Somewhere along the line, the not so humble smartphone has become everyone’s preferred point and shoot camera as well. OEM’s are coming up with gimmicks, that are actually proving rather effective in terms of producing great images with their devices in all sorts of conditions.
Nokia with it’s OIS and Pureview tech has of course been lauded in terms of Windows Phone devices, and some would say that HTC’s attempt to do something similar with the HTC One, is a direct response to that tech. Whilst HTC’s WP8 devices launched with a fairly rudimentary camera, not a lot of bells and whistles, the HTC Titan II had a 16 megapixel camera and a fair bit of adjustment.
So while the HTC One’s camera is powered by a lot of exclusive HTC technology, [read a white paper about it here] The proof is really in the pudding [or images as it were].
Basically, the best test I could think of was to take out the HTC One and the HTC 8X, and reset the cameras to their defaults, and do the best I could to duplicate shots from both phones. So no edits, no effects, just the camera as it would be out of the box for the average user.
While Nokia has been pumping out devices, to cover all sectors of the potential Windows Phone Market, other OEMs seem content to plod along in the background. We have known for a while that HTC were bringing a mid range WP8 device for Sprint in the US, that should arrive running the GDR2 updated OS.
Going by the leaked specs, it’s placed between the 8S and 8X, and while it doesn’t lack too much in CPU and Ram (1.2 GHz dual core, 1 Gb ram respectively), it will only have 8 Gb on board storage. That should leave about, 5 Gb user accessible. Styling seems similar to the HTC One SV, which is fairly attractive. Other features to note, 8 megapixel rear camera, 1.6 megapixel front facing camera and a 1,800 mAh battery.
HTC Tiara is rumored to sport a 4.3-inch Super LCD2 display of WVGA resolution and will be powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor along with 1 GB of RAM.
From Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 8, HTC lost a few applications, and they have been slow to update the few that are left. Well it looks lie they have released updates for almost all of their WP8 apps today/this week.
So if you haven’t checked you can go to the HTC section of the app store on your phone and force the update, by selecting individual apps. The ones that have updated automatically for me, Make More Space, Flashlight and the Photo Enhancer.
There’s not really a lot to see, and we are talking more about stability and bug fixes, and noticeably, the photo enhancer app has the same filters as Instagram??? To tell you the truth, I didn’t actually realise that before.
As with any new device, there are some key areas of performance that most of us focus on, and probably the foremost of these is battery life. What good is a phone if you cannot take it off the charger and use it for a full day without having to plug it in for incremental top ups during the day. Now forget all the battery myths you have ever subscribed to, with current batteries Lithium-Ion, are not in need of all the conditioning and voodoo that surrounded older battery types. Whether it is a phone, tablet or PC, the battery tech we are sporting now does not require witch craft, and lots of tweaking of settings to get the best out of it.
What does matter is, the OS, the capacity of the battery, the hardware that battery has to push along, like screen, CPU, running processes and background apps.
I’m not quite sure where this Lumia 920 sits, in terms of where it came from, but it looks like it is/was available from an Australian E-Commerce site. Estore.com.au has a range of Lumia phones at variable prices, not always a bargain either, but on their site they feature this green model, and also the elusive grey 920.
Don’t get your hopes up though, from what I can gather, it looks like an opportunistic placeholder. There were hints back in March that there might be a green model, all from an image posted on Nokia Jordan’s Facebook page, but it was a very different green! Anyone tried to order one of these?
Ben(MS) are at it again with this video that compares what you buck will get you, if you choose the Lumia 520 over the Samsung Galaxy S4. The difference, a budget phone and lots of goodies, or a phone. While I would call this a little dig, some niggling at the competition, it really demonstrates what Nokia have done, in placing a Windows Phone 8 handset in reach of every pocket.
If you have your Twitter on and are looking for a way to get your hands on a Windows Phone 8 handset, you need to follow @NokiaAustralia fo a chance to pick up a Lumia 520 for the price of a photo.
Basically all you need to do is to post a pic to twitter, @NokiaAustralia, #520Friday, that shows how you are preparing for the weekend. At 5:20pm the competition closes and the winning image wins a Nokia Lumia 520 handset. Hey, give it a go!
Not familiar with #520Friday? Just @reply with your pics showing us the fun ways you’re preparing for the weekend by 5.20pm today!
HTC have been going pretty hard at improving their skin for android, and I have to admit it is pretty good. HTC has brought some nice custom features to the ONE, but after using Windows Phone for a long time, the system seems un necessarily complicated, involving many levels below each main settings area.
While not insurmountable, it takes a fair bit of time, and thanks, there is a help and how to app included, that can step you through using some of the features.
