Facebook Twitter Flickr

Rumour – Nokia EOS spotted?

Published on 17 May 2013 by

I’m not very good in spreading “rumours”, but this one is too tempting not to quote. WMPoweruser.com has “an observant reader” who had the chance to “sneak a peak” at the Nokia EOS. This is what this unknown source claims to have seen:

The device is made of polycarbonate, and is about as thick as the Nokia Lumia 920 in the middle, but is highly tapered at both ends, giving the impression of a much slimmer device.

The lens housing is round in shape and does not protrude much. The flash is Xenon, and the flash and lens are both smaller than the Nokia 808 Pureview. Next to the flash is a small red LED which may be a focus assist light.

The lens also has an automatic cover that opens when the camera app is started. The number of megapixels were not marked on the prototype, with “XX megapixels” only being written on the lens housing.

There is a new camera app called “Nokia Pro Camera”with a completely new interface. There is also manual focus available through the app. The regular photo app is also available.

The screen size and resolution is same as 920, and appears to be AMOLED. The speaker holes are at the bottom as the handset. The handset was much lighter than the Nokia Lumia 920.

I’m not sure what to make of this. It does sound plausible, I’m just surprised someone is able to give such a detailed description – looks like he must have had it in his (her?) hands. Anyway, this makes me feel confident we’ll see the Nokia EOS this summer… Or is it just wishful thinking?

Via WMPoweruser

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn

Four cams on Crete: a guest house and trees

Published on 17 May 2013 by

During my week on the Greek isle of Crete, I took a large amount of shots with four different cameras (Nokia 808 PureView, Lumia 920, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung Galaxy Camera). You’ve seen my night shots here already, but most of the shots were made in very bright light conditions, like the close-up flowers I’ve shared earlier.

I really have a hard time choosing which of the other shots to share – it’s too much to share in one post. Moreover, I complicated things by not using all cameras all the time (I was on holiday after all). So I’ll make a selection of shots and share those in the coming weeks.

In this short comparison you’ll see two scenes shot with all four cameras. Two more or less “classic” scenes: a modern guest house in typical Greek colours, and four shots from some trees close to the Mediterranean sea.

I’m asking for about 1,5 minute of your time to watch the video in which you’ll see the results by the Nokia 808 PureView, Lumia 920, Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Camera – in that order. The original shots are used in the video of course. I didn’t feel like bothering you with crops this time: all originals are on Flickr, so you can watch them in detail as close as you like.

Note the Nokia 808 PureView shot of the trees is in full resolution, so the detail is way better than any of the other cameras (check the original format). No wonder you’d say, but this is an option you won’t find in any other smartphone camera.

If you’re interested in the Samsung Galaxy Camera, check the detail in those shots: its power appears to be more in the 21x zoom and (great) connectivity possibilities, than in its 13MP sensor, I’m afraid.

All shots were made in 4:3 to get the best possible result out of each cameras. Enough talk, I’ll leave the rest of the conclusions to you. Please choose fullscreen and maximum resolution, 1080p.

On YouTube

Only two scenes in eight shots, true. But there’s much more where this came from, and I’ll keep sharing the coming weeks. To be continued :-)

PureViewClub is on Twitter, Facebook and Google+

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
6 Comments  comments 

Stunning Star Trails with Nokia 808 PureView

Published on 16 May 2013 by

The Nokia 808 PureView has pushed the boundaries of mobile photography. But there are those who push the boundaries of the Nokia 808 PureView itself. Richard Dorman (@Sheridan01) is one such person, who keeps trying to do something new with his PureView. By Mayuri Mehrotra.

A master at HDR photography, Richard has been experimenting with capturing star trails the last few days. He writes in his post, “I have always been fascinated with star photography, to me it is absolutely stunning, done well of course. To do Star Trails with a mobile phone does mean some compromises. Compared to a SLR you will have to take many more shots and you will run the risk of greater noise in the images. However from my tests so far I think you can come up with something pretty stunning.”

And stunning it is! Here’s the result:

Richard Dorman aka Sheridan01

Richard has shared the settings he maintained for capturing the star trails in his blog post Broadly, they are:
- Use infinity focus (if you have it). The Nokia 808 does.
- Set the ISO to 100 and take a shot, can you see the background and the stars, if not then reset ISO to 200 and test again. Continue this until you get an image you are happy with
- Time lapse setting, every 5 seconds take an image, with the Nokia 808 you can set it to take a maximum of 1500 images. This is plenty to achieve star trails. In fact 400+ is enough.
- Flash off of course

But I strongly suggest reading his entire post, as there is much more to it than just these 4 settings. It is clear that one needs a lot of patience to make a photo of this kind – a good location, a lot of waiting (he suggests taking along “something to drink and maybe read” :-), extra charge for the battery and a tripod are a must if you do wish to attempt something like this yourself. And if you’re successful, do remember to share the results with Richard (and here with us, if you like).

PureViewClub is on Twitter, Facebook and Google+

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn

The 808 PureView experience gets even better

Published on 16 May 2013 by

Since many of you use the Nokia 808 PureView as your primary phone, here’s a short write-up about a few updates that have been rolling out for it. You may already be aware of them through other sources, like allaboutsymbian.com. By Mayuri Mehrotra

Nokia 808 SW UpdatesThe latest are the Email, Calendar and Music updates. The Email and Calendar update is a hefty one (6MB).

I haven’t received the update myself yet, so let me take you over to AAS - it brings “enhanced large attachment handling” for emails and “improved calendar events handling.” For Nokia Music users, there’s “a new compatibility update for Nokia Music.”

A couple of days back, an updated Skydrive uploader was also rolled out, through which one can upload their contacts and photos (do remember to select ‘Actual Size” for photo uploads from the settings) to their Microsoft accounts.

I do wish the photo uploads had an option to be restricted to WLAN only in the settings. However, since it’s no longer auto-upload, I guess one has the freedom to choose when to upload. I transfer my photos to my laptop via USB pretty regularly, so have not used the Skydrive uploader myself.

Other recent updates have been Fix for Messaging, new Homescreen Widgets and 3G Network Compatibility Fix – head over to Nokia Suite or Software Update on your phone and get updating! Marc and I, meanwhile, will wait patiently… as always :-)

(screenshot by Fernando Macá)

PureViewClub is on Twitter, Facebook and Google+

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn

Great shots from Mangalore, Karnataka, India

Published on 15 May 2013 by

I’ve written it many times before: the Nokia 808 PureView doesn’t only show me the very best quality in mobile photography, it also shows me places I would have never seen without it. And sometimes they really surprise me, like the shots tweeted by Praveen Kumar HP recently.

He went on a trip to Mangalore, chief port city of the state Karnataka in India, and shared some of the shots he made on Twitter. The first one to caught my eye was the one from St. Anne’s church you’ll see below, as part of my selection of the shots I asked him to send me from this trip.

Some of the pics are not changed at all, in some he slightly changed the colors onthe Nokia 808 PureView itself, with some he added some sharpness using Picasa. I hope these scenes will be just as surprising to you as they were to me.

Read more…

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn
2 Comments  comments 

The Lumia 925: great to switch, not to upgrade?

Published on 14 May 2013 by

I noticed quite some disappointment in the reactions on several blogs (including this one), after the announcement of the Nokia Lumia 925. Still, I will try to get my hands on one, if only to test its camera – it’s PureView after all, so it doesn’t look like I have much of a choice :-) And I’m really curious how the new camera will perform, no doubt!

In this post I’ll share my personal impression of the new Nokia Lumia 925 – please note I unfortunately couldn’t make it to London, so I never even touched it. Then again, most customers making up their minds about buying this Lumia or not won’t be holding it in their hands first either, but make their decision based on specs – and reviews.

But first: I like the light and metal design, like I loved the Nokia N8 and E7. This kind of material has disadvantages too, of course. The Lumia will probably be more “slippery” than the Nokia Lumia 920, so chances are bigger you will drop it one day. And you can’t erase scratches on it nor change the cover, so you’re likely to add some kind of case for protection (making it less slippery at the same time), or one of those colorful shells for wireless charging – but in both cases you would be adding weight again.

Specs
The display has exactly the same size as the Nokia Lumia 920, which I think is good: I just love big displays, to me 4,5 inch is minimum by now (if not just right :-) and the quality of Nokia’s display really is stunning. The Lumia 925 has an AMOLED display by the way, (instead of an IPS display), as one reader pointed out.

As far as the specs go it is kind of disappointing you’d have to choose for Vodafone to get a version with 32GB of internal memory, especially since there is no possibility to add a micro-SD card (why not?). I guess I can live with less (I have enough music on my Lumia 920 I hardly listen to), but still: having 32GB on all versions would be great – now it looks like this deal is more important to Vodafone than it is to Nokia (and Vodafone is not the one with the problems).

The 1,5GHz dualcore Snapdragon processor appears to be fast enough on the Lumia 920, but a bit faster processor would have given who’s spending serious money to upgrade to this device the impression of technical improvement (after possibly loosing half the mass memory). Also, the battery is the same as on the Lumia 920 (2000 mAh) – no change there either.

nokia_lumia_925_back double LED

Camera
Yes, I hoped for more than one device: I hoped for the rumoured “EOS” PureView – too soon, we now know. But noticing the hump at the back in the leaked shots, I also hoped for a bit higher resolution sensor-wise – maybe 12MP, maybe 14MP, maybe even 16MP. But the resolution is – again – the same as on the Lumia 920 at 8,7MP.

Technical difference is there are six lens elements in there, instead of five. What that means exactly I don’t know (yet). And you’ll find a dual LED flash as in the Lumia 920. But that’s another disappointment to many: you’ll only find a Xenon flash in the recently announced Nokia Lumia 928.

I understand the newest PureView device even offers 3200 ISO, which is staggering indeed – by now I’m sure it will make for much brighter night-shots, that is if nothing is moving in front of your camera, and if you have a steady hand (or can us a tripod).

I’ve already read very positive reactions on the new Lens app entitled “Nokia Smart Camera”, offering all different kind of options from one single burst mode – so you can choose which effect to apply after making the shot(s). That seems very practical to me, but personally speaking my focus is not so much on the funny effects you can apply on a burst of shots, but on the picture quality itself.

And however it may be fun or practical to be able to apply all those effects, I already know my Lumia 920 will be able to do the same after the so-called “Amber” update Nokia is promissing for later this year. That’s only fair I think, but doesn’t give me a reason to upgrade either…

Upgrade?
I already have the Nokia Lumia 920, and there doesn’t seem to be much to upgrade. Unless I’d be bothered with its weight, which I’m not. The mass memory is just fine with 32GB, I happen to like the polycarbonate, and I don’t have to add anything for wireless charging. So I guess I’d just be upgrading for a new design and material, and one extra lens element. Hm…

All in all the Nokia Lumia 925 seems to be aimed at those who don’t have a Nokia Lumia flagship already. Seen the amount of different operators Nokia is collaborating with launching this device, it seems quite logical.

The device is much lighter for one thing (and Nokia has been bombarded with criticism about the weight of the Lumia 920) and has everything Nokia has to offer on Windows Phone 8.

So if you waited for a lighter Nokia premium device (with aluminium body even), and if you don’t care about mass memory too much (or were already planning to choose Vodafone), this Nokia Lumia 925 is a very interesting device to switch to Lumia, no doubt. But if you are looking for a successor for your current 920, this is probably not the time.

Remember though, this is only a first impression, based on specs and some first hands on experiences of others. Chances are I fall in love as soon as I have the Lumia 925 in my hands. I’m funny that way.

PureViewClub is on Twitter, Facebook and Google+

 
 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Share on LinkedIn