07 February 2014

My Nokia Blog

My Nokia Blog


Nokia Treasure Tag app in store to help find your stuff with Augmented Reality! What would you tag?

Posted: 06 Feb 2014 12:02 PM PST

Screen Shot 2014-02-06 at 19.56.14

It’s in the store. It’s Nokia’s treasure tag app. Now only if the tag itself is available for testing. It’s pretty awesome; attach the tag to an item, name it and if you ever lose it you can find it with the app, either using the map or over augmented reality.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/nokia-treasure-tag/026c771b-473d-4593-b5db-e43cc8a3117b?signin=true

You could try tagging your pet, or kids with this. :p. I remember Nokia showing indoor location with low energy tags, but the early implementation needed sensors around the room, right? This is just a two way thing.

Requires the Lumia Black software update. Whether you've lost your keys, misplaced your gym bag or forgotten what street you parked on, Nokia Treasure Tag helps you keep track of your belongings with intuitive visual and audio guidance.

Simply put tags on the things you treasure most and install this app on your phone. Now if you leave something behind, you'll know where it is.

How it works:
- Put Nokia Treasure Tags on your favorite belongings
- Connect tags to your phone via Bluetooth Smart
- Your phone alerts you if you're about to leave something behind
- Audio alerts mean you can use your phone to find a tag, or a tag to find your phone
- Maps from HERE service and LiveSight-compatible phones let you use augmented reality to find your belongings
- Pin your favorite tags to Start as live tiles for quick access and status updates

Nokia Treasure Tags require a Bluetooth Smart connection and a Nokia Lumia running the Lumia Black software update. To get the latest software updates for your phone, go to Settings > Phone Update. You can also find out more about the Lumia Black software update online at nokia.com/lumia-update.

Exclusively for Nokia Lumia

What things do you frequently lose and would benefit having one of these tags?

Via: Nazwil8

Cheers Alvester for the tip!

 

Video: Grand Nokia Lumia Accessories unboxing – filmed on 1520 – wireless chargers, cases, tripods, laces :D

Posted: 06 Feb 2014 08:13 AM PST

1520 nokia accessoriesWP_20140206_15_39_08_Pro

Wow! This package was sent by the local Nokia Music Team! Cheers to the dude that does the music ;). There’s a mega pack of goodies to unbox, review and also to give away :D

  • Nokia Lumia 1020 Camera Grip! Gonna come in handy when filming videos with the 1020 as I can stick it on the tripod, plus get some additional power.
  • Nokia Lumia 1520 case, protective and colourful. Works as a stand too I believe.
  • Nokia Lumia 1020 wireless charging cases, yellow and black
  • Nokia Lumia 925 wireless charging cases, white
  • Nokia Lumia portable wireless, wireless charger :D
  • Lumia laces
  • Gorillapodesque tripod

 

1520 nokia accessoriesWP_20140206_15_26_02_Pro

There’s a video in case you’re interested. Something’s up with either:

  • Nokia Lumia 1520 camera itself
  • Nokia Pro Cam
  • The MicroSD

It was stuttering all weekend but I thought that might have been because of the fall the 1520 screen experienced making it somehow sensitive to constantly pressing back. I did a quick test and it doesn’t seem to do it on the regular camera but I need to test that out for longer.

THANKS Nokia!

Review: The Nokia Lumia 1520

Posted: 05 Feb 2014 11:52 PM PST

DSC05036The Nokia Lumia 1520 at 6 inches is Nokia’s first ever phablet, but it’s also a lot more than that; it’s the first time Nokia have pushed the envelope with their specs, upping their game to outspec almost every phone in the market so how good is it as a phone?

http://youtu.be/zZ_Ly6QuLe4

First off, I’ll spare you the long read; if you don’t like big screens then *spoiler alert* the Lumia 1520 isn’t for you, but if you’re not completely adverse to them then read on and maybe we can change your mind.

 

The Design:

DSC04961In terms of design the Lumia 1520 is most reminiscent of the beautiful Lumia 925, mainly due to the camera hump design, as well as the strong corners and over all very “premium” finish. Of course the Lumia 925 is in a class of its own when it comes to looks, but the Lumia 1520 carrying on its footsteps is definitely a good thing. The design of the 1520 is very polished, and hardly strays from perfection built by refining the Lumia design; in fact the only complaint I could find about the physical design (and no, being *too* big doesn’t count) is that the corners are a bit too sharp, and can be uncomfortable if pressed against the palms of your hand for too long.

Even though the Lumia 1520 has a massive 6″ screen (which is absolutely stunning, but more on that later); it isn’t much larger than it has to be, short of carrying just enough bezel to fit the windows keys and front facing camera the 1520 doesn’t have any “dead space” that needlessly enlarges the size of the phone. The available textures of the device also affect how it’ll feel in your hand; as going for a matte finish (such as the yellow or black) will go a ways to help increase your grip on the device, versus going with a glossy finish (like the red or white).

The Screen:

DSC05032

 

The main attraction of the Lumia 1520 is of course its amazing 6 inch 1080p full HD display, the highest resolution display ever on a Nokia phone (or Windows Phone). The display clocks in at 368 ppi which is more than enough to satisfy the beast inside; it’s only made better by being paired with an IPS LCD display and Nokia’s amazing clear black display technology, not to mention Gorilla Glass 2 and Super Sensitive touch. The increased display resolution leads to more tiles, which allows you to get more content out of almost everything on your screen, from more tiles to increased message/email previews and more albums in your library. Needless to say everything just looks so amazing.

DSC05041

Unfortunately though a downside to this higher resolution is that the finer parts of the UI elements in apps have to be up-scaled to match the resolution, something that not all apps have done yet;  namely Whatsapp. The result is a depressingly blurry icon that ruins the novelty of such a beautiful screen (notice the blurry paperclip image). Fix it!

BfupPr7IQAAmzXx

The Camera:

DSC05038The Lumia 1520 has a pretty impressive 20 Mp camera, with an LED flash and optical image stabilization and the usual Nokia sorcery that produces impressive images, and the Lumia 1520 is no different. Images are nice and detailed (although everything looks pixelated and poor quality when you’ve gotten used to the 1020), and best of all there is no post processing yellow tint after the image is captured. However I’ve found that images can be occasionally grainy when shooting in dim (not dark) conditions, but nothing too horrible. I’ve found that the Lumia 1520 also is slightly flash-fire happy, letting the LED go off when it’s most certainly not needed, which can sometimes add a purplish hue to images.

For me though the Lumia 1520 makes up for what it lacks in detail by having very fast capture times and focus acquisition when compared to the 1020 (the 1520 can also focus on objects that are much closer to the lens than the 1020 can).

WP_20140130_13_28_45_Pro WP_20140130_20_54_33_Pro WP_20140131_12_37_45_Pro WP_20140131_15_11_13_Pro WP_20140201_17_48_04_Pro WP_20140201_20_56_40_ProThe Lumia 1520 also takes some pretty nifty videos, using 2X lossless zoom to get better results, however the stabilization isn’t as good as that of the 1020 (due to the lack of the ball-bearings I believe) and the quality is obviously not as detailed; but they still look nice; and the video capture is accompanied by some amazing audio recording thanks to the 4 mics and directional rich recording (which I found most effective when filming using the front facing camera, as if you’re V-logging).

Main Camera test-

Note the purple hue is actually because the sun is setting, there’s nothing wrong with the camera.

http://youtu.be/VNMPnYUSf2E

Front facing camera test-

http://youtu.be/9uBo0cRD_Hg

The directional mics can be turned on from the settings, allowing you to either capture from all directions, or only those facing the camera; either way I think it does a VERY good job.

The Software:

DSC04848The Lumia 1520 runs the Windows Phone we’re all very familiar with, with the exception of having more live tiles on the start screen and a few other tweaks that were brought to us via GDR3/Lumia Black (closing apps, notifications on lock screen etc.); so instead of going over all that again, here’s what you need to know. The Lumia 1520 is BLAZING fast, you hardly ever see that “resuming…” screen at all on the Quadcore snapdragon 800 powered device, most actions are instantaneous and there isn’t really any waiting around; here’s a video showing off it’s performance + camera speed:

http://youtu.be/3BbddEHsfXk

The Lumia 1520 also packs an Adreno 330 GPU, which makes a cakewalk of gaming on the device, if only there were more graphically intense games to challenge it though, but here’s a quick video test of its gaming capabilities:

http://youtu.be/ib6io5edmTQ

Unfortunately though, Windows Phone is still behind; and until we get WP 8.1 we really can’t do much more on the 1520 than what we could do on the 520 a year ago. We need to see more updates with more essential features, and although 8.1 is rumored to be right around the corner it can’t get here fast enough (along with its notification center and Cortana).

The Conclusion:

DSC04864

 

If you’ve read this far then i assume the large size of the 1520 isn’t a deal breaker for you; and if that’s the case then this is most definitely the phone for you, period. The 1520 is without a doubt the best WP you can buy on the market today, and it’ll out-spec most of those androids as well, it has a pretty impressive camera and its performance is astounding. All I can say is if you really need every last pixel in your camera get the 1020, if you need every pixel to be in your screen, get the 1520.

 

 

 

 

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