camera, the camera hardware itself is pretty strong too – on paper.

Like the Leitz Phone 2, which landed in 2022, you get a main camera with a 47.2MP 1-inch sensor that’s combined with a 19mm f/1.9 lens. Hardware-wise, that’s comparable to the iPhone 15‘s 48MP 1/1.28-inch sensor.  

You also get a fairly standard front-facing 12.6MP camera with an f/2.3 aperture, which isn’t much to write home about. But like a ‘proper’ camera, you do get a microSD card slot to help boost the 512GB of onboard memory, and there’s also the rare inclusion of a headphone/microphone jack.

This is all backed up by some other interesting software features, too. For the first time on a phone, the Leitz Phone 3 has a feature called ‘Leica Perspective Control’ which comes from its cameras. This is particularly handy for architectural photography and helps you make sure buildings are standing up straight.

While it’s possible to do this in post-production in apps like Lightroom (or by using tilt-shift lenses, if you have them) the benefit of Leica’s software is that it shows you where in the photo it’ll need to crop to correct the vertical lines. It does this by combining gyroscopic measurements and algorithms, making it another handy feature that I don’t have on my iPhone (without third-party apps, at least).

These kinds of touches, combined with the LFU widget which cycles through images from the Leica Fotografie International Gallery, make the Leitz Phone 3 look like a proper photography tool with a distinct character. But this also comes with big downsides.

Reality check

Just as with the Leica M11, I’m likely romanticizing the Leitz Phone 3 and overlooking the practical annoyances that, outside of photography, probably don’t make it a fun phone to live with.

It runs on Android 14 and it isn’t clear how many years of software updates it’s likely to get. More importantly, it’s only on sale in Japan and seems unlikely to launch outside of that region, given that neither the Leitz Phone 1 or 2 ever got an international release.

I’ve also never really seriously entertained getting a Sony Xperia 1 V (which new leaks suggest will get a Sony Xperia 1 VI successor soon), even though it also offers some very interesting camera features and software touches.

The reality is that the iPhone 16 Pro, which I’ll probably upgrade to this year, will almost certainly be the Canon EOS R5 or Sony A7 IV of the phone world when it comes to smartphone photography. In other words, the solid, sensible choice – but I’m still glad that phones like the Leitz Phone 3 exist and hope to see more of its kind arrive outside of the Japan.

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Joyful, dancing wedding guests were following a ceremonial procession and car through the streets of Bhaktapur, Nepal, when Callie Eh happened upon them. The Malaysian photographer was in the country for a photography workshop.

“I try to attend them every year or so,” says Eh, who now lives in Switzerland. “I can improve on existing skills and learn new ones, meet other photographers and exchange ideas.”

Eh was heading back to her hotel for the night when she passed the happy commotion and was drawn in its direction. As the wedding car passed by her, a hand appeared from behind the golden curtain at the window, waving frantically.

“I typically focus on the subject’s expression and emotion, but this was just a spontaneous moment,” she says. “The lone hand prompts us to ask who he is, and what is going on behind that curtain.”

She used a Xiaomi 13 Pro to take the image, and later made minimal adjustments; Eh prefers to keep her photos as natural-looking as possible.

“This image reflects my natural curiosity about the world,” she says, “but it also brings about such a strong sense of connectedness. I can recall the joy and happiness of their celebration. Looking at this picture still warms my heart.”

Tech. Tech never changes. Well… okay… tech does a lot of changing – there’s exciting new gadgets released everyday – but one constant in the space is the unrelenting speed with which hardware and software updates roll out (and we really wanted to make a Fallout reference because the new show is fantastic, more on that below).

It’s a flurry that we know can be a struggle to keep up with. So if you feel a little out of the loop on this week’s biggest news, and want to get back up to speed, we’ve collected the seven most important tech stories of the last seven days in this one article to help you out.

Below you’ll find quickfire recaps on all of the latest goings on in the technology space including major Google Photos AI updates, our Fallout thoughts, and which phone is best for eclipse photography. Let’s get into it.

7. We launched a new podcast! 

Of course the biggest tech news story of the week is we have a new podcast – very creatively called the TechRadar Podcast. We’ve taken all the tech chats we’d have on Zoom, Slack and at our desks and put them into a microphone – so you can expect more of the insightful, first-person experiential content we give you on the site in a new audio-and-video-based format.

In our first episode we give you a recap of the year in tech so far – discussing CES 2024 and AI highlights – and show off a demo of the Apple Vision Pro. The show is hosted by our Editor at Large Lance Ulanoff, with Josephine Watson (Managing Editor, Lifestyle), Alex Walker-Todd (Senior Phones Editor) and Matt Evans (Fitness, Wellness, and Wearables Editor) lending their expertise, too. And as a futher bonus we were joined by Tom, The Tech Chap.

It’s available to listen to right now on YouTube and Spotify, and it should be appearing in other podcast feeds over the next few days! 

6. Windows 11 got an upgrade

Microsoft really wants you to upgrade to Windows 11 – with Reddit users reportedly seeing intrusive warning screens that advise them to download the latest Windows OS on their Windows 10 machines. Now, to help convince you to make the change, there’s a new Windows update with some interesting new features.

These include the Photos app getting a version of Google’s AI-powered Magic Eraser, and Nearby Share getting speed and reliability upgrades. Copilot also got some improvements you try out now, such as plug-in support for third-party services.

That said, Copilot also got a downgrade for some users, as Windows Insiders are saying the AI helper now launches on startup automatically in Windows 11 preview builds – which many have said they find frustrating. 

5. We saw how well smartphones captured the eclipse 

Everyone thinks their flagship smartphone is best and they especially have opinions about the cameras. Editor at Large Lance Ulanoff has tried and tested a lot of these phones and their camera arrays, so he decided to put them to the ultimate celestial test: The US Solar Eclipse.

It was an amazing show – even if New York City didn’t get totality – and a great showcase for the optical zoom capabilities of the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Google Pixel 8 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. The only rule was no digital zoom.

The photos, which only worked because we used three tripods and an eclipse glasses lens as a filter, were way better than we expected. You might, though, be surprised by which phone did best.

4. Spotify’s playlist-making AI brought the party 

Spotify has been steadily integrating more AI into its music streaming platform, and it’s now released a playlist-making bot for all Premium subscribers in the UK and Australia.

It’s in beta, currently – read: it’s a little rough around the edges – but the idea is you give the AI a prompt like “hard hitting beats that’ll help me ace my next workout” or “relaxing music to tide me over during allergy season” and it’ll spit out a selection of tracks.

There are some prompt restrictions, for instance you can’t make playlists for current events, for brands or use offensive language – but you can have a lot of fun with the tool. And if it doesn’t get things quite right you can add follow up prompts such as “more death metal” or “less upbeat” to fine-tune the selection. And of course you can also straight up delete tracks you hate.

3. Google gave away its Magic Editor – kinda 

Google’s impressive AI image editing software, Magic Editor, is currently exclusive to paying Google One subscribers and Google Pixel 8 – or Pixel 8 Pro – phone owners, but this week Google announced that come May 15 all Google Photos users will have access to the tool for free.

Thanks to Magic Editor you can erase annoyances in your shot, reposition your subjects, cleverly adjust the lighting, and unblur your snaps to help make your favorite shots look even better – all you need is Google Photos and a smartphone with at least 3GB RAM and that’s running Android 8.0 / iOS 15 or higher.

Unfortunately, the free version only allows you to save 10 edited images a month but if you like the service you can pay for Google One or buy a Pixel phone to remove the restriction.

2. Fallout blew us away

Prime Video’s hotly anticipated Fallout show released this week, and it continues the golden age of video game adaptations we’ve seen in recent years through Netflix‘s Castlevania and Arcane, HBO’s The Last of Us, and even the big-screen takes on Sonic and Mario.

We watched the first four episodes, and found the ambitious adaptation is nothing less than “atomically entertaining” with a “satisfying blend of source material devotion and narrative originality.” Sure, there’s odd bump in the road, but these blemishes do little to spoil the luster of what is yet another fantastic video-game-to-TV adaption.

If you want to watch it yourself then you can binge the whole eight-episode first season on Prime Video right now.

1. Google launched its take on Apple’s Find My network

Android fans have been waiting for more than a year for Google’s rebooted Find My Device network – and this week it finally arrived. The feature, which is rolling out worldwide starting in the US and Canada, works in much the same way as Apple’s Find My network. Because it anonymously piggybacks millions of Android devices around the world, the network can show you precisely where your lost phone is – even if it’s offline.

If you have a Google Pixel 8 or Pixel 8 Pro, the network even helps you find your phone when it’s powered off. We’ve also just seen the arrival of the first Find My Device-compatible trackers, courtesy of Chipolo and Pebblebee, which attach to your wallet, keys or luggage. We might attach one to our cat too, just to foil its hide-and-seek plans.

Photographers often utilize their cameras to look inward; revealing a trace of their soul. At other times, these artists convey a wider-world interpretation, capturing framed scenes that materialize seemingly through mystic portals. This ‘mirror and window’ duality of the two-dimensional medium is one reason why photographs often inspire powerful emotions.

A new ‘Cumberland Valley Photography’ exhibition at Washington County Museum of Fine Arts (WCMFA) perfectly illustrates this window and mirror concept. This Hagerstown show opened on March 23rd and concludes June 2nd. The exhibit contains a unique collection of 40 images, created by 27 local artists. This display was curated by Anne Gridley and Gary Graves. The selection reflects the judges’ cultured sensibilities honed from years spent in the photographic field. “Photographs embody ideas,” the curators said. “Great ones draw us to them mysteriously as if absorbing our gaze.”

This exhibition also served as a friendly competition among the chosen local photographers, and when awards were announced another theme emerged. The top two winners’ close connection revealed a rewarding teacher/student relationship. Sometimes, a talented pupil rises to the expert level of their revered mentor. In this exhibition, Taylor Brown was that student photographer.

Brown is a 16-year-old sophomore at Barbara Ingram School for the Arts. Kristen Green is Taylor’s teacher there. Taylor Brown’s ‘Girl in Grass’ was the grand-prize winner of the exhibition and Kristen Green’s ‘Looking Back’ finished second. Each image portrays a girl, caught in a mesmerizing moment.

When teacher Green first saw her student’s image, before the exhibition was curated, she knew Brown’s ‘Girl in Grass’ was special. “It’s a striking image that sticks with you,” Kristen said about Taylor’s photograph. The judges agreed.

Student Taylor Brown didn’t realize how special her image was until she received enthusiastic feedback from instructor Green. “I thought it was a good portrait,” Taylor said of her creation. The image resulted from an impromptu roadside photo-session with a classmate, the girl seen reclining in the grass. Reflecting on her prize-winning image, Brown said: “The texture in the grass and freckles on her face really stand out in black and white.” Taylor was inspired by famous depression-era photographer Dorothea Lange’s haunting work.

Kristen Green’s runner-up image features her daughter, taken on a train trip in Lancaster. “Shea had never been in a train before. She was fascinated and curious. She was looking out the window, trying to see through the fog,” Green recognized that special fleeting moment and created a tender image.

When asked about her winning student’s potential, Green said: “Taylor is a hard worker, reflective, with a lot of talent. Her future is bright.” As a dedicated instructor and gifted photographer, that same opportunistic window should frame Green’s future as well. She had another lovely image selected for this show titled ‘Clippings’.

Green offers encouragement to other photography students and hobbyists: “keep making images and put your work out there.” Taylor Brown’s and Kristen Green’s beautiful images are a reminder that collaboration inspires both pupils and instructors.

The exhibition’s third place winner was Valerie Dyer of Frederick with her mysterious photograph ‘Into the Fog’. The Washington County Arts Council Award went to Skyla Heise of Hagerstown for her unique portrait titled ‘Gypsophila’. After the show concludes, a people’s choice award will be announced, voted by museum visitors. WCMFA’s ‘Cumberland Valley Artists’ exhibit will follow this photography show, running from June 15th through August 25th.

This yearly Cumberland Valley Photographer’s exhibition has a long tradition at WCMFA. “We’re proud of the museum’s commitment to artists within our region,” Executive Director Sarah Hall said. “Our Cumberland Valley exhibit has a 90-year history. We began showing photography as art in the early 1930’s, when that was quite progressive.”

This wonderful exhibition honors that long-standing commitment by showcasing intriguing work from area photographers. Like a girl in the grass or a daughter on a train, it illustrates when artists peer through a symbolic window or gaze at an introspective mirror, exceptional moments are captured.