@v4ibhav Good idea. We’ll pass it on to our product team. Check out the new upcoming releases for related updates. #shazamideas

— Shazam Support (@ShazamSupport) February 11, 2013

The brand new Shazam app for Windows Phone 8 now lets you simply tap on the Nokia Music button in the song you’ve tagged, and it takes you the music store where you can buy/download the song.

This Shazam + Nokia Music combo is even more awesome if you live in India, or another country where Nokia Music has a subscription model. You listen to a song, like it, tag it and download it, all for the grand cost of zero.

In addition to Nokia Music, Shazam also gives you options to view the song on YouTube or download it from Xbox Music or get the artist biography or Discography.

If you don’t already have it, get Shazam here.

Similar Posts:

• Nokia’s Ovi Music Unlimited Deserves More Credit Than It Receives
• How To Download Ovi Music Unlimited Tracks From Any PC
• First Look: Nokia Music Store Launches In India
• Windows Live Client For Nokia Available In India
• Jet Airways App For Windows Phone Hits The Store

This application has been available for a while, but despite all this time I didn’t really use it much. My belief was that it was more of a marketing tool for Nokia to get the WOW! rather than an app that could actually be useful in the real world. I was mistaken. While on a recent trip to San Francisco, I didn’t pack for the weather and needed to shop. Since, I had no clue about where I should be headed or which stores were around me, I decided to give City Lens a go on the Lumia 928, and I was impressed.

Once you launch the app, it lets you choose the kind of POI’s you want to see around you.

Then, you can just pan the camera around and see what is where, and how far it is.

But that’s not all, it you put the phone down, but still have it in the landscape mode, it will plot all those places on the map.

Finally, if you turn the phone into portrait mode, it will simply display a POI’s in a list, sorted by distance. Really useful if you’re looking to browse quickly.

Here’s a look at the app on video:

I liked how the application responds to the manner in which you’re holding the phone. very smart and elegant. So the next time you’re in an unfamiliar location, don’t forget to give HERE City Lens a try, chances are that you’ll like what you see.

Similar Posts:

• Demo: Nokia Maps For Windows Phone
• Demo & How To Enable Portrait Mode Browsing On The N900
• Screenshots Of The Portrait Mode On The N900
• A Portrait Keyboard Comes To Witter – Why Can't Nokia Put In One That All Apps Can Use?
• iPhone: How To Open WhatsApp’s Shared Locations In Google Maps

But before we get into the nitty grittiness of which camera is better, or what advantages or disadvantages each brings, lets look at a few photos shot in varying lighting conditions. The first photo will be the iPhone 5, follow by the Lumia 720 and the Lumia 928 in the end. Clicking on each photo will get you the full resolution image.

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

iPhone 5

Lumia 720

Lumia 928

The iPhone 5, just like the iPhone 4S before it have long been hailed as some of the best camera phones on the planet, and it is for good reason. The iPhone rarely lets you down, and the ability to tap to adjust the exposure is a boon, like none other. That really comes in handy when the picture you’re trying to take has a bright light in the background. The pictures produced are generally sharp, but when it comes to low light photos despite the 808 PureView like compression that the iPhone 5 employs, there does tend to be a lot of noise. Leaving HDR on also helps as you get two photos, and get effectively choose between the better looking one in the end.

The Lumias on the other hand both work their magic in the low light. The Lumia 720 with its industry leading f1.9 aperture lets a lot of light in, while the Lumia 928 with its Xenon flash and Optical Image Stabilisation takes a slightly different approach. The OIS means that the shutter can stay open longer and let more light in, minus the camera shake. You cannot unfortunately force the Xenon to fire, it will only be used if the phone determines that there isn’t enough light. So you cannot use it like a fill-in flash when shooting against the sun for example. Fortunately there is a ‘Backlight’ mode in the Lumias that takes care of this problem, but you have to choose it everytime from the camera settings.

While I tried to keep the settings as default most of the time, due to the Lumia 928′s OIS some night pictures would turn up too bright. That means that you must play with the exposure to get that perfect shot.

So based on my experience with these three devices, here is what I think. The iPhone 5 is a great dependable camera that does most things well, the Lumia 720 despite the much cheaper price does an excellent job in keeping up, and at times even manages to beat the iPhone. The first two photos are a prime example of that. The Lumia 928 is the most capable camera of the 3, but not if you only use it in the default mode. However once you start playing around with the settings, it really comes into its own. Expect a much bigger gallery of Lumia 928 images soon.

Any questions, let me know!

Similar Posts:

• Nokia Lumia 925 Camera: Samples & Improvements
• Nokia 808 Photo Samples In The PureView Mode: Reinventing Zoom
• Shootout: Nokia N8 v Canon 550D DSLR
• Nokia Lumia 800 Low Light Camera Samples
• Creative Studio For Lumia Receives A Major Update: Brings Tilt Shift, Colour Pop, Collages & More

While the device is seen running some Samsung software like SVoice that’s not been available publicly, it could easily be a case of the latest Tizen ROM being run on the developer device. The idea of Samsung’s first commercial Tizen device looking so much like the developer device doesn’t really appeal to me.

 Changing the name of the device is easy too.

Many thanks to Leon Anavi of Opencode Systems Ltd. for the heads up!

Similar Posts:

• A Detailed Look At Tizen on Samsung’s First Prototype Device
• Tizen Conference Schedule Announced
• Tizen 2.1 (Nectarine) SDK & Source Code Released Ahead Of The Tizen Developer Conference
• The First Tizen Developer Conference Takes Place In San Francisco: May 7-9
• Running Android Apps On Tizen

The Tizen Store is pretty much everything you expect from a modern App Store, however it does have a couple of novel features. One of them is the ‘Discounted’ section. So if any app is on sale, it will automatically show up there. The performance seemed smooth, and the UI kind of reminds of the Nokia Store on the N9, and parts of Google Play.

Here is a detailed look at the Tizen App Store running on a a Tizen phone:

Similar Posts:

• Running Android Apps On Tizen
• Video: Running Android Apps On Tizen With Polaris
• Tizen: State of The Union
• A Detailed Look At Tizen on Samsung’s First Prototype Device
• Demo: Tizen Running On A Laptop

The keynote did manage to answer a few of those questions, albeit in not complete detail. Tizen devices are coming this year, but Jong-Deok Choi, EVP, Samsung won’t be more specific. In terms of operator support, Roy Sugimura from NTT DOCOMO has stated that they will be carrying the first Tizen device in the second half of this year. Frederic Dufal, Devices Technical Director for Orange has also announced that they are committed to launching a Tizen project this year (end of summer, Europe only).

• The big change from Tizen 1.0 to the current 2.1 release is the ability to run native apps. Samsung has folded Bada into the platform, although this was not specifically mentioned in the keynote.

• The Tizen Store has been announced, and is open for app developers to submit their apps. Users cannot access it yet.

• Tizen 2 also has an inbuilt security layer, McAfee has contributed to this. 

• A Tizen App Challenge has been announced. Submissions will be accepted June 1 onwards, and a total of 4$ Million is up for grabs. 

• Also big news for gaming enthusiasts, some of the top gaming engines like Unity, Havok, Game Salad are coming to Tizen. 

• NTT DOCOMO will make a Tizen device available in the second half of the year.

• So will Orange. They like Tizen because of its open nature, and HTML5 focus. The launch will be a part of the ‘back to school’ campaign that will start at the end of summer. Europe only for now.

• We also got a look at the in vehicle application of Tizen, Jaguar | Land Rover wants to push the boundaries of what people expect from a in-car Linux based system. A competition to generate ideas, UI elements and functionality is also under way. 

• Finally, the next major release of Tizen will be the big 3.0. Expect this release in 2014 devices. The roadmap for the release isn’t complete yet, and the development will be done openly on Tizen.org. They encourage platform developers and other open source developers to contribute. 

•  There is a tremendous amount of push to bring big name developers to Tizen. Facebook, Angry Birds were named in the keynote. I saw demoes of Gameloft’s Asphalt 7 and Real Golf running on a Tizen reference device, along with games based on the Unity engine, games from Sega, and Opera Mini.

Similar Posts:

• Tizen Gets An Asia Summit: December 8-9, Beijing
• Tizen Conference Schedule Announced
• Running Android Apps On Tizen
• Video Demo: Tizen App Store Running On A Tizen Phone
• The First Tizen Developer Conference Takes Place In San Francisco: May 7-9

The way this works in that they have a solution called PAG (Polaris App Generator) that lets the developer upload an Android app (APK) and it converts it into a TPK file that can be installed on the Tizen device. Then to run this modified TPK, you need to have the PAP (Polaris App Player) installed on the phone. Once that’s present, the modified TPK that you just installed will launch inside the PAP, and behave like a native Tizen app.

The company is giving away the Polaris App Player to users for free, in the hope that developers will use their service to deploy their Android apps to Tizen, thus making them money. While I have my doubts about Android Apps ‘officially’ being supported on Tizen, Infraware has a chance of succeeding as they don’t need to be a part of the platform, and have a business model as long as the developers and users are on board. Here is a video of the implementation in action:

While there is a noticeable slow down while running high performance games, most apps should run fine. Although, there will always be the issue of not all UI elements working properly because the app was originally made for Android in mind. The current implementation is based on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, so that means none of the ICS and up only apps, will be available. According to the company, PAG can port 80~90% of Android apps to Tizen app without re-compiling. Some examples include games such as Angrybird series, Counter Terrorist, Treasure Detective, Fruit Slice, Drag Racing, Shut Bubble Deluxe, Cut the Rope Free, Air Hockey etc.

Similar Posts:

• Running Android Apps On Tizen
• Tizen: State of The Union
• Video Demo: Tizen App Store Running On A Tizen Phone
• Tizen Conference Schedule Announced
• Tizen Gets An Asia Summit: December 8-9, Beijing

At the Tizen Conference 2013, I got a look at Tizen running on Intel’s Ivy Bridge ultrabook. While the PC release of Tizen is still some time away, the following video should give you a good idea of what to expect in terms of the UI and functionality.

The free to download Tizen images for laptops will be made available through Tizen.org website. While the best platform to run that release would be Ivy Bridge and up, I’m told that work is being done to support older chips and netbooks (in a limited way) as well.

(YouTube link)

Thanks to Patrick from Intel for the demo.

Similar Posts:

• Tizen Gets An Asia Summit: December 8-9, Beijing
• Running Android Apps On Tizen
• A Detailed Look At Tizen on Samsung’s First Prototype Device
• Tizen Conference Schedule Announced
• Tizen: State of The Union

The Lumia 928 while looking different from the Lumia 920 (more square than rounded, less colour options) is still very similar to it. Most internals are still the same, a 1.5 Ghz dual core Snapdragon S4 chip, 1 GB of RAM, NFC, a 2000 mAh battery, a 4.5″ Gorilla Glass 2, super sensitive Pure Motion HD+ display, 8.7 MP Carl Zeiss camera with optical image stabilisation, HERE apps, Nokia Music and other apps like Smart Shoot, Cinemagram camera lenses.

Where the Lumia 928 improves is:

• Despite packing a Xenon flash, is only 10.1 mm thick.
• 3 HAAC mics for great audio capture no matter where you’re shooting.
• A louder speaker on the back (although the quality can be iffy at full volume).

(YouTube link)

In case there’s something you’d like me to cover sooner, please let me know in the comments section below.

Similar Posts:

• With The Lumia 928, Nokia Concentrates On HQ Sound: Both Recording & Playback [+Other Specs]
• Nokia Lumia 928 For Verizon Is Official: On Sale May 16th
• Camera Shoot Out: iPhone 5 v. Lumia 928 v. Lumia 720
• Impressive Lumia 920 Optical Image Stabilisation Demo: Aircraft Landing
• Extreme Lumia 920 Helicopter Video Test: HTC 8X v iPhone 5 v Galaxy S3

• Enhanced Web framework that provides state-of-the-art HTML5/W3C API support including new features, such as Content Security Policy 1.0 and Navigation Timing, and relevant specification updates
• Web DynamicBox runtime framework supporting the embedding of Web DynamicBox in viewer-like applications (e.g., home screen application)
• Enhanced Web IDE providing WYSIWYG design environment, Chrome-based JavaScript inspector, and JavaScript log viewer
• Native IDE providing a project wizard, WYSIWYG design environment, unit test tool, and dynamic analyzer

According to the Conference schedule, the main keynote with Imad N. Sousou, VP of Intel Software and Services Group, GM of Intel Open Source Technology Center, and Intel Co-Chair on the Tizen Technical Steering Group and Jong-Deok Choi, Executive VP of Samsung, and Samsung Co-Chair on the Tizen Technical Steering Group happens on Thursday morning, and that’s when you can expect to hear more concrete details about where Tizen is headed.

Samsung has already publicly stated that commercial Tizen devices are coming this year, and its Bada OS has since been folded into Tizen. The official conference hashtag is #TizenDevCon but over the years people have been know to use #TizenConf as well.

Similar Posts:

• Tizen 2.0 Magnolia SDK and Source Code Released, Conference To Follow
• Tizen Conference Schedule Announced
• The First Tizen Developer Conference Takes Place In San Francisco: May 7-9
• Tizen Gets An Asia Summit: December 8-9, Beijing
• MeeGo Makes Way For Tizen, An All New HTML5 Centered OS

At the time of publishing, the Lumia 520 (in all its coloured variants) was out of stock. Cyan, Black and Green colour variants of the Lumia 620 were out of stock, white and yellow were available with a 4 day shipping time, while a Magenta Lumia 620 would take 10 days. No variant of the Lumia 720 would be delivered in less than 7 days as well. If the Lumias were as successful as the online store seems to suggest, Nokia’s is well on its way to a blockbuster quarter.

The thing is that if you call a local Nokia retail store, you’ll see that these devices are very much in stock and the local vendor will probably give you a better deal on the price as well. The thing about buying a phone is that once you decide that you want a device, you want it in your hands that very second, and an online store telling me that I’ll have to wait for a week is just ridiculous.

What I don’t get is why doesn’t Nokia India leverage its retail presence? They have a store in almost even nook and corner of the country, and each of those stores is a possible distribution point.

Here is how things could work.

• You place an order.
• Nokia looks up the location from which it was placed, calls its local distributor/biggest store in that area.
• The distributor is given the address of the customer, and a delivery boy immediately leaves for that address.
• The device is delivered in a matter of hours.

While I understand that managing something like this can be a logistical nightmare, but that’s where customer service comes in. When you are no longer the incumbent, you have to do things like these to shake up the market. This is what the challenger mindset looks like. Don’t do it in the smaller towns, justs start with the metros. You obviously cannot promise same day delivery, but that will allow you to say something like “Delivered in o-4 days”, rather than the disappointing ”Delivered in 4 working days”.

The advantages of something like this are immense:

• Same day/next day deliveries make a lot of people happy.
• Nokia saves on shipping costs
• The local Nokia Priority Stores that are now either ceasing to be sole Nokia stores, or worse converting to Samsung Smartphone Cafes get a piece of the online sales pie.
• Positive social media chatter. People who receive their devices the same day will only have good things to say on Twitter and Facebook.
• People finally start considering Nokia’s official store as their goto portal, and Nokia’s reliance on selling through Flipkart etc is lowered.
• I could go on, but you get the idea.

Dear Nokia, take this up like a pilot project, and see where it goes.

Similar Posts:

• Lumia 800 Ads Take Over London’s Heathrow Airport, Yet Nokia’s Store There Shuts Down
• Nokia 808 PureView Goes On Sale In India For 29999 [Updated]
• Nokia India’s Online Store Launches In Partnership With Indiatimes; 7 Day Return Policy
• Nokia Lumia 800 Pre Orders Start In India
• Nokia PureView 808 Goes On Sale In India For Rs. 33,899

• Blur: Focus Object, Radial+Tilt Shift

Focus Object lets you manually draw around the subject you want to highlight and the blurs the background.

Radial mode does the same thing, but gives you a circle you can work with.

Tilt Shift on the other hand keeps everything between two parallel lines in focus and blurs the rest. You can also set the blur level.

• Colour Pop – Turns the photo into black and white and then highlights the colours you choose.

• Collage Mode – The first photo you choose is the biggest, and then you can keep adding photos. There is sadly no way to choose between different frames yet.

Creative Studio is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. Thr best part about this update is that it works flawlessly on the slightly lower spec-d, Lumia 520, 620 and 720 as well.

Similar Posts:

• Demo & How To Enable Portrait Mode Browsing On The N900
• Nokia Lumia 925 Camera: Samples & Improvements
• Hands On With The Symbian Belle Powered Nokia 603
• New Nokia N97 Promo & Official Pictures In Black
• Ansel-A Is A Powerful Photo Editor For The N900

The Lumia 925 features an industry first, 6 part camera lens that along with improvements in the imaging algorithms promises better, clearer and sharper images than before. During the keynote, Nokia’s Jo Harlow specifically mentioned even better low light and ‘day light’ photos. This was perhaps in response to the criticism than the Lumia 920 has faced that its good light performance is average, and some shots tend to be slightly less sharp than what is expected.

Further, the Lumia 925 also becomes the first Nokia to ship with the ‘Smart Camera’ kit. The Smart Camera lens brings a number of features to the Lumia range that devices like the HTC One, and the Galaxy S4 pack. Basically, the app takes 10 five megapixel frames over the course of 2.5 seconds, and gives you the following options:

• Best Shot: The device automatically determines what it perceives is the best photos out of the lot, and presents it to you.

• Action Shot: This mode lets you super-impose the ‘action’ into one single photo, and then you can even highlight one part for that extra pop. Examples below, click through for the full resolution shot.

• Motion Focus: While best shot and action shot like features are available elsewhere, Motion Focus seems to be a Nokia exclusive for now, and adds a lot of drama to the photo. It creates motion blur in the background, making the subject look as if it was moving very fast. Taking such a shot on a DSLR is possible, but involves a lot of skill.

• Change Faces: This feature has been available on Lumias for a while, but now has been brought under the Smart Camera umbrella. It recognises each face in the photo, and then lets you replace it from any of the other 9 shots. Very handy for taking portraits and group shots, no more retaking a shot because someone’s eyes were closed.

• Object Removal: You’re taking a photo in front of a monument, someone walks by and ruins the shot. With this mode, you can make that person disappear.

The good thing about the Smart Camera lens is that unlike other lenses for Windows Phone, you can directly launch this application by pressing the camera button, making it your default shooting mode. Like I said earlier, the 6 part lens and the improved camera software promise even better photos, and another example of this push is the new ISO range that the Lumia 925 brings. Instead of going from 100 to 800 like it was with the Lumia 920, it now goes upto 3200, letting in 4 times more light.

While in the Smart Camera mode, you are restricted to 5 MP shots. If you want to use the full resolution of the 925′s camera, shooting in the default WP mode will also not disappoint if these images are anything to go by. Click to get the full resolution shot.

Since the Lumia 925 camera software isn’t final yet, Nokia isn’t letting people take their own samples from the prototype units. All photos above have been published by Nokia themselves.

Further reading:

• The Lumia 925 Camera Demo courtesy Nokia’s Ari Partinen – The Nokia Blog.
• Videos of the Smart Camera in action – Nokia Conversations.

Similar Posts:

• Camera Shoot Out: iPhone 5 v. Lumia 928 v. Lumia 720
• Full Resolution Nokia 808 PureView Camera Samples
• Nokia N8 Review: Camera – Includes 75 Photo Samples
• Nokia Lumia 800 Low Light Camera Samples
• Nokia 808 Photo Samples In The PureView Mode: Reinventing Zoom

I love these video highlights, they look great, have great animations and the best part is that they are automatic. If you don’t like the highlight that’s been created, just hit shuffle and the One creates another one. You can also choose from a bunch of themes. The result is videos like this or this.

Fortunately, you can use the HTC One to create Highlights from pictures and video that you have taken from other devices as well. For example, I created a Highlight from photos that I have taken from an iPhone in 2012. For good measure I also threw in a video taken on a Nokia N8. Here’s how:

• Attach your HTC One to the computer in the ‘Mass Storage’ mode. (I’ve used AirDroid to connect wirelessly).

• Navigate to the Pictures folder on the phone, and create a Folder. Name it whatever you want the name of the event to be. Copy the photos and videos into it. Note that only .mp4 files are supported. The Gallery doesn’t see .mov files.

• On the phone, the photos and video will show up as an ‘Event’ in the Gallery app.

• Open the event and the video highlights will be waiting for you. If you like what you see, you can directly share to HTC Share, YouTube or any other destination that you may like. If not, hit the shuffle button, play around with the themes etc. You can also save the video to the phone without sharing it to an online service. An average video highlight is 1280 x 720 and weighs in at 12-14 MB in size.

Enjoy.

Similar Posts:

• Editorial: We Need Better Photo Sharing & HTC’s Zoe Is Pushing The Envelope
• Create Custom Themes Online
• How To Protect Files On Your S60 Device
• The Way We Live Next
• A Great Free Theme Site!

But that’s not all. I’m glad to see Nokia also invest in high quality sound output from the phone. Nokia claims that the Lumia 928 features “one of the most advanced loudspeakers available for smartphones”. Inside the Lumia 928 is a powerful digital amplifier that is “combined with real-time measurement and control, resulting in unmatched clarity and loudness”. I like the sound of that.

We’ll get an idea of how true this is very soon, but if the speaker grill on the back is anything to go buy, Nokia’s claims might not be far from the truth. Nokia’s made of the best sounding phones in the past, the Nokia X6 and the 5800 Xpress Music come to mind. Here’s hoping the Lumia 928 continues that tradition.

While the cheaper devices generally have insanely loud speakers (think Xpress Music Nokias), great sounding high-end smartphones should be also be a priority for all manufacturers. Hopefully Nokia’s May 14 Lumia announcement for the rest of the world will feature similar kit as well.

Before you leave, here is the Lumia 928 spec sheet.

Hat tip to @WhatTheBit for the link to the Lumia 928 reviewer’s guide. 

Similar Posts:

• Lumia 928 For Verizon: Unboxing & Overview
• Nokia Lumia 928 For Verizon Is Official: On Sale May 16th
• Controlling Music With A Shake!
• Notes From Nokia India’s Lumia Launch: Mid December Availability, New Retail Experience To Boot
• Video: Lumia 900 v Lumia 800, Big Is Beautiful

The Lumia 928 builds on the 920, but is slightly more squared than its elder sibling and also manages to pack 8.7 MP camera with a Xenon flash while remaining relatively thin. There’s wireless charging, a 4.5″ display, three high-audio-amplitude-capture microphones to give you great audio recording capabilities. There’s also a built in LED light for use during video capture.

The Lumia 928 will be available in Black and White for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate with a two year contract. Nokia also claims that the Lumia 928 will have one of the most advanced speakers, and after the HTC One, its good to see Nokia pay attention to this aspect of the phone as well.

Similar Posts:

• With The Lumia 928, Nokia Concentrates On HQ Sound: Both Recording & Playback [+Other Specs]
• Lumia 928 For Verizon: Unboxing & Overview
• Nokia N8 Review: HD Video – Samples Across All Conditions
• Video: Lumia 900 v Lumia 800, Big Is Beautiful
• Hands-On: The Nokia Lumia 920, The Best Lumia Yet

While its 1720 mAh battery might not be enough to completely charge some of the higher end devices like the Lumias or Samsung’s Android phones, but the DC-18′s 1720 mAh is enough to help get through a day. If you own a Asha device, you’ll be able to get a full charge. The DC-18 joins its elder sibling the 2200 mAh DC-16 as part of Nokia portable charging solutions.

The DC-18 features a sliding microUSB connecter, and everytime you slide it in or out, the four LED lights on the device light up to tell you how much juice is left inside the battery pack. The video demo below should give you a better idea of how this works:

The DC-18 will hit stores in June/July at an estimated price of 15 Euros without taxes. In India it is expected to launch at around the 1000 INR price point.

Note: The device in the video features LEDs that look slightly different from those in the press photos, perhaps because they were prototypes.

Similar Posts:

• Hands On: Nokia DC-16 Portable Charger
• Nokia Asha 501 Demo Video: Things You’ll Want To Know
• Nokia’s Asha Lineup Gets A Reboot, As the Asha 501 Is Announced In Delhi
• Initial Impressions Of The N85 & N79
• The N96 – Positioning In The Nseries

At the 99$ price point you get a capacitive display, that is responsive to the touch like no other device in low end of the spectrum. Add to that the N9 like intuitive UI, Nokia’s services (Nokia Music is coming as well), social network integration and the wide variety of popular apps that will be available at launch, and there is very little to not like about this nifty little device.

(YouTube link)

Many thanks to Pranav Shroff of Nokia India for the demo. I shall also be publishing my own hands-on video from the launch event, so look out for that as well.

Similar Posts:

• Nokia’s Asha Lineup Gets A Reboot, As the Asha 501 Is Announced In Delhi
• Nokia Music Goes DRM Free In India & Why It’s a Huge Deal
• Video Demo: Nokia DC-18 Portable Charger – Compact, Trendy & Economical
• How To Sync Your Facebook Friends’ Profile Pictures & Birthdays To The N8 & Other Devices
• Pre-Alpha Meego Tablet UI Gets Demo'ed In HD: Impresses

The Asha 501 represents a departure from the existing Asha design language, and is also based on a brand new Asha platform, Series 40 is no more. Now that Symbian is out of the picture, Nokia had been using Series 40 to bridge the gap between Windows Phone and their entry level phones, thus blurring the definition of a smartphone.

The Asha 501 is backed by solid specifications:

• A brand new Asha platform (everything is swipe based)
• A 3 inch AMOLED capacitive screen with a 320 x240 pixel resolution
• A 3.2 MP camera
• MicroSD card support, ships with a 4GB card inside
• FM Radio, WIFI.
• Swappable back covers, Lumia inspired design
• Xpress Now
• Dual SIM version as well, lets you swap SIMs without a reboot.
• 3G version coming later
• Dimensions: 99.2 x 58 x 12.1 mm; 98 grams
• Available colours: Bright Red, Bright Green, Cyan, Yellow, White and Black

All this ensures that the Asha 501 feels like a lot like a smartphone. Asha and Series 40 have supported apps for a while now, with Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp support being its bread and butter. When Nokia killed MeeGo, the promise was that the lessons learnt from the N9 would live on, and we finally get to see that implemented across the board with the new Swipe based UI on the Asha 501.

The UI is controlled with swipes and the only physical button is a back key. On screen the UI is split into a app launch screen and ‘fastlane’. Fastlane is the N9′s notification screen on steroids. The Asha 501 also benefits from Nokia’s acquisition of Smarterphone, and features an impressive talktime of 17 hours and even more cool 48 days standby.

The Asha 501 should have access to 90% of the Series 40 touch apps at the time of sales start. EA and Gameloft games will be available as well. The phone will come pre-loaded with the Nokia Xpress Browser, and a brand new Xpress Now feature that presents local content in a good looking UI, think Flipboard but without the fancy animations. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube etc. will also be available.

The Asha 501 will retail at $99 without taxes, a very impressive price point indeed. It will hit stores in India come June.

Similar Posts:

• Nokia Asha 501 Demo Video: Things You’ll Want To Know
• The Nokia N9 Unboxing & Overview: In A Class Of Its Own
• Video: Nokia Lumia 800 Hands On
• Facebook Beta For Windows Phone Arrives, Exactly What Was Needed
• Both Foursquare & YouTube For Windows Phone Receive Major Updates

The YouTube app is now an actual app, as opposed to the mobile website wrapper than the old ‘app’ was. You now have YouTube in the Metro UI, can sign in with your account, have access to playlists, play videos under the lockscreen if you just want the sound etc.

The official feature list:

• Pin videos, playlists, channels, and even search queries to Start as Live Tiles for fast access. The tile flips to show either the latest video from your subscriptions or the most popular one.
• A new and innovative playlist design gives you easy access to videos using a touch-friendly filmstrip.
• Just want to listen to a video? It now plays in the background even when the screen is locked.
• You can share videos to popular social networks, and via email and text.

The app has just been pushed to the store, and at the time of publishing was not yet available here in India. WP 8 only for now, but an update for WP 7.8 is coming in a ‘few weeks’. Windows Phone store link.

Onto Foursquare. We first got wind of this upcoming update at the Mobile World Congress. The app has been jointly developed by Foursquare, Microsoft and Nokia. The big 3.0 version is compatible with all Window Phone 8 devices, but has additional augmented reality features for Lumias.

“The new app has all the best Foursquare features, each tailored for the Metro UI — beautiful maps, great insider tips, trending places, and more. Some of the Lumia models even integrate Foursquare data into their augmented reality experience (!!!), so it feels like you’re in the future when you’re finding cool places and money-saving deals.

Apart from the refresh and the other speed and stability improvements, the welcome functionality is that Nokia Maps is nicely integrated with the app. Want directions to a particular location? Just hit ‘get directions’ in the app, and HERE Drive opens up. WP 8 only for now, but an update for WP 7.8 is coming. Windows Phone store link.

While Windows Phone has excellent third party alternatives for both these apps, MetroTube for YouTube and 4th & Mayor for Foursquare, its augurs well for a platform when the official apps keep the third party developers on their toes.

Similar Posts:

• Sneak Peak At The Upcoming Book My Show & Times of India Apps For Windows Phone
• Sym4square: The Symbian Foursquare App Is Now Available For Download
• HERE City Lens Is Actually Useful & A Great Travel Companion
• Demo: Nokia Maps For Windows Phone
• Does Windows Phone Really Have An App Problem Anymore?