My Nokia Blog

Lumia 900 Image & Video Samples
Lumiappaday #211: Apict demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800
Lumia 610′s Camera Thinks it’s “Nokia 800″ ?
Videos: Nokia Lumia 610 and Lumia 900 TV ads!
N9Apps: FireFox updated to V13 (24.5mb) for Nokia N9
Gallery: My Nokia 808 PureView Photo-walk in Finland – PureView, PureAwesomeness.
Nokia 808 PureView launched in India, 33,899 INR
Cnet’s Nokia 808 PureView comparison vs iPhone 4S (Take 1)

Posted: 13 Jun 2012 04:48 PM PDT

So After playing around with my stormtrooper for the better part of a week I decided to take it out, show it the scenes, and most importantly do a camera test (I know a comparison against the Lumia 800 would have been perfect but unfortunately my dad chose a very bad time to require a spare phone; which was of course my 800- so my apologies). The Lumia 900 carries the now trademark Nokia/Carl Zeiss 8 Megapixel camera similar but not the same to that found in the N9/Lumia 800; Nokia have assured us that the 900 does not carry the same camera module; and promised better performance than seen with the Lumia 800; Scroll down to see for yourself.

Video:

The Rear Camera on the Lumia 900 has a 8Mp sensor capable of capturing 720p Videos; here’s a sample of the video quality I captured the other day in downtown Chicago (note the auto darkening/lightening to compensate for the direct sunlight):

The Front Facing Camera is nice little 1.3 MP camera that spits out both images and videos; the video quality looks superb when being played back on the screen while filming (the CBD under direct sunlight really helps make the colors “pop”); as usual the quality looks better on the actual device than when you put it on the laptop; yet I found that the quality was quite acceptable:

Images:

The Lumia 900 has some noticeable advantages over the the Lumia 800 when it comes to still photos; the focus on the phone is much smoother and doesn’t loose focus when getting too close (in Macro mode); over all the color reproduction is also more accurate with less “white-Balance interference” that had plagued the 800 giving it a bluish tint.

Low Light images are also Quite decent (as is almost unavoidable in all phones blacks tend to turn into Blues when capturing at night – except in the 808 of course).

*Note: Just click on any photo to open it directly on Flickr for the larger image

Daylight Photos are pretty and appealing to the eye without giving off fake colors:

And this is a 100% crop of the previous image; not 808 quality but quite nice I think:

The following three pictures are samples from the Front Facing Camera; Nothing to write home about but not completely horrible either:

The Full Res. Flickr Set Can be Found Here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mynokiablog/sets/72157630122591710/

Or if you prefer to download the set then just hit “Download Folder” from the skydrive link: https://skydrive.live.com/#cid=8377F11746755992&id=8377F11746755992%21269

Lumiappaday #211: Apict demoed on the Nokia Lumia 800

Posted: 13 Jun 2012 03:10 PM PDT

Apict is a super simple application that basically attempts to replicate a polaroid camera. It takes a picture, either a new one from the camera or your albums (can be from anywhere too since the gallery integrates from many sources) to produce a vintage style polaroid pic. So on top of the square aged picture, you get that polaroid-esque paper that you can even add text at the bottom.

That’s pretty much all it does. For fans of the Sepia Cat, this might as well be called the SepiaCatApp. Some people really enjoy this kind of thing.

It’s like a one job instagram, a perfect way to hide your inability to compose a picture or your phone’s possible potato like photo qualities.

I have to say, it does a pretty decent job at making the pictures look old without looking artificially aged. But that’s based on me recently coming across some family pics from the 70s/80s that looked a lot like this. It looks a lot better than the attempts of vintage sepia pics I keep seeing littering my facebook feed.

If you want something a little more versatile, try Nokia’s own Creative Studio app, or if you really want to play with your pictures, go for Fantasia Painter:

http://mynokiablog.com/2011/12/19/lumiappaday-33-fantasia-painter-demoed-on-the-nokia-lumia-800/

For what it advertises and what it says it will do, it definitely meets achieves that.

From the developer screenshot. Yes to sepiacat.

#211) Apict

Price: £0.79

Link: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/34c6c38d-3dd6-df11-a844-00237de2db9e

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMvStEjnLJU

Developer Blurb:

Welcome back instant camera !

Apict lets you add the unique “instant camera” look to your photos.

FEATURES:

• take a new photo or select an existing one,

• crop and rotate the photo to select the area to work on,

• “Tag” the picture (add pencil handwritten text effect),

• apply the unique instant camera effect,

• save the result in high resolution,

• share it on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr directly from the app

Apict can also be launched directly from the Windows Phone built-in photo application, through the "extras" menu.

More info & screenshots on http://www.apict-app.com

Twitter: @apictapp

Apict has no affiliation with Polaroid Corporation.

Rating:

Design: 7

Usability: 9

Performance: 9

Price: 8

Lumia 610′s Camera Thinks it’s “Nokia 800″ ?

Posted: 13 Jun 2012 11:27 AM PDT

This isn’t the end of the world but I first noticed this when @AlvinWong tweeted the picture above with the caption “Oh dang. This is awkward. “; apparently all Lumia 610s Exif Data claim that the camera comes from a ”Nokia 800″ even displaying the wrong aperture info as the Lumia 610 has an aperture of f/2.2 rather than the claimed f/2.4. I know very little about exif data and who compiles them (pretty sure it’s part of the software no? as the 808s we played with back at MWC had no Exif data at all). I find my self thinking that the 610 was set to share the same camera module that’s currently available in the Lumia 800 but couldn’t keep up with it from a processing angle so it was forced to settle with a lesser camera; where somebody forgot to edit the info.

If your interested this appears to affect almost all 610 images; best example would be to download an image from the Verges gallery review and just view the image in picasa or any other program that supportExif info:

Videos: Nokia Lumia 610 and Lumia 900 TV ads!

Posted: 13 Jun 2012 09:50 AM PDT

Nokia just uploaded this TV advert for the Nokia Lumia 610 to their channel. It reminds me of the video I saw earlier for the Nokia Lumia 900 by Nokia Denmark.

It’s a good approach. Tiles is something specific for Lumia/WP and it’s a good idea to show off something that you don’t have on iOS/Android/Symbian.

I’m not saying tiles are immediately better, it’s just that it’s better to show off something that is more unique to your range of products.

With the continuation of tiles in WP8 and the Lumia tiles branding, Tile based W8 and Xbox might see more acceptance to this type of homescreen.

by nokia

It’s the same style focusing on the lumia close up designs and the live tiles.

by NokiaDanmark

N9Apps: FireFox updated to V13 (24.5mb) for Nokia N9

Posted: 13 Jun 2012 08:18 AM PDT

FireFox has been updated to v13. This file is 25.4MB in size.

Now you can see in the photo that the last version I was on was v11. That’s because I kept getting installation errors. At the time I couldn’t even get FF to uninstall so I could reinstall it later.

I got installation failed again but this time I was able to uninstall FireFox. However, I can’t seem to find firefox in the store anymore. How do I get FireFox again?

Update:

Some folks have left download links in the comments – cheers guys!

You can download firefox v13 for N9 here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24783636/fennec_13_443205.0_armel.deb

I also reinstalled/updated flash. It’s ok I guess but something flash intensive like BBC iPlayer ends up with out of sync video or 4fps video.
General rendering pretty quick and very accurate.

Cheers Raj for the tip!

Gallery: My Nokia 808 PureView Photo-walk in Finland – PureView, PureAwesomeness.

Posted: 13 Jun 2012 04:37 AM PDT

Here’s a gallery of some Nokia 808 Photos I took whilst in Finland! I wanted to upload it ASAP but the pictures wouldn’t fit on my blog. They actually won’t upload due to the file size limit.

Anyway, I’ve decided to put them up on Flickr. I don’t use the service much but I guess it’s time I did.

You can take a look at the photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mynokiablog/sets/72157630059030371/

I don’t know how the flickr community works regarding subscriptions/following etc.

The Nokia 808 PureView was really fun to use! was lucky enough to try it in dark, dreary, cloudy, rainy and sunny conditions as Helsinki tried to show me the full range of weather that day. Unfortunately no night shots as the sun stays up until very late and the 808 was already returned by then. I wish I did have a chance to test out super low light with xenon as I know, like the N8/N82, 808 will knock your socks off.

I didn’t tweak the settings at all. Some are in PureView, some are in 38MP mode. I couldn’t quite work out how to use the camera properly anyway (e.g. how to take macro 38MP. I went back to scenes to switch to 38MP but it ended up becoming 5MP pureview again).

Anyway, most of the shots there aren’t composed. It was just, “oh that looks nice, snap” and the 808 camera is fast enough to deal with that. Especially if just left off.

Repeat: All the pictures here are just screenshots of the actual picture. This means that the pictures you are looking at on this page are no where near the full quality. I did that just to make it easier to write this post. Go here for the photos on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mynokiablog/sets/72157630059030371/

Here’s our flickr group:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/mynokiablog/

update: It seems I haven’t managed to work out how to put the full resolution image on flickr. Sorry about that. Anyone know how to enable this?

Update 2: The ads on the side of flickr answered. I’m going to need to get the $25/year subscription to pro I think to get full resolution access. Bear with me for a second whilst I activate that. Hopefully it means existing files and not just future ones.

Update 3: Full resolution images now available at Flickr. Click the + magnifying glass symbol and then view all sizes to download the original.

The pictures I’m embedding in the blog are screenshots and are no way indicative of the full photo.

Mölkky! Nokia’s Vilja Sormunen is the Champion of this game.

After the rain I failed to notice a little smudge on the top left corner. You’ll notice it in the full size image.

Now these pictures above – they’re actually just crops.

I really like that they’re high quality enough that you can just find pictures in a picture. Even when you’re using PureView mode at 5/8MP, you can still make crops and have high quality.

In the photo below, my DSLR was scaring the bird. It was big and it was noisy. I thought I missed the shot. It came back and with the 808, boom.

This was at Nokia house. This was the coolest looking vehicle entrance. I’m half expecting a Transformer to roll out.

Original (7152 x 5368)

lemme try a flickr link.

PureView MODE: Original (3072 x 1728)

Lol.

Mooar boats.

Those last 6 pictures?

Actually it was one picture.

Here’s the pic on flickr.

Original (7152 x 5368)

No need to talk about specs. Quality and performance speaks for itself. There is no other camera phone that can rival what 808 can do right now. Just see for yourself.

I’m super excited about the Nokia 808 PureView! I’m really excited that such Nokia greatness is getting into consumer hands! I can’t wait to try this again some day.

Nokia 808 PureView launched in India, 33,899 INR

Posted: 13 Jun 2012 01:21 AM PDT

Vaibhav tweeted we yesterday that today Nokia 808 PureView would be available in India for around 33K INR.

Reader, sumodk commented that it’s available for 33,899 INR.

The following sources confirm this is indeed the case.

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/BIZ-GAD-ahead-of-india-launch-nokia-808-pureview-priced-at-rs-33899-3408940.html?HT4=

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/personal-tech/gadgets-special/Nokia-launching-its-41MP-Pureview-808-in-India-today/articleshow/14083546.cms

http://www.fonearena.com/blog/50942/nokia-808-pureview-launched-in-india-for-rs-33899.html

Anyone picked one up yet from India?

Cnet’s Nokia 808 PureView comparison vs iPhone 4S (Take 1)

Posted: 13 Jun 2012 01:06 AM PDT

Here’s CNet’s comparison of the Nokia 808 PureView against the iPhone 4S.

The 808 PureView was set to 8MP (PureView) mode, so the 808 gains in oversampling and creation of super pixels whilst not totally embarrassing the iPhone with the 38mp mode in brighter conditions. This will show and prove at least that pixel for pixel, the Nokia 808 PureView is delivering performance and isn’t just gimmick. Superpixels are in action.

http://asia.cnet.com/camera-shootout-nokia-808-pureview-vs-apple-iphone-4s-update-62216303.htm

Clearly there is no comparison. Though they have got used to the warmer, more saturated iPhone colours and seem to favour its images. It is noted however that the 808 does have a more pronounced ‘bokeh’ effect. Looking at the 100% crop, they note the 808 being sharper. How it might freak them out to see the 38MP version.

In low light, the 808 produces better images again, but they complain about the cool tones.

Here are my own results, after playing with the 808 for a few hours. It is unnatural for a phone to be doing that.

http://mynokiablog.com/2012/06/13/gallery-my-nokia-808-pureview-photo-walk-in-finland-pureview-pureawesomeness/

The last test is HDR which is built in to the iPhone but you’d have to use an app on the 808, thus the 808 immediately loses.

Overall, the argument of whether the Nokia 808 PureView is able to beat the Apple iPhone 4S’ camera boils down to individual preferences. The Nokia 808 PureView delivers sharper and less grainy images, which is great if you print out a lot of your photos. The iPhone 4S delivers better colors and has the added advantage of an HDR mode.

Let’s look at that more closely shall we?

The argument of whether Nokia 808 PureView is able to beat the iPhone’s camera DOES indeed boil down to personal preferences. If you prefer to look at camera comparisons with your eyes shut, that’s your personal preference. What a load of tosh. Set the camera to vivid if you want these magical saturated colours. I admit, the 808 does have a cooler tone than normal, but to make such a statement where you judge the camera quality on the colours ignoring the fact that the 808 is producing sharper images, more detail, clearer bokeh, low noise in pretty awesome dynamic range without the use of HDR…well. People are growing to prefer warmer, more saturated colours – perhaps there should be a pop up the first time you use 808 to ask you if you want this.
Perhaps which is producing pictures of your preference is a better choice of words. Some people prefer overprocessed, oversaturated, warmer, noisier pictures. Even I sometimes like the more vivid warmer tones on occasion when i’m shooting with my own cameras (vs the natural colours seen). In terms of better camera, then no, there is no room at all for ‘personal preference’ here.
Low light with flash will decimate iPhone 4S and the next iPhone
Lets zoom in a bit shall we? I wonder how that looks on an iPhone 4S

I always say credit where credit is due. iPhone 4S does have a pretty great camera. Indeed it is true that whether 808 or iPhone 4S is for you depends on personal preferences. If however, camera should matter most, then it should take absolutely no time in the world to decide to go with the 808. If you have other needs etc, preferences for games/apps, I’d of course recommend the iPhone. But when the category being judged is imaging, then no it does not come down to personal preference which camera is better. Looking with your eyes you can see what’s better.

Let’s take some words from Gizmodo shall we?

That camera is damn good – made compact cameras and maybe even bridge cameras obsolete"

How about Engadget?

"New Benchmark for Mobile Imaging"

Sorry Cnet. But no worries! People have already been giving feedback (some comments a little too harsh, a little too rude and unnecessary) and they’re redoing this test.

After taking stock of all the feedback, we acknowledge that our assertions should have been more conclusive when pointing out the differences between the two phones’ photo quality. We will be shooting a new round of photos complete with comments from both our phone and camera reviewers. Thanks for all the feedback, and look out for our updated gallery coming soo

We are not just angry blind fans of Nokia that want 808 to win in tests it doesn’t deserve. We have seen proof of what PureView does. As have others, to the point that even Gizmodo, known Nokia critics have changed their tone and accept that PureView is no gimmick. We just want that fair recognition of what Nokia has achieved here, eh? .

We can wait for places like GSMArena to hopefully take the camera for a proper spin. I think Gizmodo and Engadget could show it off too. dpreview – well that would be cream on the crop – to be tested purely as a camera .

Source: cnet.com