A camera phone is a mobile phone which is able to capture still photographs (and usually video). Since early in the 21st century the majority of mobile phones in use are camera phones.
Most camera phones are simpler than separate digital cameras. Their usual fixed focus lenses and smaller sensors limit their performance in poor lighting. Lacking a physical shutter, most have a long shutter lag. Flash, where present, is usually weak. Optical zoom and tripod screws are rare. Some also lack a USB connection, removable memory card, or other way of transferring their pictures more quickly than by the phone's inherent communication feature.
Some of the more expensive camera phones have only a few of these technical disadvantages, which apply most acutely in low light conditions and in any case have not inhibited their widespread use. Most model lines improve in these regards every year or two. Some, such as the Droid Incredible only have a menu choice to start an application program to activate the camera. Others, such as the BlackBerry Storm 2, Droid X, Motorola V980 and Nokia 5800 also have a separate camera button for quickness and convenience. Windows Phones can be configured to operate as a camera even if the phone is asleep. Some camera phones are designed to resemble separate low-end digital compact cameras in appearance and to some extent in features and picture quality, and are branded as both mobile phones and cameras, including certain Sony phones.
A Ferris wheel (also known as an observation wheel or big wheel) is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with passenger cars (sometimes referred to as gondolas or capsules) attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, the cars are kept upright, usually by gravity.
Some of the largest and most modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on the outside of the rim, and electric motors to independently rotate each car to keep it upright. These wheels are sometimes referred to as observation wheels, and their cars referred to as capsules, however these alternative names are also sometimes used for wheels with conventional gravity-oriented cars.
The original Ferris Wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The term Ferris wheel later came to be used generically for all such structures, and Ferris wheels are now the most common type of carnival ride at state fairs in the US.
Since the original 1893 Chicago Ferris Wheel, there have been eight subsequent world's tallest-ever Ferris wheels. The current record holder is the 165-metre (541 ft) Singapore Flyer, which opened to the public in March 2008.