I commented the other day that the Rich Recording in the Nokia 808 PureView has the potential to change the way we capture our lives, digitally - i.e. when no scene, no noise environment is off limits and everything comes out accurately, why be restricted by the technology, why not go for it and shoot anything you really enjoy, anything you love. The same applies just as strongly to the PureView zoom - add the two together and your smartphone becomes the ultimate phone for the Digital Creator, whether now on the Nokia 808 on Symbian, in the near future on Nokia Lumias on Windows Phone 8, or on another manufacturer's implementation of similar technology in a year or two.
It seems that Laurie Garratt is not the only teenage Symbian fan out there. Guest writer Vedhas Patkar, 15, also writes in with his assessment of his Nokia 808 PureView, with special focus on the operating system rather than the camera, unusually. In his eyes, Symbian is not only a necessity for this 'PureView' device, it's actually an advantage. Good to see there's a whole new generation of Symbian fan on the rise!
As regular readers will know, I do like to pick head-to-heads which are appropriate - it's maddening when I see another blogger pitch items which are a wild mismatch in terms of form factors, prices and use cases. Here we have three mid-priced smartphones, all offering good value for money, all definitely phone-sized rather than superphone-sized. One powered by Symbian, one Windows Phone and one Android. What are their pros and cons, which comes out on top overall?
This is the second in a series of articles giving real world, honest feedback from Symbian users of varying levels of expertise who have tried moving to Windows Phone in general and the Nokia Lumia 710 in particular. Here Laurie Garratt takes perhaps the archetypal Symbian geek position, despite being a teenager, and approaches the Lumia fairly critically.
The lack of uptake of the Nokia 808 by networks in various countries is something that still provokes controversy. Are the networks mad? Is the device not good enough? Or - and this is a theory that's worth considering - is it actually better for the long term success and reputation of the 808 for it not to be ranged on contract anywhere? Yes, totally mad, but also making total sense, as I shall explain....
This is the first in a series of articles giving real world feedback from Symbian users of varying levels of expertise who have tried moving to Windows Phone in general and the Nokia Lumia 710 in particular. Here Paul Sargeant finds a lot to like in terms of day to day use and loves the hardware, but it's fair to say that it still didn't completely replace his existing N8.
It's all very well having a high end autofocus camera in your Symbian-powered Nokia N8 or 808 PureView - but having a great camera doesn't necessarily mean that you'll automatically take great photos. My last 'photo tips' piece on All About Symbian was three years ago, making it high time I updated my thoughts on taking better shots for 2012.
Twitter and Facebook are a cinch on Symbian, thanks to a multitude of clients. Ditto Linked In. But Google+, a rising social star and Google pride and joy, doesn't have a public API, so there's no way to write a client to access it properly. Thankfully there's a (well hidden) HTML5 version of Google+ that works rather well in Symbian^3/Anna/Belle's web browser. Here's how to get to it and a walkthrough of the interface in use.
I've had surprisingly many requests to include the Nokia N86 in my upcoming Nokia 808 PureView camera comparison review part, comparing the native 8MP with the 8MP PureView mode - and I was preparing to disappoint the requesters, since my comparison phones were the N82, N8 (i.e. staying with the Xenon blood line) and HTC One X. However, never one to let the side down, I popped out just now and shot a sequence of test shots, analysed below. Summary: keep the N86 if you're into snapping flower macros, otherwise the 808 blows it out of the water.
A month ago, I put the (then upcoming) 808 PureView against the (also upcoming) Galaxy S III in tabular, opinionated form. And, having now used both smartphones, reckon I got the verdict spot on. However, the SGS III is a monster form factor, with 4.8" screen, so I thought I'd cast around for something current and cutting edge that's more the Nokia 808's size. Aha - the HTC One S, with almost identical specs to the flagship One X, yet within a more conventionally-sized phone form factor. Read on for my head to head.
