– Pythagoras, attributed by Thomas Stanley
in The History of Philosophy (c.1660)

The connection between music and math is keenly debated to this day. Certainly, many musical concepts are underpinned by mathematical knowledge – but knowledge of math is not essential to creating music.

For Daeneung Kim, music and math exist in harmony. The young man is an engineer at Samsung Electronics by day, and a singer-songwriter by night, penning music and lyrics under the stage name “Neungwriter”. Kim moves seamlessly between these two worlds.

“I watch TV dramas and movies, and I read a lot. When I see or hear something that moves me, I try to write it down immediately” says Samsung Electronics engineer Daeneung Kim a.k.a. Neungwriter

An Artist in the Making

Kim grew up with a love of music. As a child, he relished playing the piano in front of audiences.

“I seriously thought about going to a middle school for the arts,” Kim confides. “But life took a different course and I pursued another passion at college: electrical engineering. The music never went away. I think it was when I turned twenty that I decided I had to make my own music.”

Having spent eight years writing and honing his skills by himself, he felt ready to share his music with the world: “After a few years, I began thinking: I could make an album. In today’s music market, I don’t need to sign a major record deal.”

(Left) Kim practicing the piano as a child (Right) Kim in the studio

The process of recording, mixing and editing the songs was steady and patient work. But after a year, his album was finally finished.

“I was so proud of my album, like how a father feels about his newborn child,” he recalls. “However, by the time it was released, I’d heard and sung it too many times to be really excited. I also felt a tinge of regret over parts I could have done better.”

Despite Kim’s modesty about his album, his music has indeed proved popular. He was taken aback the first time he heard a familiar melody while out and about with his friends in the city.

“My first reaction was surprise: ‘Oh that’s my song!’ It felt really good. I’ve been writing songs since I was 20, so I’m used to songwriting,” reveals Kim. “But after the album release, I started hearing my songs in coffee shops and retail places. As I meet people at work who tell me they enjoy my songs, I have realized that what I’m doing is a bit special. Whenever I remember that, somewhere out there, there may be people I don’t know listening to my music, I feel amazed.”

In His Own Words

Kim was excited to talk about his album inspirations, which come from a variety of sources. He always writes the lyrics before beginning on the melody.

“I don’t just draw from my own life experiences – I’ve tried to expand my emotional world as best as I can,” says Kim of his creative process. “I watch TV dramas and movies, and I read a lot. When I see or hear something that moves me, I try to write it down immediately on my smartphone’s Notes app.”

In his most recent song, titled Starry N Stellar, he sings about thinking of someone a night when the stars are shining bright. Kim says he wrote the words after seeing Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” while studying Western Art History. “I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Then I began to wonder what van Gogh had felt as he was painting.”

The cover artwork for Starry N Stellar is reminiscent of van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”

Balancing the Two Talents

While life at Samsung might seem very different from the world of a fledgling musician, Kim neatly bridges the two worlds, pursuing both his dreams.

“I realized that I didn’t have to select one over the other,” Kim explains. “I also like engineering, so why couldn’t I work as an engineer and be a musician at the same time?”

Kim performs on stage during training for new employees at Samsung Electronics

He is excited about the opportunities this decision has given him as it allows him to explore both sides of his personality to their fullest.

“The engineers here are great, I am surrounded by people I can learn so much from and I am thankful for it. I am proud to be working for a company that employs so many innovative and creative minds.”

When asked about the differences and similarities between music and engineering, Kim had this to say: “I learned to compose on my own. I knew how to play an instrument but making music with a computer was a whole different story. So different that it was daunting at first. I remember feeling devastated when I first tried – it didn’t come out at all like I had imagined. I think working at a company is quite similar. When you are new, you don’t know how to do anything. People help you but, eventually, you need to figure things out on your own in order to make the job completely yours.”

Daeneung Kim brings his curiosity and spirit of determination to music and engineering alike.

The Galaxy S7 is the first phone to ever use dual pixel technology and the results make it a worthwhile change for Samsung. It’s now easier for users to capture the exact moment they want, making sure they have lasting memories that are preserved in high quality. These are real enhancements – not just ones that sound good on paper.

We caught up with our experts to find out what happened behind the scenes to enable the Galaxy S7 to have the best camera Samsung has ever created. Youngmin Nam, senior manager of the Global Product Planning, principal engineer Hwayoung Kang and senior engineers Youngsoo Bok and Beomjoon Kwon from the Camera R&D joined this interview.

(From left to right: principal engineer Hwayoung Kang, senior engineers Beomjoon Kwon and Youngsoo Bok, and Youngmin Nam, senior manager of the Global Product Planning)

Q. Why did you apply dual pixel technology? What are the limitations of the typical smartphone cameras existing today?

Youngmin Nam: What prompted us to develop the dual pixel technology was the consumer need. Some people say a camera is a device that handles light. But if you think about it, it would be more appropriate to say that a camera is a device that handles light and time. A camera should be good at controlling light to allow people to take a clear picture, and time to allow them to grasp the moment they want to. In this regard, Samsung has so far made its best efforts. For instance, we improved autofocus by applying a phase difference sensor for the first time in a smartphone.

Consumers, however, still wanted more. Some said that when they took a picture in a dark place, it wasn’t bright enough. The picture tended to be dark and unclear so people couldn’t photograph the moment in the way they wanted to.

Hwayoung Kang: We researched all the possible areas related to a camera where progress could be made, not only the sensors but also tools and software, before we chose to go with dual pixel. We reviewed almost all the latest technologies related to a smartphone and a camera and came to a conclusion that a way to show the most innovative effects was to build in a dual pixel sensor, which was entirely new hardware back then.

Q. What process did you go through before you applied a dual pixel sensor? What was the most difficult process that still sticks in your mind?

Kang: Since there was no example of dual pixel technology built into a smartphone, there was a big risk to using a new sensor. However, because a camera was one of the most important features in the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, and dual pixel technology was a defining technology that determined the performance of this camera, we had a sense of responsibility to implement it in a proper way.

Youngsoo Bok: The image quality of a camera is hugely affected by the sensor and lens. In the case of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, as we built in a dual pixel sensor and a brighter new F1.7 lens, we faced new problems that didn’t exist before. For instance, we needed a new part that could collect and process information sent by a dual pixel sensor where there were two photodiodes in a pixel.

When it comes to image quality, in particular, even when a user sets the device to ‘Auto’ mode, settings are different in a smartphone camera depending on the condition under which a person uses a camera. Even under such varied settings and conditions, a camera should be able to provide the best image quality. As a new sensor and lens were built in, all the relevant processes had to be prepared from the ground up, right from the beginning.

Q. What efforts did you make to prove dual pixel technology internally?

Kang: This product was so special. Until the very last minute, we thought really hard about whether this solution was the most optimal one. Before this, I spent years researching a single sensor and thinking of how to develop it within its boundaries, but this time a dual pixel sensor was about introducing a wholly new technology. We were very careful to examine whether using a new sensor technology was the most advanced yet practical solution in terms of enhancing image quality and satisfying consumer needs.

Bok: From the beginning of this project, we thought of how to show the two strongest points of dual pixel technology: really fast autofocus, and bright and clear images in low-light conditions. So, we created a demonstration kit that could show image quality performance in comparison with the latest strategic products.

Nam: In terms of new technology and image quality, dual pixel technology provides a completely different level of product quality. But we were very worried about whether consumers could accept this technology. However, since engineers clearly demonstrated upgraded performance in low-light conditions, which consumers were eager to see, we carried on with conviction.

Q. What changes did the replacement of hardware bring about during the development?

Bok: In order to demonstrate the actual speed of autofocus, we can measure the time it takes and show it in quantitative terms. But for consumers, we thought it would be more understandable. We approach them with sensibility through actual comparison, not with specs. There was a need to show how fast our new product was compared to existing products.

That applies to not only autofocus but also picture quality in low-light conditions and even no-light conditions with 0 lux. The whole camera development team even carried DSLR cameras and a Galaxy S7 prototype, and searched for conditions where a user might actually use a camera.

Beomjoon Kwon: As we built in a dual pixel sensor and increased the speed of autofocus, burst mode became faster. As burst mode became faster, it subsequently led to more data to process when burst mode was used. So we needed to make efforts to improve the software in a way that could process data without placing a burden on the hardware.

Q. What difficulty did you have when you applied camera technology to mobile?

Kang: Even though dual pixel sensor was already built in cameras, building it in mobile was another challenge. This is because there was a huge difference in the size of the sensor itself. In previous years, however, Samsung had secured technology to keep a sensor at almost the same size while providing a higher number of pixels, and also had partners who could work together to build it. And we had expertise to handle smaller pixels. We were confident that we could make it if we were able to reduce the size of the existing pixels a bit more, building on the existing technological process and combining them together.

Q. How will building in dual pixel technology change the development of a smartphone camera?

Kang: We’re planning to focus on further improving the sophistication of dual pixel technology, and when this technology reaches near perfection, it could raise the possibility of building in the superb features of cameras, which have been thought of as impossible to be built in a smartphone. In other words, this could be seen as having established infrastructure in which a smartphone camera can further evolve.

Nam: Building in this dual pixel technology is an example of practical innovation. We tried to introduce what people really needed rather than showing off new features. We found a solution to satisfy these practical needs, and ultimately created a camera with which a user can conveniently use dual pixel technology and take a picture of whatever scene they want to at any moment.

Q. What made you include Motion Panorama? Any tip for users when taking a photo?

Nam: We enabled the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge to instantly take the best quality pictures with a dual pixel sensor and bright lens based on Samsung’s best expertise. After putting much thought into how to provide consumers with this new experience, we suggested a new way that broke down the barriers between photos and video. In fact, we wanted to provide a new experience in which a user could vividly remember the moment when they took a picture. Motion Panorama and Motion Photo are such examples.

We wanted to breathe life into the current Panorama mode and make it more vivid, so that people can enjoy a great view in a richer, more dynamic way.

Motion Photo is a feature that records a motion video of three seconds before you take a picture. You might simply think that you can videotape what you are doing when you take a photo. Imagine this: you take a photo of fireworks with the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, but you miss the best moment. When you use Motion Photo, you can go back in time and choose and see the best moment you want, and you can even take a photo of the scene later on and save it.

Motion Photo and Motion Panorama provide a new experience of enjoying pictures, not just the moment when you take them. Using these two modes, while looking at a motion picture, you can touch the scene you want to see, tilt the screen, and have fun searching the video.

Q. What was difficult when you implemented Motion Panorama? How does its recording work?

Kwon: The most difficult part when developing the software was to make sure the new features did not overlap with existing ones, because the settings featured in a number of cameras were all very different. So we thought deeply of how to ensure a user could effectively feel a certain feature differently from others.

For Motion Photo, when you turn it on, a camera starts recording all the scenes even if you don’t press the shutter. And the device shows you only three seconds before you push the shutter. In such a case, a user might be concerned about power consumption or data processing arising from it. In order to address those concerns, we always considered how to make sure our device worked more efficiently. Furthermore, there was a long discussion between various departments to decide how many seconds before our device should show a motion picture.

Q. What made you include Hyperlapse? Any tip for users when taking a photo?

Nam: People often use a time-lapse feature when they need to take a lengthy video and watch it in a short period of time. Hyperlapse is a feature that evolves and fits this time-lapse feature into mobile usability. Hyperlapse doesn’t simply fix and compress time, but it analyzes video and records it in a way that lapses faster when there is less movement while recording it in a way that lapses more slowly when there is more movement. It makes the footage more understandable when people watch it. On top of that, it minimizes the camera from shaking when taking a picture.

Let’s imagine you visit a museum or a famous tourist attraction. You cannot videotape everything and it is difficult to videotape while you appreciate them with your eyes. In this case, however, all you have to do is just turn on Hyperlapse and carry the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge along with you. With Hyperlapse, you could even watch the footage of an entire amusement park in only one minute. Of course, we also provide the existing fixed time-lapse feature.

Sergei Sudakov, a young software engineer, considers his position a dream job—generating ideas and solutions. The more far-out the better. The 27-year-old research engineer, from the R&D team of Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business, plays a pivotal role in developing advanced software to enable the next generation of consumer electronics visual display products and services.

“We work on the advanced stuff, the stuff no one knows about yet,” said Sudakov. “Maybe some of it will be implemented in one year or five years from now. Or, maybe it won’t be used at all.”

“We work on the advanced stuff,

the stuff no one knows about yet,”

Solutions That Work

Working primarily in algorithm research and technology planning, Sudakov might spend an entire week reading scientific journals or watching hours of TV content. His work can also go in surprising new directions.

Take his involvement in Sports Mode, for example. This Samsung Smart TV feature utilizes video and audio processing to record game highlights and optimizes the picture by enhancing the vividness and sharpness of the playing field. Its Stadium Sound component lets viewers feel as if they’re actually sitting in the crowd and watching the game. While working on this unique TV mode, Sudakov figured out how to make an entirely different feature work.

Various teams had been trying to come up with a sports-related feature that would allow someone to change channels during the commercials of a game, but be notified when the game resumes. Sudakov was able to improve on their efforts and thought up a new way for the smart TV to analyze the channels with the sporting event, which allowed the function to work properly.

“Sometimes the problems are obvious and easy to fix,” he said. “But sometimes it takes days to find the root of the issue. Even if you know where the problem is, it isn’t always immediately evident how to solve or even slightly improve it. But when your solution works, you can feel really proud.”

Sci-Fi Becomes Reality

Sudakov says he is sometimes personally inspired by science fiction. A big fan of the genre, he just finished reading Frank Herbert’s Dune for the third time and watched the latest Star Wars installment on the first day it was released. “Sometimes when I see certain technologies in science fiction, I think about how I could re-create them, and occasionally, I can even come up with an answer,” he said.

Not all of the seemingly imaginary technology of Hollywood blockbusters is fiction, however. Machine learning, for example, is the science of getting computers to act without being explicitly programmed, and is one of Sudakov’s interests. The concept was a big theme in films such as Ex Machina, Her, and Transcendence, where computers learn to think for themselves and even develop human emotions. While the concept may seem farfetched, the technology is already being utilized in smartphone voice recognition, web search engines and self-driving cars—technologies that are becoming more and more commonplace. “There’s so much machine learning in the modern world that people use it dozens of times per day without even knowing it,” Sudakov said. “The technology will outperform humans very soon.”

But it’s not there yet and there are still plenty of kinks to be worked out. Overcoming these obstacles can be an arduous task for software and research engineers like Sudakov, who spend their days going through endless trial-and-error, reading, fine-tuning their developing skills and constantly learning more in an attempt to keep up with the current research. “This is what research is all about—searching for regularities in data and ways to use them to create a solution,” Sudakov said. “There’s no one perfect answer. Even if I have an answer, there’s always a better one that I don’t know about yet.”

Keeping It Interesting

Sudakov’s quest for knowledge began at a very young age in his hometown of Khimki, Russia—a city that became home to several Soviet aerospace development centers after World War II. Like many residents of the area, both his parents are aerospace engineers, and as such, Sudakov often found himself surrounded by the sciences growing up. As a child, he used to attend the annual International Aviation and Space Show in Moscow as an unofficial exhibition member with his father.

“All of the exhibitors were surprised to see a small child there, so they would let me experience all the cool stuff, like the flight training and war simulators,” he recalled.

His interest didn’t turn to software development, though, until his high school years, when a young and enthusiastic informatics teacher changed the way he looked at computers. That professor focused the class curriculum on more “absorbing” subjects, such as 3D modeling and real programming—areas that required creativity in addition to technical know-how.

One of the more influential moments that made Sudakov realize his career aspirations was when he and his classmates were encouraged to participate in a creative engineering competition. Guided by his teacher, he learned how to program images and animations, then was given the freedom to create his own program. Sudakov earned a third-place prize for his virtual fortune telling ball, which provided random answers to people’s questions about their future. “My professor taught us that everything you do should be interesting,” Sudakov said. “If it’s not interesting, you will never be able to do your best. If you want to do something special, you must make it interesting in the first place.”

 “If it’s not interesting,

you will never be able to do your best.

If you want to do something special,

you must make it interesting

in the first place.”

Before graduating, he began working as a research developer at his university’s Graphics and Media Lab, working primarily in computer vision, a field that includes methods for acquiring, processing, analyzing, and understanding images from the real world in order to produce numerical or symbolic information. After two additional stints in the same field, he was recruited by Samsung to research and generate ideas and solutions for various visual display products and services.

Predicting the Future

Currently, Sudakov’s team is creating systems that will allow consumers to communicate with their televisions in new, simplified ways. Rather than being a device solely used for viewing content, Sudakov hopes the television will be a connected, integrated appliance that can do all the things users need them to do. Soon enough, he believes, the TV will understand much more about the content it displays, will be voice-activated, and could potentially play a central role in the Internet of Things.

But considering that these features, as well as the products and services his team is working on, won’t be available for some time, it can be extremely difficult to anticipate what kinds of technology consumers actually want and need.

“I think it’s very inspirational to be a part of such a rapidly changing world and I hope to use my knowledge to make it an even better place. Even if just a few people look at what I’ve done and say, ‘Wow! This is the future!’ then I’ll be happy.”

Over recent years, a new type of talent known as the “generalist” has emerged. Generalists refer those who create new value by combining many fields and types of knowledge. At Samsung Electronics, one of the most interesting and important types of generalist to emerge has been the technical designer position. Technical designers have the mindset of designers, but the ability to program, allowing them to bridge these two very different fields. To learn about this new approach to UX design, the Samsung Newsroom recently met a few of the technical designers behind the revolutionary Samsung Gear S2.

Combining Technology and Design

Perhaps technical design is not a term with which everybody is familiar. The role of technical designers is to optimize the user experience. More specifically, they use source codes and programs to design functions that explore newer and easier device interactions, creating an optimal user experience.

Until recently, engineers and designers normally communicated with each other only through the designers’ static sketches or documents. Engineers would then have to turn those sketches into final products. But the ambiguities and difficulties in this process sometimes caused delays and misunderstandings. To improve this process, the role of technical designers has emerged as an important one.

Bonghee Han, Principal Designer, explained, “Technical designers are creative designers who have engineering competency and contribute to creating the highest quality UX designs. The importance of technical designers stood out during the designing of the Gear S2, working as a bridge between the graphic designers and the engineers, helping the communication between them. The technical designers considered how to combine design with user interaction to ensure the end result was as functional as it was visually appealing.”

Creating the Circle

“We did not get together intending to do some certain task. In the beginning, some people were designing movements and the user experience, and through Flash they brought their ideas to life.” said Jungwoo Choi, Senior Designer.

However, in developing the Gear S2, which has a new circular shape, naturally the design for new interactions became more important and the designers’ role grew.

“Designing new interactions on a circular device for the Gear S2, many different attempts were made in nearly all aspects of the device. Before the prototypes were made, programs were developed to review the design outcomes, so that gave us more time to think” Choi added.

Their ideation meetings were very passionate. If someone suggested an idea, someone else would immediately be working on the coding. The designers created hundreds and thousands of prototypes and tested them thoroughly to create the best experience for users.

Jongwoo Shin, Senior Designer explained, “After countless attempts, the most optimal point for rotating the display between screens and content was found. This process was applied to everything, including applications, screens and touch responses.”

“Because I believe the most perfect UX is a UX that feels so natural people don’t think about it, I worked on everything in a lot of detail. All these efforts became the basis for the Gear S2, and I am very proud of it.” Shin added.

Working Towards a Shared Goal

When getting to know Samsung’s technical designers, it is remarkable to discover their range of academic backgrounds.

“I studied crafts at university. I wanted to see the outcome of my thoughts and sketches. So I wanted to study to learn how to realize my sketches, so my drawings didn’t just stay as drawings, but were brought to life. This is why I double-majored, to build my knowledge of software development. As I was studying, I learned that I could realize my imagination through source codes, and that’s what attracted me to technical design,” said Minwook Na, Senior Designer.

Jungwoo Choi studied mathematics but was very interested in coding and visuals. Jongwoo Shin studied engineering but was interested in graphics and motion. All of the technical designers have very different degrees and background knowledge, but they are currently working together as a team.

Synergy of Designers and Engineers

“When I was working on the Gear S2, I imagined what it would be like using it and what my friends and family would think using it, and that was enjoyable. In the future, I should be careful not to limit myself to stereotypical ideas. Caging yourself in could hinder your creativity. It is necessary to always stay curious about new things,” said Minkyu Park, Senior Designer.

User experience is a term that was generally unfamiliar 15 to 20 years ago, however, even back then providing convenience to users was actively discussed. And so, too, was technical design. These are the people who have been designing movements and creating new user experiences. Technical designers are crossing the boundaries between designers and developers, creating new synergies. We look forward to the role they will play in the future.