An ingeniously designed flashlight, the Nightlighter contains two distinct light sources that work together to provide you with wide coverage illumination. Using state of the art LEDs, one light source shines on the area ahead, and the other illuminates the area at your feet. Its innovative, ergonomic design is balanced and easy to carry.
This dual-light flashlight emits a forward-facing, narrow-angle beam (uses 4 ultra bright 5mm white LEDs) to light the path ahead of you. It also emits a downward-facing wide-angle beam (uses two ultra bright 5mm white LEDs) to light the ground. Using both of these light sources simultaneously enables you to feel safer while walking in the dark. No more constantly rotating the light near and far to see everything in the dark. There are also multiple lighting options available with the flashlight’s three-way switch: the front light alone, both front and lower lights, and lower lights only.
Microsoft and Nokia have announced that Nokia's Drive+ turn-by-turn navigation app is now available to all Windows Phone 8 customers. The beta can be downloaded from the Windows Phone store.
Available to customers for free in the United States, United Kingdon, and Canada, the app offers turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation, offline maps, speed limit warnings, and conveniences such as day and night modes.
Nokia confirmed in late-October that its mapping solution would eventually be available to all Windows Phone 8 users, after it previously claimed all Windows Phone 8 handsets would have the app preinstalled. That obviously wasn't the case.
Nokia has been working hard on mapping solutions lately, having released its 'Here' maps app for iOS users, featuring offline maps, coverage for 200 countries, Facebook login integration, and step-by-step voice-guided navigation for the car and walking.
Previously available for only those with a Lumia 810, 820, 822, or 920, Windows Phone 8 users will be thrilled to add the Drive+ app to their handset. Being in beta, Nokia is looking for customers feedback on performance .
Google is getting ready deploy a small wireless network that covers its Mountain View headquarters, according to an application filed with the FCC. The folks at Google have been known to be experimental to create new products and this could be one of those instances.
First noted by the Wall Street Journal, the FCC application asked for an experimental license for a "radio service" in Mountain View. The small wireless network wouldn't be compatible with most Android handsets or iOS devices available on the market today, rather for devices with a 2524 to 2625 megahertz range.
No carrier in the US or UK is using this type of network on a large scale, rather it would be for handsets in emerging markets like China, Japan, and Brazil. Google, and even Apple, have noted several times the importance of these emerging markets to adopt new customers.
Having a compatible wireless network on its campus, this could give the folks at Google a chance to test devices on networks that are deployed in other countries -- specifically in the Motorola unit. Wall Street Journal reports that Google plans to use Clearwire's spectrum on its campus, which will start out in one specific building.
In November of last year, Google was rumoured to be in very early talks with Dish Network about building new wireless spectrum to create a network to rival AT&T and Verizon. It doesn't sound like a deal is any where close to going down. The fact Google is testing a network shouldn't be taken that it has concrete plans to enter the wireless arena, either.
At any rate, it's interesting the amount of experimentation that is going on at Google. We think this should be taken as a sign Google (and Motorola specifically) are gearing up for foreign networks. Google of course, was the first to roll out Fiber Internet in select cities in the US .
The new molecules are known as 'graphene fragments,' because they largely consist of flat sheets of carbon (which are attached to zinc atoms). That makes them easier to align during deposition, which could simplify the manufacture of molecular memories. Credit: Christine Daniloff/MIT
Moore's law—the well-known doubling of computer chips' computational power every 18 months or so—has been paced by a similarly steady increase in the storage capacity of disk drives. In 1980, a hard drive could store about a half-megabyte of data in a square inch of disk space; now, manufacturers are closing in on a million megabytes of data per square inch.
An experimental technology called molecular memory, which would store data in individual molecules, promises another 1,000-fold increase in storage density. But previous schemes for molecular memory have relied on physical systems cooled to near absolute zero. In the Jan. 23 online edition of Nature, an international team of researchers led by Jagadeesh Moodera, a senior research scientist in the MIT Department of Physics and at MIT's Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, describes a new molecular-memory scheme that works at around the freezing point of water—which in physics parlance counts as "room temperature."
Moreover, where previous schemes required sandwiching the storage molecules between two ferromagnetic electrodes, the new scheme would require only one ferromagnetic electrode. That could greatly simplify manufacture, as could the shape of the storage molecules themselves: because they consist of flat sheets of carbon atoms attached to zinc atoms, they can be deposited in very thin layers with very precise arrangements.
The storage molecules were developed by chemists at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Kolkata, who are co-authors on the Nature paper. The Indian chemists believed that the molecules could be useful for the type of experimental devices studied by Moodera's group, which use "spin," a property of tiny particles of matter, to represent data.
Half a sandwich
Under Moodera's supervision, Karthik Raman, then a PhD student in MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering and now a scientist at IBM's Research Lab in India, and Alexander Kamerbeek, a visiting student from the University of Groningen, deposited a thin film of the material on a ferromagnetic electrode and added a second ferromagnetic electrode on top—the standard structure for magnetic memories. The idea is that a relative change in the electrodes' magnetic orientations causes a sudden jump in the device's conductivity. The two states of conductivity represent the 1s and 0s of binary logic.
To their surprise, however, the MIT researchers measured not one but two jumps in conductivity. That implied that the electrodes were changing the device's conductivity independently. "According to the common knowledge, this shouldn't happen," Moodera says.
To confirm their intuition, the researchers performed the experiment again, but instead of using two ferromagnetic electrodes, they used one ferromagnetic electrode and one ordinary metal electrode, whose only purpose was to read the current passing through the molecule. Indeed, they found that the jump in conductivity still occurred.
As Moodera explains, the ability to alter the molecules' conductivity with only one electrode could drastically simplify the manufacture of molecular memory. The bottom electrode of a memory cell can be deposited in a perfectly flat layer and the storage molecules layered on top of it. But if the next layer to be deposited is the top electrode, its molecules will tend to mingle with the storage molecules. If the electrode is magnetic, that mingling can compromise the performance of the cell; if it's metallic, it won't.
In an alternate design, the top electrode is a tiny tip, like the tip of an atomic force microscope, positioned less than a nanometer above the storage molecules. But again, a magnetic electrode poses problems—in this case, by limiting how densely the storage cells can be packed. If they're too close together, a magnetic tip might change the magnetic orientation of cells adjacent to the one it's intended to address. That's not a concern with nonmagnetic tips.
Stackable storage
The shape of the molecules themselves could also simplify the manufacture of molecular memory. Typically, experimental molecular memories consist of five or six layers of molecules sandwiched between electrodes. If those molecules are properly aligned, they exhibit large swings in conductivity, but if they're not, they don't. Ensuring their proper alignment is another labor-intensive process.
The molecules developed by the Indian researchers, however, consist of zinc atoms attached to flat sheets of carbon, which naturally tend to align with each other. The MIT researchers also showed that two layers of the molecules were sufficient to produce a memory cell. "If you put a whole bunch of molecules between the electrodes, it's harder to control," Moodera says.
"The switching effect near room temperature is because of the strong interaction of the molecule with the magnetic surface," Raman adds. "That makes the molecule magnetic and stabilizes it."
Jing Shi, a professor of physics at the University of California at Riverside, points out that giant magnetoresistance, the physical phenomenon discovered in 1988 that's the basis for most modern data-storage devices, won its discoverers the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics. Moodera, Raman, and their colleagues "found a new type of magnetoresistance," Shi says. "This is very novel, because you don't need very complicated material structures." As a consequence, he says, "The fabrication process could be simpler and very flexible. You only have to prepare this interfacial layer with the desired properties; then you can, in principle, recognize magnetoresistance."
"Obviously, it has some way to go," Shi adds, "but this is a proof of concept."
Moodera agrees. "This is only the tip of the tip of the iceberg," he says. At present, the researchers' experimental setup exhibits only a 20 percent change in conductivity, which is probably not enough for a commercial device. Together with researchers at the Peter Grünberg Institute in Jülich, Germany, who are also co-authors on the Nature paper, Moodera, Raman, and Kamerbeek have developed a theoretical explanation for the unexpected phenomenon of single-electrode switching. But if they can fill in the gaps in their understanding, Moodera says, they can design new organic molecules that should exhibit higher swings in conductivity. "It's possible to control the shape of organic molecules," Moodera says. "Every year, chemists come up with hundreds of thousands of them."
When will smartphones read our minds?! I don’t know about you but sometimes I think “touching the screen is too much hassle.” Sure it is lazy, but you know the day will come. So what happens in the meantime? A Minneapolis-based company wants to bring us closer to the future of further interaction with our phones thanks to touch.
Written about in the Fall, showed off at CES and shipping in the Summer is the Sensus™ iPhone case from Canopy. Though it looks ordinary, this is an extraordinary case. Technology of touch sensitivity makes Sensus stand out. Put the case on your iPhone 4, 4S or 5 (iPad Mini and iPod Touch g5 in the works). The back side and right edge become touch-sensitive, enabling ten touch responses. Screen space is valuable, so rather than letting buttons take up the screen use your case to log an action. Gamers get enhanced control, scrolling while reading won’t take up screen space and easily zoom without mucking up the screen. There are plenty more functions as you get to know the case. How does it work? The built in touch sensors sync with a their app or with specific compatible apps as they become available. Yes, developers may visit the site to register for the development kit. No, you cannot control the phones basic features like dialing numbers. But hey, can’t have it all. You won’t sacrifice safety as Sensus’ industrial design protects your phone TOO. Sensus is expected to retail for $59-$99.Sign up on their site to receive updates and be the first kid on the block to enjoy touch-sensitive case technology for your iOS device.
We are nearly at the end of the first month of the new year, and it is time to take a stock check at what has happened in the past three weeks plus in your life. How’s that diet coming along, in addition to the exercise regime? How about the promise you made to yourself in going to bed early so that you can rise and awake the dawn, while beating the snarling traffic on the way to work? Perhaps things have not gone on as smoothly as you would have liked, but here is a tool that might just give you that much needed impetus – the $99.95 Wellness Monitor.
Basically, the Wellness Monitor works this way – it is capable of automatically tracking down your daily movements in addition to sleep cycles so that it can determine whether you are getting the required amount of exercise and sleep. It works in a similar way as that of NASA technology which will help monitor its astronauts in space, as the Wellness Monitor is equipped with an accelerometer that monitors the intensity and duration of movements, track the number of steps taken, distance traveled, and elevation, while calculating the number of calories burned. The sensor is small enough to fit into the included wristband even as you sleep, where it will track tiny tremors in the wrist to tell just how long it took for you to fall asleep, the number of times you wake up, and length where you were actually asleep for.
All information will be sent to the manufacturer’s website sans wires thanks to Bluetooth connectivity, within a 15-foot radius, of course
When it comes to modern day devices, there is nothing quite like making sure it runs on the latest software update so that it will “purr” along nicely, and this is what Samsung intends to do with their latest release of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update to two of their tablets which was introduced not too long ago – the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 as well as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. The thing is, only Wi-Fi versions of these models will be able to enjoy the Jelly Bean update, so owners of the cellular versions will have to play the patience card and wait.
As some of us might already know, the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update will bring with it a suite of performance improvements, in addition to the introduction of Premium Suite that had made the Galaxy Note 2 all the more productive. Premium Suite will boast a collection of new features which will further upgrade multi-tasking and productivity, all the time enhancing personalization and offering new levels of creativity. Users are then able to enjoy improved S Pen support in addition to the ability to easily open and resize multiple apps, letting one view them from across the screen, layered on top of each other.
There are also other features which have been introduced so that the capabilities of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 will be boosted, including the Multi Window feature which enables users to experience a dual view, running two apps side-by-side on the screen. Cascade View, on the other hand, lets users freely resize, move and pin selected applications in multiple views, making sure they can run simultaneously or while operating the home-screen. This will definitely resonate with folks who are so used to working on a PC, and watch the productivity bar spike!
Unfortunately, there is still no word on when the cellular models of the Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 2 will be updated. Hopefully it is sooner rather than later.
Apple employees walk towards the Apple Headquarters in Cupertino, California, on October 19, 2011. Apple chief Tim Cook and Google chairman Eric Schmidt are expected to face questioning in a lawsuit accusing Silicon Valley giants of secretly agreeing not to "poach" one another's workers, according to officials and court documents.
Apple chief Tim Cook and Google chairman Eric Schmidt are expected to face questioning in a lawsuit accusing Silicon Valley giants of secretly agreeing not to "poach" one another's workers, according to officials and court documents.
Plaintiffs' attorneys said US District Court Judge Lucy Koh endorsed questioning Cook, Schmidt, as well as Intel head Paul Otellini, after reasoning that high-level executives would know about restrictions on hiring talent.
During a hearing Thursday in her courtroom in the California city of San Jose, Koh referred repeatedly to email evidence that included a request in 2007 by then Apple chief Steve Jobs that Google stop recruiting Apple workers.
While Cook was not mentioned in the email messages, it was reasonable to expect that his position as chief operating officer included being kept apprised of issues involving employee expenses, the judge said.
Cook took over as Apple chief in 2011 after Jobs stepped down due to a battle with cancer, which claimed his life.
Schmidt was scheduled for deposition on February 21, while Intuit chief and Apple board member Bill Campbell was slated to be deposed the fifth of that month, according to court documents. The date of Cook's deposition has not been set.
The lawsuit filed in 2011 accuses a set of technology companies of stifling careers and earnings prospects of employees by agreeing not to "poach" one another's workers.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs have asked Koh to grant them class-action status to represent all workers who may have been affected. A jury trial is set to begin in November.
"We're pressing forward to comply with the court schedule and get the case ready for trial in November," said plaintiffs' attorney Brendan Glackin of the Lieff Cabraser law firm in San Francisco.
The civil suit followed the settling of restraint of trade litigation by theUS Justice Departmentdue to the "no-poaching" agreement.
Christmas isn’t Christmas without some sort of card. Doing the usual Post Office run, for many, marks the start of the festive season proper.
The conventional Christmas card can be a touch outdated, but with a bit of digging Pocket-lint has come up with some hi-tech alternatives to make your Christmas post that bit more exciting.
Apple Cards app
Crafting your own Christmas card is one way of doing things, but putting cards together for each family member could see you spending more time with scissors and glue than unwrapping your own cards.
A quick fix that can have some awesome results is Apple’s Cards app. Using your iPhone or iPad, you can design custom-made cards, add photos from your Apple device and then send them anywhere in the world for £3.99.
Touchnote is also doing customised Christmas cards. You can do this online simply by uploading a snap, adding a message and then sending it to the relevant address. Simple, quick and easy and with cards starting at 99p, a bit cheaper as well.
Build an LED edge-lit Christmas card
This one is right at the other end of the spectrum in terms of complexity, but do the build and it’s worth it. Credit has to be given to the Evilmadscientistblog for working this one out.
You will need plastic, LEDs, paper, electrical tape, batteries, scissors, a ruler and a pen. For the plastic, the blog suggests cutting out the side of a plastic container. You then need to cut a design into the plastic using a craft knife. This will be the final design of the card, so make it Christmassy.
The LED is very simple to make, simply buy an LED bulb, which you can pick up here and then attach it to the positive and negative of a lithium cell: the flat kind of battery you see in watches.
Then attach the bulb to the edge of the plastic and it will shine through, illuminating the design. Attach this to the card and you're away. More comprehensive instructions can be found on the Evilmadscientist blog.
Get a 3D printed card
With 3D printing all the rage at the moment, why not top off 2012 with a custom-printed Christmas card unlike any other? Naturally, they will turn out a touch thicker than normal Christmas cards, but the weight gain should be worth it.
First you will need to come up with a design for your card. Then, once you have it drawn in 2D, use this web app from Shapeways to convert it into 3D. Wait a while and your 3D model will be printed and sent out. Make sure you include the text in your design, otherwise it won’t be easy to print on later
Many home improvement fans know The Novogratz – the husband and wife team, along with their seven children. These home improvement gurus have been featured on Bravo TV’s “9 by Design” and HGTV’s “Home by Novogratz.” Their funky-chiq approach to transforming spaces has given a whole new and hip meaning to family living.
Soundfreaq, makers of performance style Bluetooth music devices for iOS and Android, decided that The Novogratz touch would add a perfect complement to their lineup of products. Welcome toThe Novogratz collection, in limited availability this holiday season. Two units in three of their popular technologies are currently available on their website for the style mavens in your life that want audio streaming and device charging. The Sound Stack Chiq Freaq and Flower Freaq ($450) give you high quality sound, including 2.2 speaker configuration. This statement piece will easily fill the room. The Freaq of Nature and Freaq’n Fabulous ($150) Sound Step compact speaker makes a great solution for a smaller space while still offering 2.1 audio. Awake to performance and panache with the Sound Rise alarm clock style Freaq in the Bed or Novo Freaq ($125). Why not stay in bed and enjoy streaming audio from tunes or movies. As you can see from the images, the Novogratz look makes these streaming players a unique addition to the room. And Soundfreaq technology means your ears enjoy sweet sounds.
For those of you who have always wanted to kick the smoking habit but did not manage to find the willpower to do so, here is something which you might want to check out from Njoy with their latest electronic cigarette offering that is simply called the Njoy Kings. Touted to offer “a real alternative to cigarettes”, I do wonder just how accurate that particular claim is considering how there has been a slew of electronic cigarettes in the past. Njoy Kings is said to offer the committed adult smoker an authentic look, feel, flavor and packaging of a traditional tobacco cigarette, but it will not be accompanied by all the negatives such as smoke, ash and cigarette smell.
In a nutshell, Njoy intends to deliver smokers with more of what they want, and of course, for their health and the health of others’ sake, less of what they don’t. There has been some creative ads in the past to help prevent folks from picking up the habit of smoking, but you do not see the tobacco industry reeling from lower sales in the long run. Even the thought of literally burning money has yet to deter those hooked on cigarettes, but perhaps the Njoy Kings might be able to turn the tide. Retailing for just $7.99, the Njoy Kings can be found in more than 30,000 convenience stores as well as nearly every major convenience chain.
Sporting a couple of nicotine levels of 4.5% and 3.0% by volume, it will come in traditional and menthol flavors, courtesy of Njoy’s award-winning Master Flavorist. Sporting a soft paper feel, squeezable tip and flip case packaging, this is truly an innovative shift in the e-cigarette industry.
Craig Weiss, President and CEO of Njoy, said, “Today’s launch of the NJOY Kings marks a major milestone for NJOY in our commitment to set the gold standard for the e-cigarette industry. This product is unlike any other e-cigarette on the market today offering the very first truly satisfying alternative to the tobacco cigarette. Industry analysts agree, the NJOY Kings e-cigarette is a game-changer within the tobacco category.” Anyone given it a go, and how do you find it so far?
The Dark Knight Rises should by now be happily spinning up in the Blu-ray players of Batman fans the world over. Fire up the disc and you might spot that there is a second screen option.
This isn't anything hugely new for the world of Blu-rays, as we discovered forSherlock Holmes. But when it comes to TDKR, things are just that little bit more awesome.
You will need a Blu-ray player that can connect to the internet in order to get the most out of the disc. Connect both your player and your iPad to the same network and the two will then sync up. While the movie goes on, your iPad acts like a second screen, showing things like quotes, pictures and trivia.
If you want to look at something on your iPad for longer, while the movie keeps playing, all you need do is just touch the screen. You are then given the option to either sync the tablet back up with the movie once you are done, or sync the movie back to the tablet.
Some of the quotes, like the one from Nolan right at the start, are interesting enough. What we like is the inclusion of Retina display resolutions pics from the movie. They look great and can make for a decent background if you screenshot them from the app.
On top of this you get some other clever camera orientated parts within the app. You can record video for example and have a 3D animation of the Tumbler drive straight through it. Alternatively you can snap a still and put yourself in the Tumbler, or in the movie's 'Rise' poster.
Part of the app goes for a bit of augmented reality, letting you place a 3D model of various bits from the movie onto your face. You can go for Bane's mask, Catwoman's ears or opt to look like Batman. It actually works really well and adds a bit of fun to the movie experience.
As free apps go, this is polished. For those who want to know everything there is about the new Batman movie, it's all there to enjoy. Shame it can't make us look like Bane, might make for a good alternative to multiple gym trips.
We laugh when we think about floppy disks now. Yet they were a lifesaver back in the day. And the 3.5” introduced that sweet plastic cover and metal slider thing which meant you could throw them in your backpack or wherever. Ahhh, the good ol’ days. But how will future generations ever know the technologies that preceded them? Guess we need to remind them.
Two Berlin-based artists want us to commemorate our computing roots. They sought inspiration for a table from our beloved 3.5″ floppy friends. Neulant van Exel design firm have launched their Floppy Table. Made from hot-rolled steel and stainless steel the unit provides a unique, sturdy and retro statement. The 28” x 18” x 26” (w d h) table contains detail we all remember like insertion arrows and a movable, metal shutter complete with a storage space inside. Each unit is laser marked with a serial number for authenticity too. This trip down memory lane will cost you $930 (before shipping). The product website gives few details but email them if interested or learn more on their Facebook page. For the right user – you know who you are – and the right home I am sure the memories will eclipse any cost. So if you miss the days of floppies there is only one coffee table for you!
The patent would cover for a portable electronic device, such as a mobile phone, and would make the device's back panel removable, allowing users to switch to a different lenses. In design terms, this would mark a significant departure for the iPhone, since Apple has always shipped its signature device completely sealed.
Instead of switching out the lens, iPhone photography aficionados currently use add-ons to get around the limitation.
The patent may have been part of the late Steve Jobs' grand plans for making iPhone cameras even more appealing to photographers. Jobs, who was interested in photography himself, envisioned an improved camera in a meeting with Ren Ng, CEO of the photography company Lytro, last year.
Hands down, the Nokia 808 PureView's most compelling feature is its camera, which easily beats all current smartphones known for their imaging prowess, including the iPhone 4S and the HTC One X. Its only pitfalls are the limitations of the Symbian operating system (OS), but this probably won't matter to the people who will buy it.
Like the N8, the PureView is also a camera-oriented phone, but it's pretty much the first of its kind in terms of imaging chops. Much has already been said about Nokia's PureView Pro imaging technology--if you still don't understand what it's about, try reading the white paper (PDF).
Before you start reading, we'd like to set out a disclaimer that this is, by all means, a review of a smartphone, so we have to take other features of the 808 PureView into full consideration.
Design Features The 808 PureView, at the 5-, 8- and 38-megapixel settings fared well even against the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 (far right).(Credit: Shawn Low/CNET Asia)Performance Conclusion
The design of the Nokia 808 PureView can be simply described as solid.
Solid in the sense that the construction of the phone is robust and sturdy--which is really no surprise, seeing Nokia's strong tradition in producing durable handsets like the Nokia 3210. Coupled with the Gorilla Glass display, this phone is built to last.
In fact, when we dropped the review unit on a friend's foot from waist level--by accident--and it crash-landed on concrete afterward, the polycarbonate handset escaped unscathed without any scratches or dents. On the other hand, his foot was worse for wear, probably due to its rather hefty 169g weight.
We found the 4-inch nHD (640 x 360 pixels) screen's size and resolution are on the low side for a smartphone with such an imaging pedigree--it would have been nice to be able to enjoy our shots in at least qHD or 720p glory. By comparison, the Sony Xperia S, a smartphone in the same price range, has a 4.3-inch HD (1,280 x 720 pixels) display.
On the bright side, the phone's narrower girth means that it's suited for one-handed usage.
Another upside of the 808 PureView's screen is Nokia's proprietary ClearBlack display technology, which is touted to give good readability even under direct sunlight. We found this to be true.
However, do note that the touchscreen has the tendency to retain fingerprints and smudges, so keep a cleaning cloth handy if you have an oily face.
In our opinion, the slightly curved edges of the glass are a nice design element, which is reminiscent of theNokia N9. Overall, it's a refreshing change from the flat and boxy look of some me-too smartphones out there.
We aren't too keen on the bulge on the back--this is due to the gigantic PureView lens adding bulk to the phone's chassis. Measuring almost 18mm at its thickest point, the 808 PureView may be a slightly uncomfortable fit in your pocket--especially when you sit down.
Interestingly, the extra bulk doesn't result in a top-heavy phone; in fact the 808 PureView felt well-balanced in the hands. It also helps that the ceramic-like finish is grippy, especially for one-handed usage. The ridge on the back could have been more pronounced, or made of a more textured material, to provide more grip while shooting.
You also won't have to worry about scratching the lens as it's slightly recessed.
Finally, Nokia chose to go with a screen lock slider on the side of the phone, instead of a lock button. A useful feature: Holding the slider down turns on the flash to use it as a torchlight, making it a nifty shortcut.
The Nokia 808 PureView runs on the latest Symbian Belle OS, which brings with it a refreshed look and new features such as: Up to six customizable home screens, improved multitasking, scrolling widgets and an Android-like dropdown notifications menu.
Yet, our complaints of the OS remain the same as its predecessor, Anna. We've mentioned them before in our review of the Nokia E6 and here they are again:
The major disadvantage of getting a Symbian phone is the dearth of apps in the Ovi Store. At the time of this review, the number of apps in the Ovi Store is a tenth of what's available on Apple's App Store.
Furthermore, there are no dedicated Twitter or Facebook apps in the Ovi Store, so you will have to access these social networking sites via the Ovi Social widget on the home screen. Strangely, you won’t be able to set the refresh intervals, and the only way to update your feed is to access the app. In addition, it does not have a notifications feature.
Our one minor quibble with predictive text input also hasn't changed. Belle does not automatically change lower case i's to capital letters, nor is she able to predict correctly the words you're trying to type. Users unfamiliar with the Symbian OS may find a high error rate, especially when typing with predictive input turned off.
Athough Belle does not support Wi-Fi tethering, the 808 PureView comes preinstalled with JoikuSpot, an app that allows you to share your 3G connection wirelessly. Other standard bundled apps include Quickoffice, F-secure Mobile Security, Microsoft Communicator Mobile and Adobe Reader.
In terms of connectivity, you get the full range of options here: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, DLNA, GPS and HSDPA up to 14.4Mbps. Additionally, the 808 PureView has NFC capabilities and a dedicated HDMI port.
There's 16GB of onboard storage that's expandable via a non-hot swappable microSD card. The battery is removable.
Finally, there's Dolby Digital Plus technology for surround sound--note that it only works with compatible headphones or speakers plugged in.
Let's face it, the only reason why you're reading this review--and the 808 PureView's most important proposition--is its bumper 41-megapixel CMOS sensor. It measures 1/1.2 inches, larger than the N8's and most advanced compact cameras such as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 and Fujifilm FinePix X10. The 808 PureView also uses renowned Carl Zeiss-branded optics, which features a molded glass aspherical lens.
First, let's look at what the PureView does better than some of the best smartphone cameras out there: It gives the user a lot more control over settings in Creative mode, maintains detail when zoomed in to 100 percent and has minimal noise even in low-light situations. For more advanced users, you'll get bracketing mode for high-dynamic range (HDR) photography and time lapse recording. Nokia even sells an optional tripod mount adapter for those who are serious about stabilizing the device when shooting. We find shutter lag to be minimal, although there's a little wait of about one to two seconds while the shot is saved--especially when shooting at full resolution.
A thoughtful feature is one-finger swipe-to-zoom capability, which is faster than having to press repeatedly on the volume rocker to zoom in. This is particularly useful while recording video (full-HD 1080p by the way), where you swipe upwards on the screen to the required crop factor. Once you lift your finger off the screen, the camera zooms in automatically, eliminating jerky movements that result from manual zoom.
At MWC, Vesta Jutila, Nokia's product marketing director of smart devices, said that the mechanical shutter, autofocus system and ND filter are the only moving parts in the robust camera module, which has gone through rigorous drop tests.
Yet, for those impressive imaging chops, the camera software has a few downsides. For one, there's no burst mode setting, though you can capture sequential shots by holding down the physical shutter button.
You can directly access the camera from the lockscreen in less than a second by pressing the hardware shutter button. However, you're limited to shooting on auto mode, with no access to advanced image controls except flash. Also, if your phone is password protected, you won't be able to preview the photo immediately after snapping it unless you unlock the phone. With Android and iOS, you can preview photos taken during the phototaking session done without unlocking, but don’t get access to all the other photos in the phone--a more sensible solution. All these mean you may miss out on photo opportunities unless you don't mind a relatively less secure phone and do without a passcode.
When you preview your photos, there's a quick shortcut to share them on Facebook immediately. Flickr is also integrated, but not Twitter. The quick preview also doesn't reorient photos to portrait mode, so if you want to see a portrait photo in full, you'll have to exit the camera app and fire up the gallery. This is a mild annoyance for us.
Also, in the gallery app, the phone behaves more like a gallery from a digital camera. When zoomed in, you won't be able to flick to the next image unless you manually zoom out first. This is unlike iOS or Android, which lets you swipe to the next image (which automatically zooms out the image).
Although the onboard Xenon flash is twice as powerful as the N8--as told to us by Nokia's Eero Salmelin, head of imaging--it was a tad heavy-handed. To quote our camera reviewer, Shawn Low, the 808's flash "looked more like a beam from a torch", and "also created a pink color cast in images produced".
As we've also seen in our camera shootout, the 808 PureView loses out on minimum focusing distance for macro shots. Nokia's lead program manager of imaging experience, Damian Dinning, did point out in his comment that "the 808 uses the widest angle optics of any smartphone when used in it’s[sic] default fully optimized 16:9 aspect ratio. This does create something of a trade-off in close-ups."
That's where the PureView's "lossless zoom" technology comes in--in the form of "closeup scene mode as a full-time option, touch AF in any mode or closeup focus mode in creative [mode] accessed via a long touch of the viewfinder screen", writes Dinning. He goes on to note the reduced depth-of-field in the end-result as a result of the larger sensor size.
What he neglected to mention is that this method also reduces the effective area of the sensor used (depending on the amount of zoom), which results in a trade off in oversampling. For instance, if you zoomed in completely while shooting at 5-megapixels, you would be shooting pixel-for-pixel and there would be no oversampling to speak of. Shawn has done a comparison of shooting in the various modes in his article--you can read it here.
Although you can shoot at full-resolution (38 megapixels for 4:3 and 34 megapixels for 16:9 aspect ratio) and then crop the photo, the tradeoff is more noise because the oversampling feature will not be utilized.
As such, it's probably best to shoot on the default 5-megapixel setting--or at 8-megapixels--unless you plan on printing out a life-sized poster.
The 808 PureView's 1.3GHz single-core processor isn't exactly the snappiest in the market (especially with quad-core smartphones being released), but using the phone was a relatively responsive experience overall. 512MB of RAM was also sufficient for multitasking, and we didn't experience any major lag while using the handset except for when saving pictures (mentioned earlier). This is especially noticeable when taking full-sized 38-megapixel shots.
For extra processing power, the 808's camera module features a special companion processor that handles part of the workload before sending it to the graphics processor. This process may explain the lag we experienced.
The 808 PureView's 1,400mAh battery lasted us a full day with average usage, with Wi-Fi and GPS turned off and two email accounts set on push. Due to the limitations of Ovi Social, we were unable to use our standard test settings of Twitter and Facebook at two-hour refresh intervals.
We expect that if you're going to be spending a day (or night) out and taking lots of pictures, especially with flash, it's probably safer to bring a spare battery or an external charger along.
Reception was generally fine, although we ended a few calls unintentionally when the screen did not turn off and our cheek accidentally touched the "end call" onscreen button. This did not happen every time so we don’t think you should be overly concerned about it.
To put a long story short, the Nokia 808 Pureview has near-perfect imaging chops for a mobile phone, but does a so-so job at being a communication device--something important to the average user.
Smartphones such as the iPhone 4S, HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III are popular not only because of their competent cameras, but also because of the ecosystem (apps, camera-related accessories etc), broad user base and intuitive UI. These elements are sorely lacking in the Symbian OS, which is why it's the 808 PureView's stumbling block to mainstream success.
CEO Stephen Elop has previously announced that the company will stay committed to the OS only until 2016. At MWC in February, Nokia's then-EVP of Sales, Colin Giles, declined to comment on what's next for Symbian after Belle but stated that innovation on the platform will still continue. Recent news of Nokia's layoffs has cast doubts on the future of the company, which makes us even more hesitant to place our bets on the dated Symbian OS.
The 808 PureView isn't a smartphone for the masses. For the more discerning photography enthusiasts who are looking for a compact camera replacement--and current N8 users--though, it's a different matter entirely. Let's face it, you probably skipped right to the part about the camera and ignored the rest of the review. If you just want a camera that has the ability to make calls and send/receive emails, then the Nokia 808 PureView fulfills this purpose very well.
At S$839 (US$654) without operator subsidies, it's pretty expensive considering you can get a high-end smartphone with a modern OS at that price. But if it means saving on buying a dedicated digicam, it could be worth the price to some.
We are nearly at the end of the first month of the new year, and it is time to take a stock check at what has happened in the past three weeks plus in your life. How’s that diet coming along, in addition to the exercise regime? How about the promise you made to yourself in going to bed early so that you can rise and awake the dawn, while beating the snarling traffic on the way to work? Perhaps things have not gone on as smoothly as you would have liked, but here is a tool that might just give you that much needed impetus – the $99.95 Wellness Monitor.
When it comes to modern day devices, there is nothing quite like making sure it runs on the latest software update so that it will “purr” along nicely, and this is what Samsung intends to do with their latest release of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update to two of their tablets which was introduced not too long ago – the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 as well as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. The thing is, only Wi-Fi versions of these models will be able to enjoy the Jelly Bean update, so owners of the cellular versions will have to play the patience card and wait.
Soundfreaq, makers of performance style Bluetooth music devices for iOS and Android, decided that The Novogratz touch would add a perfect complement to their lineup of products. Welcome to
For those of you who have always wanted to kick the smoking habit but did not manage to find the willpower to do so, here is something which you might want to check out from Njoy with their latest electronic cigarette offering that is simply called the Njoy Kings. Touted to offer “a real alternative to cigarettes”, I do wonder just how accurate that particular claim is considering how there has been a slew of electronic cigarettes in the past. Njoy Kings is said to offer the committed adult smoker an authentic look, feel, flavor and packaging of a traditional tobacco cigarette, but it will not be accompanied by all the negatives such as smoke, ash and cigarette smell.
