Showing posts with label lumia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lumia. Show all posts

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Unlocked Nokia Lumia 1020 goes on pre order in the USA for 735

Nokia Lumia 1020 was officially unveiled just last week and understandably caused quite a lot of excitement. Its the long awaited 41MP PureView Windows Phone-powered smartphone that had been in the rumorlands since Nokia 808 PureView came around.


Nokia Lumia 1020 will hit the USA on July 26 exclusively via AT&T. It will cost $300 with a two-year contract and the carriers pre-order campaign is going live tomorrow. Lumia 1020 will hit the shelves worldwide before the end of September.

Meanwhile, the retailer Negri Electronics is taking pre-orders for the unlocked version of the cameraphone. You can book your unit for $735.50, but there is no specific shipping date. We guess youll receive it shortly after the official premiere on AT&T.

Yesterday, we also saw the Lumia 1020 go on pre-orders in Germany, but users there will have to wait longer to get their units. The European version of the device that is supposed to launch by the end of Q3.

Europeans will also need to pay quite a lot more to own the Lumia 1020, with pre-orders going for the hefty €800 (we suspect final price will be a bit lower, though).
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Nokia Lumia 1020 officially launched

Nokia has officially launched the Nokia Lumia 1020 at its dedicated “41 millions reasons” event in New York.


After the specs leaked earlier today, Nokia has officially unveiled its latest 41-megapixel camera smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 1020.

“Pictures will mean more to you. You’ll see things with the device that you’ve never seen before. You’ll get closer than you’ve ever been before,” said Nokia at the event. “It’s the next chapter in smartphone photography.”


Nokia Lumia 1020 Camera Features


Nokia claims that its new “sensor innovation and technology we call oversampling” means the Nokia Lumia 1020 will produce the best photos ever produced by a smartphone. The oversampling is also translated into video recording.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 features an all new backside illuminated 41-megapixel sensor that Nokia says will enable users to take better pictures in daylight but also in low-light and night time conditions.

As introduced in the Nokia Lumia 920, the Nokia Lumia 1020 will also have optical image stabilisation. It’ll have 2nd generation OIS that combats any blur or shake in photographs and videos.

Nokia also says it has “reinvented zoom”, in that oversampling allows users to zoom into details on their pictures even after they’ve been taken.

The Lumia 1020 also has 6 lenses within its Carl Zweiss technology to increase the sharpness and the zooming capabilities.

Users can also take a photo and then later go back and edit or frame their images to tell “a different story”. The Finnish smartphone manufacturer says it is its “shoot first, zoom later” focus for the Lumia 1020.

It also has manual exposure settings on it too.

Nokia Pro Camera, an all-new camera app for the Lumia 1020, means Nokia has made it easy for users to make the most of its new 41-megapixel camera technology. It offers photo editing software directly from the Windows Phone 8 smartphone.

It’ll come in yellow, black and white when it launches, all made from special material that means the colours won’t fade with time or use.

Specs-wise, the Nokia Lumia runs Windows Phone 8 on a 4.5-inch AMOLED screen with a 1280 x 768p resolution, protected by Gorilla Glass 3. It has a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory and 7GB SkyDrive cloud storage.

Powered by a 2000mAh battery, users can opt to purchase the snap-on Nokia Camera Grip that offers access to camera features and a screw mount for tripods. It also increases the battery by an additional 1,200mAh.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 is coming to the US first as an AT&T exclusive for $299.99 on a two-year contract on July 26. It will arrive in the UK sometime this quarter for an unknown price.
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Saturday, April 4, 2015

Nokia Lumia 1020 alone won�t restore Nokia name says analyst

The Nokia Lumia 1020 alone isn’t enough to revive the Nokia brand, suggests one analyst.


Daniel Gleeson, a mobile analyst at IHS Electronics and Media, suggests that the newly launched Nokia Lumia 1020 won’t be able to change Nokia’s fortunes on its own. It will have to be backed by a strong new range of smartphones later in the year.

“The Lumia 1020 will act as a halo product to boost Nokia’s brand appeal”, said Gleeson. “IHS forecasts that this smartphone will not ship sufficient volumes to turn around the company’s fortune on its own.”

In fact, IHS predicts that Nokia’s market share for 2013 will fall unless Nokia has more smartphone products up its sleeves.

“Nokia’s share of the smartphone market will fall to 3 per cent in 2013, down from 5 per cent in 2012 unless Nokia follows this halo hardware launch with a strong new smartphone portfolio across all price points in the autumn. Additionally Nokia must continue to invest in content and services to bolster the range of Windows Phone app choice and quality.”

However, the analysts do believe that the Nokia Lumia 1020’s camera features will be easier to translate to consumers than the UltraPixel technology in the HTC One.

“The 1020’s vast megapixel count is a significant marketing asset because consumers have been well trained that more pixels are better in digital photography. This message is far clearer and simpler than HTC’s ‘UltraPixel’ proposition.

Part of a recent explosion of camera-centric smartphones, the Nokia Lumia 1020 will most likely be compared to the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom.

“41-megapixels outguns even Samsung’s camera-smartphone hybrids in pixel count by more than two to one, although Samsung will correctly point to its stronger but bulkier optics as an advantage.”

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom packs a 16-megapixel rear snapper with a 10x optical zoom.
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Thursday, April 2, 2015

Lumia Black update brings app folders and Nokia Glance notifications

Nokia has launched the Lumia Black update for Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices.

Offering a host of new features for Nokia’s range of Windows Phone 8 devices, the Lumia Black update brings increased functionality to Microsoft’s mobile OS.


“Nokia Lumia Black updates the imaging experiences on your Lumia and makes using the Windows Phone even more fluid”, said Samuli Hanninen, VP of Software Program Management for Nokia’s Smart Devices Business.

Finally, Windows Phone has notifications, well if you own a Nokia anyway. The Nokia Glance screen 2.0 acts a notifications centre for all your important alert, whether that’s from Facebook, email, outlook, Whatsapp or any other app you happen to use.

With App Folders you’ll be able to organise your Windows Start screen a little bit more. As with iOS and Android you can group similar apps or even settings together in one menu, which is presented as a Live tile right on the Start screen.

The Nokia Refocus app will now be available for all your Windows Phone 8 Nokia smartphones and tablets, which lets you tap on a photograph to chose a different focal point.

Other new camera features include Nokia Storyteller, first introduced with the Nokia Lumia 1520 and Nokia Lumia 2520, that organises your photographs according to the date and place they were taken.  You can also view interactive maps of your snaps.

The new Nokia Camera app is also included in the Lumia Black update, which basically combines the existing Nokia Pro Camera and Smart Camera apps. This app was originally launched with the PureView smartphones.

Bluetooth 4.0 LE compatibility has also be included in the update across all WP8 devices.

“New App Folders and the ability to close apps in multitasker are my personal favourites. I also encourage everyone to try out the Nokia Refocus app that introduces a whole new dimension to photography,” adds Hanninen.

Just for Nokia Lumia 1020 owners there’s a load of other new features to enjoy. Some of these include raw DNG support and new oversampling algorithms.

You’ll be notified directly on your Nokia Windows Phone 8 device when the Lumia Black update is available, or you can head to the Phone Update section of the Settings Menu.
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Thursday, October 23, 2014

Zooming in on the Lumia 1020s camera apps and features

Its seemingly impossible to go a week without a new smartphone announcement, with manufacturers falling all over themselves to announce the "next big thing."


Some may be tempted to write off yesterdays reveal of the Nokia Lumia 1020 as just another debut of yet another Windows Phone 8 device, albeit one with a humungous camera, but the Finnish firm is hoping consumers will find that it actually enhances the mobile phone experience.

When CEO Stephen Elop took the stage to put the focus on the bombastic 41MP Pureview camera fitted into the Lumia 1020s frame, he showed the world the Nokia is ready to evolve beyond the traditional idea of a smartphone.

In addition to attempting to blaze a new path in the cellphone sphere, Nokia believes its latest flagship will offer prospective users true control and confidence in capturing their lives at the press of a button.

Two camera apps, one focus



That the Lumia 1020 has a better camera than most point-and-shoots, and low-end DSLRs for that matter, shouldnt intimidate potential users.

For Nokia, one of the core concepts of its latest phone is putting confidence back in the hands of the amateur photographer.

According to the companys research, consumers will take 7-10 pictures with a camera just to make sure they got the right image.

As Nokias reps explained to us, with the Lumia 1020, the first picture you take will hopefully be the picture you keep. Granted, it make take the phone a little longer to save the 15MB image, but the aim is that its worth the wait.

The phones Pro Camera app should alleviate some of the unease and uncertainty users might have about getting the shot just right, as well.

Useful features like Reframe allow you to craft multiple images from just one massive 41MP shot, while more experienced photographers will still find all the ISO, f-stop, and shutter speed options they could hope for, allowing them the same level of customization they have with a full camera in a device decidedly smaller. The features arent inaccessible to the non-photogs among us, either.

The Smart Camera app provides a range of "been there, done that" options at a slightly lower resolution, but is still capable of offering more creative ways to personalize your pictures.

Though you wont be able to take 41MP images with Smart Camera on, youll have much more freedom and flexibility for action shots and editing within Nokias built-in Creative Studio.

Technically, theres a third camera app in the default Windows 8 camera, but its not fine-tuned for the new Pureview lens like the other two Nokia-developed apps.

It will still take pictures just like youd expect, but it doesnt offer any of the bonus features found in either Smart Camera or Pro Camera.

Regardless of which app you use, all photos are taken with the new stabilization, multi-layered lens, and flash, which should help give even novices a chance at capturing the elusive "perfect" image.

The forest for the trees



Unless youve got an actual photographer in your family, most of your photo albums are probably full of either close-ups or wide-angle shots.

Your smartphone camera album is probably even worse, as most digital zooms end up looking awful and distorted.

Pro Cameras Reframe takes all the guesswork out of the equation, and lets you snap pictures now and decide what the story is later, without the loss of pixel density or fidelity.

To be fair, in our time with the Lumia 1020, we found zooming in all the way for the tiniest of details left things muddled, but the range of post-photo zooming is miles above whats available elsewhere.

Reframing works as soon as the photo is saved, giving you the choice of repurposing the still to your exact specifications quickly and easily.

While more savvy photo fiends are already doing these kinds of things in editing programs on their computers, having the option available instantly and on the go certainly helps the Lumia 1020 appear more flexible for the average consumer.


Simple and smart


Even if youll be losing some of the ridiculous pixel density by using the Smart Camera app, there are still some advantages to the secondary application.

Weve seen camera features like action shots, multi-shots, face-swapping, and the ability to wipe moving objects before, but that doesnt make them any less relevant for a phone like the Lumia 1020.

By including a wealth of options like those above, Nokia has effectively eliminated the hoping and praying typically associated with trying to get just the right shot.

In theory, users will be able to take solace that no matter what, theyre going to get the shot they wanted... with a little help from Nokias software.

Of course, theres something to be said for the lens and flash coming with the Lumia 1020 as well, as those components will do a lot of the heavy lifting in making sure photographs turn out the way you intended.

Intelligent design



The Xenon flash isnt as harsh as an LED flash, but it is brighter and faster, which means images taken in low-light will come out stronger, even if people are moving.

Outside of turning the flash on or off, thats not something youll ever have to manage; thats just the way the phone is built.

Additionally, the five lenses (one glass, four plastic) compacted together to create the Pureview design have stabilization measures built-in to ensure they all move in unison.

By ensuring the lenses will never be out of sync, you have a markedly lower chance of shaky cam happening with stills or with video.

Again, this should aid in taking all of the worry out of picture-taking, which in turn allows users have faith in their abilities, and should keep them snapping away without having to worry about standing perfectly still.

Point of sale


The Lumia 1020 is still a pricey piece of hardware (priced at $299.99 in the U.S. or about £199/AU$327) when compared to some competitors, but Nokia and its products appear set to take a different path than phones like Samsung Galaxy S4 or the HTC One.

The Lumia 1020 doesnt quite hold up to the screen and hardware power of its top rivals, but as the line between spec-heavy devices has blurred, Nokias phone is a bold statement about where it sees itself going in the future.

Based on our earliest impressions, every aspect of the Lumia 1020 has been fine-tuned to appeal to the snap-happy consumers that have flooded social networks with pictures of everyday life, while also offering power and performance that should impress pros.

As it will be arriving in just a few weeks in the U.S., we wont have long to wait to discover if consumers are willing to shell out premium prices for the convenience, and confidence, the Lumia 1020 provides.
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Friday, October 10, 2014

Nokia Lumia 1820 and Lumia 1525 specs leak ahead of MWC unveiling

Specs for the Nokia Lumia 1820 and Nokia Lumia 1525 have leaked online ahead of an official MWC unveiling.


Nokia could be making quite an impact at this year’s MWC if the latest leaked specs for its upcoming handsets turn out to be accurate.

Acccording to a brand new source named @NextLeaks, Nokia will launch the flagship Lumia 1820 and the Lumia 1525 phablet will be launched at the show.

Of course, this new tipster doesn’t have the proven track record of someone like @evleaks, but we really hope these specs are the real deal.

The Lumia 1820 will reportedly feature a 5.2-inch 2K 2048 x 1080p resolution display running on a quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor with 3GB of RAM.

It will be powered by a 3,400mAh battery, feature 32GB of internal storage and have a microSD card slot.

In the rear will be a Xenon flash and a Lytro-like camera that allows post-capture retouching from within the phone itself.

Apparently, it’ll be released in March 2014 and will have a similar design to the metal-bodied Nokia Lumia 925.

The information from @NextLeaks also suggests the Lumia 1525 phablet will have exactly the same hardware, including that super-speedy Snapdragon 805 processor.

However, it’ll come with a 6-inch 2K display that will feature solar panels within it to charge the 3,400mAh battery.

It will also feature a 25- or 30-megapixel rear camera, rather than the Lytro-style option of the 1820.

There’s no indication that the specs above are correct, but they do sound like the spec sheet dream.
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Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Nokia Lumia 925 tips and tricks

The Nokia Lumia 925 is the slimmer, prettier version of the Lumia 920. It has a great camera, Windows Phone 8 and is dead easy to use. There are some tweaks needed to get the best out of it, though. Here are our top Nokia Lumia 925 tips and tricks.




Hardware


What are the three pips for?

On the back of the Lumia 925 are three mysterious little metal circles, like a little crop circle incident just above the speaker grille. These are the contacts that make wireless charging possible.

Nokia removed integrated wireless charging from the phone to make it slimmer and lighter, so now you have to buy a separate £25 case to get it working. These cases interface with these little metal dots in order to charge the battery.


How to get wireless charging

As well as one of the wireless charging cases, to get the phone’s battery charging wires-free you need to buy a Qi charging plate. You don’t need an official Nokia charging pad, just one that uses the Qi standard. Search hard enough online and you’ll find Qi charging plates for £20-30.

Screen


Touchscreen sensitivity

One of the great features across a number of Lumia handsets, including the 925, is there enhanced touchscreen sensitivity. From within the Display+Touch section of the Settings menu you can choose to toggle the screen between normal and high sensitivity modes; the key difference being that setting the 925 into high sensitivity allows you the ability to operate the touchscreen through gloves.

What’s more, there’s the option to double tap the screen to wake, which is a nice alternative tapping the power/lock key.

How to change colour saturation and temperature 

The Nokia Lumia 925 uses a PenTile AMOLED screen. This uses a large red sub-pixel, which tends to give images a slightly warm hue. AMOLEDs also tend to oversaturate colours.


Both of these effects are visible in the Lumia 925, but you can fix them. Go to Settings>Display-plus-touch and tap the adjust button down at the bottom of the screen. This will take you to a menu that lets you fiddle with the colour saturation and colour temperature of the screen.

Software


Accessing the Siri-like voice assistant

Windows Phone 8 has a voice assistant, much like the Siri feature of iOS. To access it, just hold a finger down on the Windows soft key (the one in the middle). The voice command menu should pop up, and the phone will start listening out for commands automatically.

Identifying tunes without an app 

Windows Phone 8 also has a built-in Shazam-like feature, which identifies tunes simply by listening to them. To access this, hold a finger down on the Search soft key (that’s the right one) until the Bing search bar pops up. Then tap the quaver button at the bottom of the screen.

The Lumia 925 will immediately start listening for music. However, music identification will only work if you have an internet connection – it needs to send the snippet to a server for identification.

Scanning barcodes and QR codes, OCR

Right next to the quaver icon of the Lumia 925’s music identification feature is one of Windows Phone 8’s coolest little extras, accessed by pressing the ‘eye’ icon in the Bing search bar menu.

It’s a camera-based feature that reads barcodes, scans QR codes and identifies text using OCR – optical character recognition. Most usefully it’ll event translate identified words between languages.

Data Sense

Since the arrival of Ice Cream Sandwich, Android users have been able to keep tabs of their mobile data usage and even had the option to limit mobile data to prevent accidental costly downloads. Now, thanks to Nokia and the 925’s new Data Sense app, Windows Phone users have that same level of control.

Out-the-box Data Sense offers you a graph view of data usage over both mobile and WiFi networks independently. You can swipe to the side to see a breakdown of apps and services using data in a more detail capacity and if you want you can even set a data limit.

The ‘Set Data Limit’ menu lets you choose from different plan structures like pre-paid or pay monthly and from there define when your limit resets and how much your data limit is. From here you can choose to simply receive a warning, or have your 925 limit data use when it’s approaching the limit.

How to turn off Glance  

Glance mode is a new Nokia feature that displays a clock on the screen when the Lumia 925 is put into standby – rather than showing nothing at all. It uses a little bit of battery life, though, and some of you simply won’t like it.

You can turn Glance off by heading to Settings, scrolling down to and selecting Display Touch, then flicking right-to-left until you get to the Glance menu. The top option here lets you either turn it off, keep it on permanently, or have it switch off after 15 minutes. There’s also a night mode that makes the clock red instead of white, which isnt so bright and so is less distracting at night.


How to download maps in HERE Maps

One of the best software features of the Lumia 925 is HERE Maps. This is the phone’s equivalent to Google Maps.

And it’s arguably even better because you can download maps of entire countries for use when offline – all for free. Tap the menu button within HERE Maps (it’s the three-pip icon at the bottom-right of the screen) and tap ‘download maps’. Follow the instructions and you’ll be able to download areas and countries across the globe.

How to change the colour of Live Tiles

As it uses a colour-rich AMOLED screen, it’s a good idea to be careful about which colour of Live Tile you use for the phone’s home screen. To pick your shade, go to Settings and tap the ‘theme’ entry near the top.

Windows Phone 8 offers 20 different shades. We find that the more muted shades of the bottom two rows of colours work best with the Lumia 925.

How to increase battery life

There are a few simple ways to get better battery life out of the Lumia 925. The simplest is to use a black background rather than a white one for the phone’s home screen. You’ll find this option in Settings > Theme. Super AMOLED screens use less battery when much of the screen is dark/black.

Next comes Battery Saver. This mode is found in the Settings menu. It stops apps from having access to mobile internet, and stops them from running in the background – dramatically reducing how much 3G drains the phone’s battery. In the Advanced menu at the bottom of the Battery Saver menu, you can choose whether it’s on all the time or just when the battery level is low.

Photo tips


For the best photos, don’t use Nokia Smart Cam

Software-wise, the big whoop about the Lumia 925’s camera is Nokia Smart Cam. This is a Windows Phone 8 Lens that adds a bunch of semi-advanced features to the camera roster. However, in pure quality terms its shots are worse than the standard camera apps photos.

Nokia Smart Cam shoots a bunch of shots in rapid succession over a couple of seconds. This stops the phone from using the longer exposure times that are a big part of the PureView plan in the Lumia 925, and it also captures photos in less-than-max resolution. The Lumia 925 has an 8.7-megapixel camera, but Nokia Smart Cam’s snaps are only five megapixels a piece.

Do not use the flash

One of the best things about the Lumia 925’s PureView camera is that it stops you from having to use the flash much. We recommend not using the flash in conditions with anything but very poor lighting. LED flashes like the Lumia 925’s unbalance photos, and don’t offer particularly even coverage. The flash control button is the little lightning symbol in the camera app.

Using Nokia Smart Cam

Nokia Smart Cam can be a little confusing at first. It’s a burst shot mode that lets you apply smart effects to your photos – you can create a multi-exposure action shot, remote moving objects from a scene or use multi-exposure to get the best expressions of people from all the shots on offer.

To access these modes, you need to go to the Photos app, then tap the ‘Nokia Smart Cam’ link that’ll pop up with any shots taken using the app. The modes arent actually accessed from within the camera app itself.

PhotoBeamer

PhotoBeamer is a new app that comes preinstalled on the phone that lets you share photos with any phone irrespective of OS.

On opening the app you need to choose a photo you want to share and once you’ve chosen said photo the app will then launch the camera. From the receipt’s phone, heading to photobeamer.com will bring up a QR-code on-screen.

Scanning the QR-code from the 925 will then cause the chosen image to appear on both devices and you’ll even be able to resize the image in real-time, from one device to the other.
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