41 Reasons with 41 MP sensor to Buy Lumia 1020

Nokia has unveiled its latest offering in Lumia series, the Nokia Lumia 1020 with a 41 MP sensor which is capable of best shots and is currently rated as the best camera smartphone you can get. Nokia has released a new infographic which tell you 41 reasons why you should be picking the Lumia 1020.



The features detailed are mostly with respect to the PureView camera on Lumia 1020.

theQ, a social network focused connected camera

From the land of Abba and Spotify comes theQ, a lifetyle product startup that has come out with theQ Camera, which is dead simple to use, has built in 3G connectivity and allows you to post directly to your social networks.

Today theQ, a Stockholm, Sweden based lifestyle products company is releasing the TheQ camera, a 5-megapixel camera (available in nine colors for $199) with a 24mm wide-angle lens and a f/2.4 aperture that has 2 GB of integrated storage and 3G connectivity – just add a SIM card — and allows you to take and publish photos directly to your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Google+, Flickr, email and Tumblr (but no Instagram.) That’s one of the reasons they call it the first Social Camera.

TheQ camera has a 2.7-inch display and is waterproof up to 3 feet. The camera has a manual focus lens and three pre-set capture modes for automatic camera control. The diminutive device comes with unlimited online storage space courtesy of theQ and has something called theQ light, a low-level ring flash built into the camera design that enables users to take beautiful photos at night. It also comes with nine software filters.

Photos are social

“With over 500 million photos uploaded and shared daily, more than double the amount from two years ago, the market is ripening for socially connected devices,” theQ CEO Steven Christensen said in a press release. While I agree with his thesis, that the market is ready for connected devices, I wonder if theQ camera is a little underpowered for today’s market (though I like their premise of shoot-and-share.)

The modern smartphone cameras have become amazingly good  and are getting better. Most importantly they are the camera which are always in our pocket and as a result the photos taken by my iPhone, and occasionally by a Samsung Galaxy S4, have a sense of immediacy which is not there on other non-connected cameras. Smartphones are a good way to snap and load photos to social networks — there photos need not be perfect but need immediacy.

Now compare this with more traditional non-connected cameras. A Sony RX-1, a Sony RX-100 and an old Lumix — and I lament the lack of connectivity in those cameras. 

Where there is a camera, there needs to be connectivity

And that is why connectivity on cameras ranks pretty high in my books. The big brands are waking up to the influence of social networks and connectedness and some have added Wi-Fi to their cameras but it still is early days. 

So, from that standpoint, theQ camera team has an opportunity to make a dent in the low-end of camera market. While $199 is a low enough price, they are competing with smartphone as a camera. So as a company they need to take a good look at their roadmap and then at the roadmap of mobile phone makers and figure how best they can get ahead or on par with the handset cameras. And at the sometime they need to embrace the wider web — from storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Weibo or whatever —  and use the device software as a strategic weapon. They need to add Wi-Fi sharing and Bluetooth 4.0 LE to allow me to use the phone as connected device option as well.

That said and despite the shortcoming I am buying the Berry Fields model – it does sound tasty and looks quite cool. And connected and I am a sucker for startups building consumer hardware — we need to take a chance on these guys or live in a world of slow moving dinosaurs.

Can tablets replace smartphones?

How big of a phone will consumers carry? We’ll soon find out as the 6.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Mega debuts on three carriers this month, offering a tablet-like experience with cellular voice capabilities.

Samsung isn’t waiting until September to debut all of its new products. On Monday the company announced the 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega will arrive before the end of August. 

So what do you get with this tablet, besides the voice calling abilities?

The 6.3-inch display uses a 1280 x 720 Super Clear LCD screen with wide viewing angles. A 1.7 GHz dual-core CPU — just a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 —  is paired with 1.5 GB of memory and the device runs Android 4.2.2. Samsung didn’t specify the internal storage capacity as that could vary by carrier. However, the Galaxy Mega does support up to 64 GB of expandable storage through a MicroSD card slot.

Samsung will also offer an S-View cover, similar to the Galaxy S 4′s, which shows a portion of the display for notifications, even when the cover is closed. The Galaxy Mega also has several Galaxy S 4 features, such as AirView and the option to run two apps at the same time on screen; a perfect use case for a larger device.

So if tablets are going to replace smartphones, the devices have to be as portable as their smaller cousins. But weighing 199 grams (7.01 ounces) and measuring 168 x 88 x 8mm (6.61 x 3.46 x 0.32 inches), the Mega will feel more like toting a tablet; not a smartphone. On the plus side, it has the potential to replace two devices by itself thanks to the big screen.

Samsung Galaxy Gear Specification

As we already had covered some stories on Galaxy Gear smartwatch with some leaked specs but today we are concluding those with new inputs from sources. Its reported that Samsung is going to launch SmartWatch along with Note 3 at IFA event on September 4th.

Let’s now talk about Galaxy GEARsmartwatch which is rumored to be packed with Dual Core processor with 1 GB of RAM on Board.

Galaxy Gear Hardware

Starting with new story we just received is that, Samsung is planning to offer many variations of the Smartwatch which will include many different designs of the watch. Its also said that Squarish design of watch will lead the crate. Coming to Display which is said to “show the full spectrum of colors” and will measure 3 inches (case and display), with the OLED screen taking 2.5-inch of that.

Starting with new story we just received is that, Samsung is planning to offer many variations of the Smartwatch which will include many different designs of the watch. Its also said that Squarish design of watch will lead the crate. Coming to Display which is said to “show the full spectrum of colors” and will measure 3 inches (case and display), with the OLED screen taking 2.5-inch of that.

As said above its suggested to be powered with Dual core processor with decent battery life. Other specs of galaxy GEAR are as follows:

• Samsung Exynos 4212 dual core 1.5GHz
• Mali-400 MP4 GPU
• 320 x 320 resolution display

Gear smartwatch is said to be marketed as a companion for Galaxy smartphones connecting over Bluetooth 4.0. What? Also its coming with Bluetooth 4.0 LE, NFC chip connectivity to sync and authenticate with other devices. The leaked specifications also claim that the smart watch may include a 2-megapixel camera.

Galaxy Gear Software

Software wise Galaxy Gear will be packed with Android 4.1 (may be Android 4.2 Jelly Bean). But Samsung will also put up some sort of its own design over the Android powered Smartwatch. Even you would not be allowed to download apps from Play Store. There will be special store for Galaxy Gear Watches.

As according to folks over GigaOm there will be:

• Battery optimizations: the Galaxy Gear will use the accelerometer to detect movement and turn on when “it is moved up to the eye.”
• Notifications: stopping at a certain notification (an email blurb for example), and then picking up the phone initiates an action on the handset, with that email blurb opening up on the phone
• Twitter and Facebook integration
• Health and fitness: the device packs “enough sensors that it can start to compete with wearable computing devices such as the Nike Fuelband,” the publication writes, suggesting that some of Samsung’s health-related (S-Health) apps may be found on board of the Galaxy Gear

So guys stay connected with us as we will be covering the IFA 2013 and Samsung is also expected to launch its Galaxy Note 3 along with Galaxy Gear.

Acer Iconia W3 : What's it like using Windows on an 8-inch tablet?

It's sort of hard to believe, but the first sub-10-inch Windows 8 tablet only just went on sale two weeks ago. For now, at least, the Acer Iconia W3 is the only 8-inch option available, though it surely won't be the last. What's more, it arrives in lockstep with Windows 8.1, which brings a few improvements that might make an e-reader-sized tablet like this especially easy to use (think: the ability to snap photos from the lock screen). And with a starting price of $380 (Microsoft Office included!) it could be a great buy among Windows tablets, period, regardless of screen size. Let's see if it really is.

Wacom outs Intuos Creative Stylus with revamped Bamboo Paper app in tow for iPad sketching

If you're the type to digitally doodle on the slate that you already own rather opt fora professional-grade unit, Wacom just announced its latest accessory for doing just that. The Intuos Creative Stylus works in tandem with iPads for "a realistic pen-on-paper feel" for tablet-style drawing and painting with 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity alongside Bluethooth 4.0 and shortcut buttons. The brushed aluminum-clad device comes in black and blue color options with a case, spare nibs and a replacement battery all while resembling Wacom's Pro Pen more than previous Bamboo offerings. A new version of the company's Bamboo Paper app has been retooled for the peripheral that was designed for use on both third and fourth-generation iPads and the iPad mini. More specifically, version 2.0 of the software tacks on Tumblr and Dropbox sharing, premium notebooks, enhanced palm rejection, new tool collections and expanded color palettes. If all of that sounds too good to pass up, the stylus will hit Best Buy stores at the beginning of October with a $99 price tag and the free Bamboo Paper app is now available via iTunes.

Wacom's Cintiq Companion tablets offer mobile pen display chops for Android and Windows 8 starting at $1499

Back in March, Wacom teased a standalone tablet for the graphics-minded set. In the meantime, the outfit released the Cintiq 13HD: a slate-size pen display that nailed down the compact end of its Cintiq line, but must remain tethered to a desktop or laptop for use. Now, the peripheral company has officially taken the wraps off of the Cintiq Companion and Cintiq Companion Hybrid. Both units wield similar aesthetics to the 13HD and house a 13.3-inch TFT LCD display with 1,920 x 1,080 resolution serving up a 700:1 contrast ratio and 16.7 million colors -- that's 75% of the Adobe RGB gamut. As you might expect, the trusty ExpressKeys, Rocker Ring, customizable controls and multitouch gestures are all here alongside the Pro Pen, its 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity and an adjustable stand. The main difference between the two? The Companion sports either Windows 8 or Window 8 Pro while the Companion Hybrid runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

The Cintiq Companion packs a third-gen Intel Core i-7 processor, 8GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU and SSD storage. Selecting Windows 8 will nab you 256GB of space while opting for Windows 8 Pro bumps that capacity up to 512GB with price tags of $1,999 and $2,499 respectively. As for the Android version, it features both a NVIDIA GPU and quad-core Tegra 4 processor, 2GB RAM and HDMI input with 16GB and 32GB options. The former will dock your wallet for $1,499 while the latter clocks in at $1,599. MicroSD slots are included on the entire lot, should the need arise to wrangle a memory card or two. Across the board you'll also encounter a 8-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front-facing shooter, WiFi and Bluetooth. Cintiq Companion Hybrid units will arrive mid-September and Cintiq Companion models will hit shelves in October, but the whole family is up for pre-order now. In the meantime, you can catch all of the details on both in the PR that resides after the break.

Ubuntu Edge Raises Record Breaking $10 million, Gonig to enters in Guinness Book Almost

$10,311,220. It isn't sufficient to greenlight Canonical's innovative hybrid smartphone, but it is just enough to beat the sum raised by the Pebble smart watch and thereby steal the crowd funding record. Well, sort of, at least. It depends on whether the amount pledged is all that matters, regardless of whether the project actually comes to fruition -- as happened with both the Pebble on Kickstarter and Indiegogo's previous record holder, the Scanadu Scout. More importantly though, Ubuntu Edge may have reached the point where it'll have a second chance even if it doesn't achieve the required backing of $32 million: Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth told the BBC that some manufacturers have noticed all the hubbub and have come "out of the woodwork" to discuss taking the Android / Ubuntu concept forward, such that August 21st may not prove to be a terminal deadline.

Ubuntu Edge Smartphone breaks $10.2m crowdfunding record with a week to go

16 August 2013 – Canonical's campaign to develop the Ubuntu Edge Smartphone has smashed the record for the largest ever amount to be sourced from crowdfunding. The long-standing record, which stood at $10,266,844 and was previously held by the Pebble Watch, was surpassed at around 4am BST this morning. There are still six days of the campaign to run.

The Ubuntu Edge Smartphone, designed to be used both as a phone and a desktop computer, also broke the record for being the fastest to raise $2m (in under eight hours) and raised its first $3m in under 24 hours. Last week also saw the Ubuntu Edge receive its first corporate backer in the shape of Bloomberg, which pledged $80,000 for its "Enterprise 115" package. The story has also been tweeted on average twice a minute every day since the appeal launched (source: Sysomos), while a Reddit IAMA Q&A session for Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu, generated over 3,200 questions.

If the appeal is fully funded, Ubuntu's vision is to make separate mobile phones and laptops a thing of the past. The Ubuntu Edge smartphone will run Android and Ubuntu's mobile operating system, so it can convert into a fully integrated desktop PC when connected to a keyboard and monitor.

Jane Silber, Canonical's CEO said: "When we started this campaign three weeks ago, we hoped it would resonate with our community. So, to break the world record for a crowdfunding campaign is absolutely mind-blowing. We felt that innovation had substantially slowed down in the mobile industry, so wanted to address this. We're still astonished by the generosity of our community and will continue to do all we can to make the Ubuntu Edge a reality."

The Ubuntu Edge smartphone appeal is being run on Indiegogo and has a funding target of $32m to fund a single production run of 40,000 units. The handsets are only being offered to supporters pledging $695 or more. They will not be available to buy at launch.

Samsung Smart Watch May Start Ticking As Early Next Month

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We know it's been trademarked and patented and hyped in general, but now we also have a tentative launch date for Samsung's anticipated smart watch. A report by Bloomberg, attributed to two unnamed sources, says the device -- which we suspect may be called the "Galaxy Gear" -- will be unveiled at IFA in Berlin on September 4th. Other details are scarce, beyond the watch reportedly being able to "make calls, surf the web and handle emails" using Android, but that sounds like plenty to be getting on with.

Samsung Galaxy S4

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is the most hotly anticipated smartphone ever from the Korean brand, and with a glut of top end features, it's the most powerful and desirable device Samsung has created yet.

One of the most impressive things about the phone is the fact the size hasn't changed from its predecessor - the Galaxy S4 comes in at 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9mm (5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches), meaning there's no extra heft to try to work with in your palm.

However, despite this fact, the screen on the S4 has been increased once more, to a whopping 5-inch display with Full HD resolution. This means the same amount of pixels you'd have seen on a TV that cost well over £1,000 four years ago is now riding around in your pocket.

Let's not pretend that Samsung is a pioneer in this area though: like a great many features of the Galaxy S4, the phone borrows a lot from the other top smartphones of the moment. Both the Sony Xperia Z and the HTC One have screens that rock the same resolution, but neither of them have the jaw-dropping clout of the Super AMOLED HD screen on offer here.

On top of that, there's a much faster processor packed under the hood, ample storage space for media thanks to an expandable memory card slot, and the likes of 4G, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and pretty much any other connection you care to mention on board.

Samsung has tried to supplement this with a tranche of software upgrades too, meaning a more powerful camera, a better way to communicate with your friends and consume media, and interestingly a big push into health through dedicated apps too.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 costs the same as the HTC One, give or take a pound or two, on contract. This will still put it around £35 per month, which isn't too bad for such a high design.

But before we dissect all the possibilities the phone has to offer, let's look at the design. As we mentioned, it's impressive in its form factor, thanks to the sub-8mm thickness, and at 130g it manages to still be light without shaving off so much heft that you feel like you've got a flimsy piece of plastic.

That's probably the biggest compliment we can pay the Samsung Galaxy S4 - where its predecessor felt a little bit cheap in the hand, the S4 manages to bring a much more solid build and better construction to boot.

So while the "faux metal" band makes a comeback on this model, it looks a lot more premium. And there's very little flex in the chassis when you hold it tightly, which was another problem with the Galaxy S3 at times. It can get dented very easily though, and be careful not to crack your screen if you do so - we've heard of a few instances where this has happened to S4 users, although that can be said of many other polycabonate smartphones.

That doesn't mean that the phone is completely re-modeled from the S3 - it's very similar in appearance, so much so that a number of people asking to see it during our review thought we were palming them off with our old S3. The poly carbonate chassis remains, but that brings with it the faithful battery cover, which conceals a removable battery and micro SD slot.

We're not so fussed about the battery being able to drop out of the phone - so few people carry around a spare battery, and nowadays portable charging blocks are becoming so cheap and light that they make much more sense too.

We'd almost prefer something like the Sony Xperia Z, which has a refined and packaged chassis but doesn't need a removable battery: it makes use of a slot instead for the memory card. This integrated nature would make for a slightly more premium feel to the phone.

However, it's a small gripe with the S4, as while the cover feels flimsy, it's better than it was on the S2 and the S3, and they both sold like hot cakes.

In the hand, the Samsung Galaxy S4 feels much better than any other Samsung phone we've held (apart from the gargantuan smartphones the brand used to make - the i8910 Omnia HD might have been built like a brick, but it felt wonderful to hold). The screen's spread towards the sides of the phone means a much narrower bezel, and the effect is certainly impressive.

It might look very similar to the S3, but when you take the Samsung Galaxy S4 up close, you really start to appreciate the nuances.

We'd say it feels a lot more like the LG Optimus G range now - when we first picked it up, we were struck with how similar it felt in terms of sturdiness and the polycarbonate construction to the LG Optimus G Pro.

That's no criticism, as the device was well built too, but it has a similar rounded feel. This is intriguing given the history of the two companies, and shows more of a leaning towards the plastic shell from the Asian brands in general.

Buttonry has barely changed from before - the power button has been shifted slightly on the right-hand side, and is now much easier to hit. Samsung has clearly taken some lessons from the Galaxy Note 2, which has a really well positioned power/lock button.

The volume key is less easy to hit, and could be lower down in our eyes, but the travel on both of these buttons is satisfying, and you'll always know when you've hit them.

The plastic used on the home key has been upgraded too, with a more solid feel under the thumb when you press down to get back to the main home screen. The two buttons flanking it give you access to menus or take you back from whence you came, and while both are easily hidden, they light up nicely with an even glow when called into action.

There are loads of sensors on the front of the phone above the screen, including cameras to track your eyes, a 2MP camera for HD video calling and a proximity sensor for knowing where the phone is in relation to your ear. On the white review unit we had, their presence looks rather ugly either side of the generous earpiece, but on the darker models this is less of an issue.

The other notable addition to the design of the Galaxy S4 is the infra red blaster on the top of the phone. This enables you to control your TV, satellite box, DVD player, amp and even air conditioner. Again, this isn't a new feature, but it works well in practice, and despite being small is powerful enough indeed.

Other than that, there's not a lot more to say about the design of the phone, as it's just a little underwhelming. We know it's unfair to lambast a brand for not overhauling the design every year, but in the One X and the One, HTC has proven that it is possible to offer up a new design each time around and still keep things attractive.

Looking so similar to the Galaxy S3, you can't help but feel Samsung has gone a little too Apple and created something more in keeping with the Samsung Galaxy S3S - a minor update to a great phone to keep those coming out of contract happy that they have a premium phone to upgrade to.

We do implore you to get the phone in your hand before making a judgement though - while it's not got the best design on the market when it comes to materials, it's a big step forward compared to the Galaxy S3 and allows for a grippy and easy-to-hold phone, with a whopping screen inside.

To just dismiss it for being plastic would be doing the S4 a disservice as it has so much more going for it than that, but it's worth remembering that to a lot of people, the way a phone looks is as important as how much RAM it's got on board and how fast the CPU is - if not more so.