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Bum on Seat. My month without tablet and smartphone
Unplanned, I’ve spent the last two months without a tablet and the last month without a modern smartphone. My Galaxy Tab bit the dust in an overnight charging fit at the beginning of March and my phone is still the Nokia N8 – nothing compared to todays smartphones! I briefly used a Sony Xperia Arc, and I enjoyed it, but it got passed on to my wife who needs a solid smartphone more than I do. I’m able to chop and change devices far quicker than my wife is and when her original Xperia started going wonky, it was easier to hand-over the newer model rather than try and fix the issues.
Not many tech reporters will have done what I’ve done so it’s worth thinking about where the 7” tablet really did fit into my life. Was I kidding myself that I needed a tablet? To be honest, I miss my tablet and have tried to resurrect it on many occasion but of course, I can live without it. It turns out it was more of a social device rather than anything I really needed for business but it did mean that I didn’t have to use a Swiss Army Knife to build a house. There are hundreds of tasks for which a 7” tablet is better than anything else.
On the Nokia N8 15 Months Later – It’s Dragging Down the Nokia 808
It’s been 15 months since Nokia gave me an N8 for a long term test. The N8 is now available with Belle, for about 260 Euros. Not bad at all for the best cameraphone quality out there. Here’s an update on how I feel about it today and how it affects my thoughts about the Nokia 808 – an awesome camera, with the same OS.
The truth is that the N8 operating system is now so far behind that I’m struggling. My main issue is a simple case of being able to share photos and text online and to other applications. Nokia Social is a joke. I can’t share to Flickr, to Gplus, to YouTube. After 15 months, you still have to start up another application for image sharing, if you can find one. Ovi store is slow and has very few up-to-date apps in it. Whatsapp and Pixelpipe have dropped out of the store. Other apps are stagnating.
Nokia 808 Camera Technology and Photo Samples Vs Nokia N8
“What?” “Why?” These are the two words I heard the most in conversations about the Nokia 808 Pure View at MWC last week. The same words could be muttered by millions of potential customers too. Here’s why the Nokia 808 Pure View deserves serious attention from everyone in the mobile phone and mobile camera space and why the 41MP number really means more than just marketing.
You might know me as the guy that still carries a Nokia phone. I’ve used the Nokia N82 and now the N8 for thousands of images of my family and friends and for thousands of images from events around the world over the last 4 years. I bought the N82 but Nokia gave the N8 to me as a test device in 2010. I’m still reporting on it, and locked into it, today. There’s nothing in the smartphone arena that beats it for stunning daylight photography and clear flash photography and nothing that beats it for camera connectivity. HSPA, Wi-Fi and 3G with connectivity to my favourite sharing sites. What more could you want from a camera?
More pixels? How about 41 million? Welcome to the Nokia 808 Pure View
“What?” “Why?”
Panasonic Lumix FZ150 Handheld, Low-Light Test (Vs Nokia N8, Canon S2IS)
This low-light handheld test is important for me as it’s one of my most-used scenarios. I’m also interested in telephoto shots at on-stage press events and various types of video but for my first Panasonic Lumix Z150 test I wanted to see how much better it was than my old (5 year old) Canon S2IS 5MP bridge camera. Of course it’s a massive improvement. I’m estimating a total 8x quality improvement of sensitivity, stabiliser and definition through sensor pixel count and lens. That’s a massive 3 f-stops of usefulness.
All my Lumix FZ150 posts are shown together here.
In this test I took a large number of shots of a multimeter (showing a LUX reading of around 95 from a big 30W daylight-temperature CFL energy-saving bulb 2M away) and chose the best pictures to analyse.
The other two devices used were the Canon S2IS and my Nokia N8 which has a larger sensor than both of the bridge cameras. To help make the images easy to compare I set the ISO at 400 and took the images at about 15 cm, the distance at which the multimeter was full-frame in the non-zoom Nokia N8.
Panasonic Lumix FZ150 as a Bloggers Camera
I like photography but I don’t have the time for it. For my work, however, I need a camera. I don’t call that photography, I call it blogography and it needs a different type of device. I’ve just bought a Panasonic Lumix FZ150 which I’m hoping will fulfill an important role in my job as an online reporter.
DSLRs are wonderful bits of kit with amazing light sensitivity, fast processing, quick startup and quality lenses. They are great for photographers, but not for bloggers who need a different kind of media device. Here’s my list of requirements…
Fast 480p Video Blog using N8 and Tab
This is a demo video and demo blog.
Video recorded, produced, uploaded from the Nokia N8. Embed code grabbed by ‘share’ing the embed code from the YouTube app. to the WordPress app on the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Photo sent from N8 to Tab via Bluetooth and then embedded in the post.It’s a simple, quick process.
Total tIme to record, edit, upload and write post is under 10 minutes [correction. Its was closer to 15 minutes] which is fast for a single-man setup of 570gms and about €650. All-day battery life too! Let me know what you think about the quality of the video. Is it good enough for a first hands-on demo?
Moving on from the Nokia N8 Cameraphone. Updated with ‘Backtrack’
It was a tough move but following a failed OVI store upgrade on my N8 (loan from Nokia) this morning I decided that enough is enough. I’ve seen enough software install and update failures to tell me that I should move on. Considering the fact that I’m excited about Google Plus on Android along with the instant photo upload feature, the time is right. I know I’ll miss that camera but I have to move on so the N8 is packaged and ready to be returned. Thanks for the thousands of great camera shots Nokia. Thanks for a great phone and thanks for some interesting HDMI capabilities. Maps wasn’t so successful on the phone and as for apps, I didn’t really find myself using it as my go-to Internet device. I had my Galaxy Tab by my side for Internet and Apps and to be honest, without it, I would have been a little lost.
Nokia Gives us Another Luxury Camera Decision in the N9
Nokia have just put another great camera choice on the table for us mobile, always-ready, sharing and of course, caring cameraphone fans. Ignore that fact that this is a Meego phone because it doesn’t really make much difference if all you want is a camera, in a phone, which is primarily what the N8 is.
I’ve had an N8 on loan for an embarrassing amount of months now (thanks Nokia, UK!) and it has slotted well into my life alongside my Samsung Galaxy Tab that I tend to use for a higher-quality Internet experience than is possible on a smartphone. I’ve taken thousands of images and just can not fault the camera hardware. It blows me away time and time again.
But if the N9 brings the same quality phone (SMS, Voice quality, battery life) as the N8 and improves in some other areas like browsing and sharing, then maybe the N9 would be better. There’s a word out there for a luxury decision like this but it feels like a dilemma to me because I know I’ll lose sleep over it!
There the Xenon Flash on the N8 to consider…
But the N9 has a wider-angle lens with true wide-screen sensor layout, continuous auto-focus and 30fps 720p video recording. Apparently it’s the quickest focus-to-shoot cameraphone ever…
The N9 also adds near-field support (at least for some Nokia accessories)…
It doesn’t have the USB OTG support or HDMI port that the N8 has though…
Here we go again!
Does Meego have a role to play in helping us make our decisions though? I can’t really think of any major reasons to choose Meego over Symbian especially as there’s an upgrade coming for the N9 in a month or two that will overhaul the UI and add the CAF and 30fps video recording. The user interface certainly looks nice on Meego. Way better than on the N8 but then will it support all the things I take for granted on the N8 like Exchange support, profiles and other important features.
The only way to find out is to test it out and read reviews. I’ll be getting a little play with the N9 soon so should be able to give you cameraphone fans some feedback then. Until then, enjoy a bunch of N9 links in the new product database I wrote for Meegonews.com