GLOBAL – The multi-award winning Nokia 808 PureView isn’t yet available but it’s certainly attracting a lot of attention. Our PureView technology uses a large sensor to capture greater detail and purer colours than was ever possible before on a camera phone, and allows for a digital zoom that doesn’t lose detail.

A couple of the devices passed – all too briefly – across our desks recently and naturally, the art director scooped them up and sent them off to be photographed before we had a chance to have a proper play with them.

Today, we have the fruits of that shoot to share with you. This is the stunning white Nokia 808 PureView, you can check back next week to see the results in red.

As before, you can click through to see the full-sized image and download a zip file with all the originals.

photographer: Leo Acker

This is where the Nokia Lumia 900, Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 truly shine. Using the Messaging application, text messages and chatting all happen in the same application. So, for me, it doesn’t matter if my Mom messages me from inside Facebook on her computer or from her mobile via SMS, it all comes through as “Mom Harris”. 

Text and Facebook chat messaging, all together
As explained above, I use a variety of messaging methods depending on who is trying to connect with me. When it comes to text messaging or Facebook Chat, Nokia and Windows Phone have It covered.

Using the Messaging application and viewing Threads, you can see conversations split up by the name of the contact you initiated the conversation with.

For example, if you click “New” in Threads, you’re prompted to put in a name. If you’re signed into Facebook on your phone and Facebook Chat is enabled in Messaging Settings, you’ll be asked how you want to reach that recipient.

I love how, in this situation, Facebook and SMS messages are displayed in one window – this creates ease in an already hectic life and puts people at my fingertips, no matter where they happen to be. Also, group SMS messages are all handled in one thread, keeping the conversation in context no matter who replies and when they decide to do so.

How do you enable this amazing functionality of Facebook and SMS messages appearing in one place? Be sure you connect your Windows Phone to Facebook by adding your account (more info below on this below). Then, when you receive messages (either Facebook or SMS), if the person is in your phone’s contact list and a Facebook friend, their messages will be visible in one handy spot..

Email to the rescue

Personally, I have three email accounts to keep track of, consisting of a single work account and two personal email accounts. In my case, my work email is Exchange based and my two personal emails are both Gmail accounts. This mix is easily handled by Windows Phone. 

When I set up a new email account, Exchange, Yahoo, Gmail and Windows Live accounts are handled easily with on-screen menus. For those of you who use IMAP or POP, enter your credentials and server information in the Settings -> Accounts configuration menus.

Each account is given its own Live Tile on the homescreen. The email interface in Windows Phone is threaded and shows all essential information including sender name, subject and time the email was sent.

Separate or linked Inboxes
One capability I find very useful is the ability to see unread message counts in the home screen for each individual email account.  Alternatively, Windows Phone users can link inboxes to that all your email is seen in one application in a more easy-to-use scenario.

The buttons and information provided in the inbox view and individual message views are intuitive and occupy the screen with enough information to be useful, but not clutter the screen.

What do you think about messaging on your Nokia Lumia 900 or Lumia 710 so far?

Image Credit: Ed Siasaco

GLOBAL – Announced last week as part of the host of partnership agreements revealed at CTIA, The Daily Beast app is already here and loaded up on our Nokia Lumia 710 (it will work just as well on other Lumias, of course). And it’s rather good. 

The premise for the original web version of The Daily Beast was that we’re in danger of information overload and it was deliberately edited and written to give the day’s most important news at a glance.

The publication’s strapline is ‘Read This Skip That’. The assumption is that you’ve got five minutes, not five hours.

That’s a great starting point for a mobile news publication. The Daily Beast’s news stories are often no more than a single paragraph, with a link to the full source if you need to know more. There are feature-length essays and more in-depth analysis as well, of course, but if what you’re looking for is a news fix to get you up-to-date over your morning tea break, then this is ideal.

The app’s designers have not simply plugged the RSS feed from the site into a mobile template either.

Instead, full use is made of Windows Phone’s panoramas and pivots to provide fast, fluid navigation with striking graphical style. Subtle animations, great use of typography and varied use of pictures keep pages alive.

Whether this app is the perfect mobile news publication depends on you. Personally, I’ll be keeping The Guardian and the BBC on my phone: the editorial mix is a little US-centric for me. The lack of a landscape mode is another slight niggle. Bear in mind this is version 1.0.0.0.

However, it’s definitely the case that The Daily Beast raises the bar when it comes to the presentation of news content on your Lumia smartphone, throwing down a gauntlet to a lot of other publications. 

Try it out on your Lumia and let us know what you think. It’s free.

GLOBAL – Thirsting for a Nokia Lumia 900 following the knock-out reviews from actual owners on Amazon? It’s our biggest yet slimmest smartphone with the fastest internet download speeds. And here are eight more reasons to lust after a Lumia in pictorial form.

This is actually our second gallery for the Nokia Lumia 900. We published the first set of pictures last month. Here are the rest from the shoot.

As with other recent photoshoots, you can click through each picture to see the high resolution version and there’s a zip file of the whole set that you can download.

Photographs by Leo Acker

Both devices come with Nokia Browser, which reduces data consumption up to 90%, saving time and data costs. The phones offer direct access to Twitter, Facebook and other social networks from the home page. Email and Instant Messaging are also supported to keep the phones’ owners connected to their friends. The Nokia 112 also comes with the eBuddy instant messaging service preloaded.

The EA games will be downloadable from Nokia Store through an icon pre-loaded on the phones. Owners will be able to download the games for 60 days, starting from their first access to the offer. Key titles in the collection of 40 include classics like Tetris^®, Bejeweled^®, Need for Speed™ The Run, Monopoly Here & Now, and SimCity™ Deluxe. After downloading the games, they can be kept on the phone forever.

But it’s not just games. There’s a VGA camera built in so you can capture the moment when you’re out and about. To keep your ears entertained, there’s an FM radio and a media player that can play both video and music. Both support MicroSD cards up to a capacity of 32GB for massive media storage.

Both phones also come with Dual SIM capability, with Nokia’s unique Easy Swap technology allowing for a fast switch without opening up the phone. The phone remembers personalisation details from up to five different SIM cards, so it’s easy to share without fuss or keep swapping so you get the maximum value from different operators. Single SIM varieties of the Nokia 110 – dubbed the Nokia 111 (which is also quad-band) and Nokia 113 – will also be available in some countries.

After all this, you might be asking what the difference is between the two phone models? Good question and it’s fairly subtle. The designs are very slightly different. Also, while the Nokia 110 offers 10.5 hours talktime from a charged battery, the Nokia 112 offers 14 hours. Standby time on both is measured in weeks rather than days: 26.5 days for the Nokia 110 and 35 days for the Nokia 112.

Above: the Nokia 110. Below: the Nokia 112.

Before local taxes or operator subsidies the Nokia 110 will cost around €35, while the Nokia 112 will cost about €38. The Nokia 110 is expected to ship in Q2 2012 while the Nokia 112 will be available from the third quarter. 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, United States – One of the most widely requested apps for Windows Phone is now a reality, with the release today of a dedicated app for LinkedIn. 

Contacts and updates from the work-centric social network were already embedded into the People Hub on Windows Phone, but now you can do all the other things that the network offers, wherever you are. You can send and receive invitations to connect and other messages; you can browse groups, look for a job and follow news from your favourite companies.

The app takes full advantage of the design features of the Metro interface, with a Live Tile to bring you the latest updates and notifications, and a full-featured panorama to move you swiftly around the application.

“LinkedIn delivers important insights and information to help professionals make smarter business decisions everyday — wherever they work,” said Joff Redfern, head of mobile products at LinkedIn. “It’s great to be working with Nokia and Microsoft to now make this experience possible from Windows Phone devices.”

Get LinkedIn in the Windows Phone Marketplace, for free, and boost your business network right from your Nokia Lumia.

Here’s what’s currently on our reading list. Note that we have excluded Nokia-specific blogs from this list: that’s one for another article to itself.

Windows Phone Blog

This is the official blog from Microsoft and it’s the place to go to get the facts on what’s happening on their side. You’ll get news about new software releases, hardware from the whole range of manufacturers and service updates, such as the news that Marketplace has gone live in 22 new countries. 

Windows Phone Developer blog

Another official Microsoft offering, this one is aimed at the people making apps for the platform. It’s a great source of information and inspiration for programmers. Even for non-programmers, it’s well worth keeping an eye on for background information and stories about how apps are designed and delivered.

We found this story about the ways Microsoft is improving the Marketplace a good read, for example.

Channel 9

This is a Microsoft-owned community site that exists as part of the Developer Network. As the name suggests, the content is pretty much all video. Of especial interest to Nokia Lumia owners is Hot Apps, a series of three-minute videos showing the highlights of four new apps. Also check out the Windows Phone Minute series, focused on hints and tips to let you get more out of your phone.

WPCentral

This is the site for those who want all the news on Windows Phone they can swallow. Updating around half-a-dozen times a day, the site picks up on every new app, hardware deal and press release. Notable recently was this in-depth look at the new City Lens beta.

All About Windows Phone

The latest from the same team as ‘All About Symbian’, this site does exactly what it says on the cover. We like the way the site has two separate sections. There’s the main editorial content, which tends to be long-form, thought-provoking and (usefully) opinionated. Then there’s the ‘Flow’ section that captures links of interest from around the Web. Also of especial note is the weekly podcast, rounding up the news and arguing the toss about the latest developments. 

WMPoweruser

This site bills itself the “largest independent Windows Phone community” and we have no reason to doubt that’s true. Again, the site produces an enormous volume of stories about all the latest news, apps and issues in our segment of the industry. We like this site because it seems to snag stories that others might ignore, such as this app from Dutch bank Rabobank.

That’s probably plenty for most people’s attention span. Any other significant sites we should add?

image credit: gualtiero

GLOBAL – Installing a painting app will not necessarily make you Picasso, but there’s no reason why touchscreen smartphones can’t be art tools in the same way that people are writing cell-phone symphonies, shaping smartphone sculptures, shooting movies and taking high quality photos.   

Last year a friend took up smartphone art, and the results were a visual feast – in a finger painting by five year-olds kind of way. Then I discovered that not all mobile drawing came with roughly outlined stick figures, under an orange sun. 

Legendary artist David Hockney has created mini-smartphone masterpieces, using his touchscreen to display them like an easel, and then emailing them out to friends. In fact there’s a growing movement of digital artists using smartphones, and even taking part in international art competitions.   

If the amazing optics on your Nokia Lumia camera can’t fulfill all your creative urges, Windows Phone Marketplace already has a number of apps to add to the artistic experience –

Fantasia Painter has 28 brush sizes, and the facility to either start on blank canvas, or adapt a photo. You can ‘brush’ colour backwards and forwards with a finger, and re-colour photos.

FingerPaint also allows you to start with any colour canvas, or a photo, and lets you customize your brush. If you need extra help you can use the line snapping tool – to straighten things out. And its got good ‘undo’ support.

In you’re less interested in sketching an original masterpiece, an app like Spark Art is fun which animates your drawings with ‘sparks’ and timed effects.    

Smartphone artists offer three main points of advice; first grey out any white background as you would on an easel, make sure you have an app with adjustable brushes, and work by adding layers. If all that fails, use the undo button frequently.

Soon drawing on your Nokia Lumia will seem as natural as sending an email. New Yorker magazine artist Jorge Colombo has used smartphones to draw cover images, and says virtual finger painting is really no big deal – “Imagine twenty years ago, writing about these people who are sending these letters on their computer.”  

Have we become a society of rude people? How do the rules of etiquette apply to the smartphone era?

Dos and Don’ts of mobile etiquette.

1. Do put your phone away during an important conversation.
2. Do schedule some offline time to connect with your family on a daily basis.
3. Don’t be sloppy – check your outgoing messages for misspellings and out-of-context mistakes.
4. Do remember to turn off your ringer when in a quiet situation. 
5. Do respect how others want to get ahold of you – check your voicemails!
6. Don’t jump on others when they misspell a message composed on their phone. Be nice.

Treat face to face experiences as your most important

What’s the most common etiquette sin committed by smartphones owners? To find out, I asked Mindy Lockard, an etiquette expert and consultant. The most abused mistake is leaving your phone on the table during a meal or meeting.

“It’s a matter of priorities”, Lockard says, “when you have your phone on the table you’re communicating to the person in front of you that they are important, until something more important, whether it’s a text message or a Twitter notification, comes up on your phone.”

The key message here is – it’s not acceptable to have your phone visible during a meeting or shared meal, unless in a rare case where you absolutely can’t miss a call (think expectant Dad waiting to hear from his wife who may go into labor at any second).

According to Lockard, you’re constantly communicating your priorities, even when you think the person doesn’t mind, they likely do.

Etiquette rules haven’t been written, yet.

The smartphone era has drastically changed the rules when it comes to etiquette and customs. Lockard said 10 years ago, there was a curriculum for etiquette for landlines which covered how to leave voicemails, customs on calling people back and so forth. Today, with mobile phones, these rules are foreign and don’t apply.

For example, it’s considered rude in some circles to call someone on their mobile phone, without first asking permission or arranging a call time prior. The ‘norm’ nowadays is to use email or text messaging to ask when a good time to ring your friends’ phone.

I then asked Lockard about voicemail. She laughed and said voicemail is the one technology that bridges the traditional phones and newer mobile based communications.  ”It’s important to return voicemails!”, even if you’re not a fan of checking your messages. 

Lockard went on to say that it’s a matter of generational differences. Older people tend to leave voicemails and young people are more likely to text. It’s important to respect how people want to communicate with you.  In regards to etiquette, try to return a voicemail within 24 hours of receiving it.

We’re all victims of autocorrect!

With touch-typing and autocorrect, the intent is to help us finish our words more quickly. Algorithms guess what we’re trying to say. However, we all make mistakes. What are we supposed to do when we send a message that sounds odd or contains mistakes?

Lockard uses an example where she was trying to send an email to a co-worker to say “I’m at my desk”, but instead, she sent “I ate my desk”. 

What are you supposed to do when you fall victim to autocorrect? If you’re concerned about your personal brand, Lockard recommends sending a quick apology message to help fix the mistake.  

This is especially important in situations where our professional and personal contact mix on our phones. You may send a message to a co-worker or manager that’s completely off and can be taken wrong. We must always be aware of how we’re portraying themselves.

And lastly, Lockard says, “A quick proof-read of your outgoing messages can save you a lot of trouble in the end”.

On the flip side, what happens when you notice a misspelling from a friend or colleague. Do you tease them and point it out?  No! It’s best to be kinds and gracious to people. 

Remember when your Mom used to say “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”?  That rule applies in the smartphone world and on social media today.

Careful when uploading photos online

With amazing cameras in our pocket, we’ve become a nation of uploaders. We love snapping photos and instantly uploading them to Facebook or Twitter. However, what happens when others are in your photos? This is even more applicable with taking photos of  children.

“It’s not ok to assume the right to tell someone else’s story”, says Lockard. With photo tagging on Facebook and other ways of identifying faces in photos, be careful when uploading photos that include others. If you’re following etiquette best practices, ask those you’re around if it’s ok to Facebook photos you take. It’s a nice expression of respect to them.

Photo credits: MarkWallace and Yulia

The reviews are typically very well written and reflect the purchasers’ true feelings (good or bad) about a product. We’re happy to see that Amazon.com purchasers of the Nokia Lumia 900 are happy with the phones capabilities and features. It’s fantastic to see that with more than 300 reviews, the Lumia 900 still has a 5-star rating.

Here’s a few samples of what people are saying:

Luis says his bride is really happy with her Lumia 900:

Well, this was not expected. I purchased this phone for the wife but wasn’t sure if she’d like it as she’s not into technology. As of last week, she didn’t want to get on the smartphone wagon as she deemed them too complicated to use. As some reviewers have stated, the OS is so simple that she doesn’t seem to be able to stop playing with it. The biggest benefit for her is that, and I quote:”I don’t have to do anything to see what everyone is doing!, I can just look at the home screen”. Well, good for her. Also, I guess the read-text feature is also a plus as she’s not one to use a blue-tooth device while driving-hence why she never picks up the phone or answer calls until she’s able.

Fast mobile speeds are important, especially to those who like to stream video. Sky Blue, an Amazon reviewer, says:

This phone makes web surfing eminently enjoyable. Video streaming speed is phenomenal — no buffering issue whatsoever! I watched the baseball and news clips without a pause while walking on the street, which is something that does not happen always even with my slow home wifi! These were unthinkable feats with my previous Iphone 4S.

Owners of the Lumia 900 keep saying this phone is the perfect size, as does Bacchus:

The Lumia 900 is absolutely gorgeous and has a huge screen measuring 4.3 inches. The phone feels great in my hand and can be operated easily with just one hand. My HTC Titan with its 4.7 inch screen was a little difficult to use one handed so I really think Nokia hit the sweet spot at 4.3 inches. I do wish the screen sat flush with the bezel like the Lumia 800 because the 900′s screen does protrude slightly which isn’t as aesthetically pleasing to me. This is just my opinion and doesn’t impact the functionality of the phone one bit. Overall this phone is gorgeous!

Lastly, Gary Hsu writes the loves how the Lumia 900 integrates with the rest of the technology in his life:

Integration with Windows Live allows me to easily update my calendar, contacts from my desktop and see it everywhere desktop/laptop/phone. I can also sync Lotus Notes from work to GMail and have it seamlessly integrate into the phone’s calendar and mailbox. Work calendar entries can overlay on the same calendar color coded for work versus personal calendar entry. It’s really a great OS.

As for the Lumia 900, it’s fast/very responsive. The screen is bright with great contrast. Try watching Netflix on this phone at 4G LTE speed on this large screen and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

And if you’re still not convinced that the Lumia 900 is a great phone, then you can always ask an independent expert…

Image credit: TheTruthAbout