Nokia 808 PureView official camera samples

Below are a set of images that Nokia provided in their press release. Click the images to view the full size. Beware – they are over 8 megabytes each.

Stay tuned for more information on the Nokia 808 PureView.

Source: Nokia

Camera samples from the 41-megapixel Nokia 808 PureView is a post from: The Mobile Fanatics

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According to the Box blog,

Free Space in the Cloud for Android Users

One of our big goals is to make it easy for users to access and manage their content from anywhere, without worrying about storage limitations. That’s why we’re making your Android-powered device even more powerful by giving you 50GB in the cloud. Yup, you heard us right: Now any Box personal user who downloads Box for Android will get 50GB free for life.  

This promotion ends on Friday, March 23, 2012 at 11:59pm PST, so grab your free 50GB on Box by following these steps:

1. Visit the Android Marketplace and download Box for Android
2. Log into your account or register for a new one directly from the app
3. Start sharing and collaborating in the cloud
4. (optional but recommended) Tell the world how you’ll use your 50GB with the hashtag #Box50GB

File upload size is limited to 100MB so don’t expect to upload your full-length movies unless you can get them converted under that size.

Click here to read the article or visit the Android Market to download the app!

Via: The Verge

Android users: Box giving 50GB of lifetime online storage just for installing their new app is a post from: The Mobile Fanatics

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I’m on a quest to put together the “best of” apps list for each mobile operating system. Right now my focus is on Windows Phone, since it is my primary OS for the time being, and I’m kicking off things with the best weather app I can find for WP7.

I’ve reviewed the application in this video posted on our Youtube account. Have a look below or scroll past it for the description and some screenshots.

Video Review

When it comes to weather apps, I usually always have two installed on my device. One is for everyday use to get a quick look at the upcoming forecast or current conditions. I want it to be fast, concise, and have a clean UI. Living in sunny Southern California, I don’t need daily satellite views or video reports as much as other people. I was also looking for an application that takes advantage of the Windows Phone live tiles on the start screen. This makes Weather View the perfect application for my needs on my Nokia Lumia 800.

Weather View has multiple screens that you can easily swipe through. The options are hourly forecast, 5-day forecast, or a more detailed 3-day forecast. In the settings you can configure which view shows up first when you launch the app. I’ve chosen the hourly forecast. This weather app for Windows Phone comes with a live tile that shows you the current conditions in metro style or colored. If you’re like me and like having a consistent look on the start screen you’ll choose the metro style.

Have a look at the developer’s description and some screenshots.

Developer Description

Weather View is a weather application where you quick and easy can see the forecast for up to 10 days. It supports cities and places from all around the world. Yr.no’s complete database is searchable with over 7 million places. Three different weather forecast views are available plus a meteogram and live tile. The application and live tile can be customized.

Screenshots

5-day forecast with times of the day

3-day forecast with descriptive details

Live tile with Metro UI

Live tile with colors instead of Metro UI

Download

Weather View is a free, and ad-free, application found in the Windows Phone Marketplace.

I always keep AccuWeather installed on my phones. It gives me satellite views and more details. It’s rare when I have to open it, but I always have in just in case.

Try Weather View and tell me what you think. Leave a comment below or send me a reply on Twitter @mikemacias.

Best of Windows Phone: Weather View is reviewed with photos and video is a post from: The Mobile Fanatics

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We’re back with another side by side phone comparison! This time we have the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the Nokia Lumia 800. This may seem like an odd pair to compare, but my followers on Twitter are fanatical about phones and mentioned they’d love to see these photos.

Before we get started, I’d first like to mention the screen size difference. The Galaxy Nexus has a 4.65-inch screen, and the Lumia 800 checks in at 3.7-inches. This is why you’ll see such a big difference in the overall size of the phones.

Availability

Galaxy Nexus for Verizon is available at Amazon.com for $99. The Nokia Lumia 800 is available for $499 at Amazon (US unlocked) or free at Carphone Warehouse (Europe w/ contract).

Now for the photos! Enjoy the gallery and stay tuned for our review of both the Galaxy Nexus and Lumia 800.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Nokia Lumia 800 photos

We hope you enjoyed the gallery. Let us know if you have any questions about these devices.

Photos: Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Nokia Lumia 800 is a post from: The Mobile Fanatics

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The highly anticipated Galaxy Note for AT&T is now available at a handful of phone retailers in the US. You can pick it up from AT&T directly for $299, but the best deal on the Galaxy Note we’ve found right now is from Amazon for $249 with free shipping. In terms of Galaxy Note colors, both the carbon blue and the white are available.

What makes the Galaxy Note so special? 

The biggest thing in my opinion, literally and figuratively, is the screen. The Galaxy Note features a 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display with 1280 x 800 resolution that will leave your jaw dropped open for awhile. This makes it the largest screen for a phone on the AT&T network. It runs Android 2.3, but it’s said to be upgraded to Android 4.0 soon.

Galaxy Note specs

Take a quick look at the basic specs of the Galaxy Note:

• 3G/4G/4G LTE connectivity
• Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread OS
• 1.5 GHz dual-core processor
• 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED WXVGA (1280X800) touchscreen
• 16 GB memory, expandable up to 32GB
• 8-MP camera + Full HD 1080p video capture
• GPS navigation
• Wireless-N Wi-Fi
• Stereo Bluetooth 3.0
• Personal/corporate e-mail
•  Battery, standby 10.4 days, talk time 10 hours

Will you be picking up the Galaxy Note?

Best Deal: Galaxy Note for AT&T debuts at Amazon for $249 is a post from: The Mobile Fanatics

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Nokia has a real gem with this design. Taken from the N9, it will be used on all their high-end Windows Phone devices including the upcoming Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T.

Shop: The Nokia Lumia 800 is available for $499 at Amazon (US unlocked) or free at Carphone Warehouse (Europe w/ contract).

Photos: Nokia Lumia 800 black — up close and personal is a post from: The Mobile Fanatics

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One of my favorite Symbian apps for the Nokia N8 is Nokia Drop. This application uses a plugin for Chrome or Firefox that allows you to instantly push images, URLs, map views, RSS feeds, and more – straight from your computers browser to your phone. Today the application has been updated to support Symbian Belle firmware, and a few other changes are included.

Have a look at the changelog:

• automatic update
• silent installation
• new first-time-use tutorial
• Store & Forward

Store & Forward is a feature I’ve wanted to see in this application since it was released. Sometimes your phone isn’t connected to the Nokia Drop service or it’s out of range of a data connection. Before you’d be screwed and had no way of getting the content pushed. Now, with Store & Forward, Nokia can store the information and as soon as you come back online it will be pushed to your phone.

Other features of Nokia Drop:

• Change your phone’s wallpaper*
• Send image to your phone*
• Send public URL to your phone browser* (ie. Nokia Browser or Opera Mobile)
• Send map view  from maps.nokia.com to Maps mobile client
• Send feeds to Nokia Reader or to native browser web feed*
• Install apps, wallpapers, themes, ringtones from Ovi Store without SMS**
• New: Belle client; more automatic, no history list, integration to status panel, first-time-use help flow, Store&Forward, automatic update
• New: Anna +S1: silent installation, first-time-use help flow, store&forward, automatic update

Video demo of Nokia Drop:

To download or learn more about this Symbian application visit Nokia Beta Labs.

Symbian: Nokia Drop updated to support Belle and brings new features is a post from: The Mobile Fanatics

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One of the most underrated tablet brands, in my opinion, is Acer. As a proud owner of the Acer Iconia A500 10-inch Android tablet, I’ve been waiting patiently for the big Android ice cream sandwich update to reach my device officially. Well today Acer finally announced official word on the status of ICS for the A500 and A100. According to a press release, the update will be available in April. Acer says,

The update is being pushed to Acer Iconia Tab A200 customers over-the-air now in the United States and will be completed over the following week. The Acer Iconia Tab A100 7-inch tablet and Acer Iconia Tab A500 10-inch tablet will both be updated in April.

With Android 4.0, the Acer Iconia Tab line will provide new features to give customers more usability and enjoyment from their tablets. Customers will notice the improvements right away—including the faster browser, enhanced app and folder management options, more intuitive navigation, and a completely reimaged design that is more polished with enhanced holographic effects. Plus, customers can more easily customize their Acer tablets and will enjoy improved multitasking and switching between tasks.

This news comes just after I wrote about the A200 update last week and asked the queston: Where is Ice Cream Sandwich for my Acer A500?

Thanks Acer for keeping us in the loop!

It’s one of the main reasons I bought this device, besides the fact that I got it for $220 on Black Friday. Now for the impossible task of waiting until April for the official release!

Source: Acer, Image: Worldwide Tech

Android 4.0 coming to Acer Iconia A500 and A100 tablets this April is a post from: The Mobile Fanatics

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The Nokia Lumia 710 is the first North American release in Nokia’s new Windows Phone lineup. It was made available a few weeks ago on the T-Mobile network with the low price of $49.99 with a 2-year contract and mail-in rebates. That price (soon to be free) places this device in the low-end of the smartphone market, as Nokia hopes to grab first-time smartphone users and people looking for a smartphone at a decent price.

In this Nokia Lumia 710 review I’ll go over the the hardware, touch on the software, camera, and give my thoughts on this device from the standpoint of a longtime Nokia fan. I may come off as a bit harsh at times, but right now I feel Nokia has a lot to prove to US consumers. I expect, especially their lower tier phones, to be of top notch quality and physically better than their rivals. The point of a entrance device like this one is to show the consumer what you’re made of and hope that they become longtime customers.

Does Nokia meet my expectations with the Lumia 710? Let’s start with the hardware.

Nokia Lumia 710 Hardware

Buttons, Sides, and Back With a soft-rubber material on the back of the Lumia 710, it feels great in hand and is easy to grip. The back cover is one piece from top to bottom and when you remove it, which isn’t easy to do, you have access to the battery and sim card slot. At the top of the phone you have the power/lock button, the audio jack, and the USB port for charging and sync. The left side and bottom of the Lumia 710 do not have any buttons or slots.

The back, home, and search buttons are raised buttons that are not the worst, but not the easiest to use. Holding the phone in one and and holding down the back button to reveal open apps can be a bit difficult. I prefer capacitive buttons. Also, these buttons only stay lit for a few seconds during use. This can be a bit annoying. They should be dimly lit the entire time the screen is in use, apart from long videos. In a dark room it’s a pain to press the right button.

On the right side of the phone you have the volume rocker at the top and a dedicated camera button on the bottom. Both buttons are almost flush with the phone making them a pain in the butt to press. Neither have great feedback when pressed so sometimes it’s hard to tell if you pressed the buttons hard enough. This is especially annoying in the camera app when trying to use the two-step autofocus.

As you can see in the images above, the back cover also acts as the volume and camera buttons. If these get worn out those buttons will become useless. Luckily the back cover is easy to change, which is also where multiple colors come into play.

Screen

The Nokia Lumia 710 has a 3.7-inch LCD screen with WVGA 800×480 pixel resolution. I don’t care much for the screen, especially because I’ve been using an AMOLED screen for quite awhile and an LCD is a step backwards, in my opinion. The blacks don’t seem as dark and other colors aren’t as natural. Despite those comparisons with an AMOLED screen (which might not be fair since this is a low budget device), the brightness and sharpness of the Lumia 710 really impresses me.

I don’t see any pixels, and the phone at the highest brightness setting is too high for me. I ended up keeping it on the automatic brightness setting which also helps conserve battery. Speaking of battery…

Battery

This isn’t a bright spot for this device. The Nokia Lumia 710 battery life was very poor. All I ask is that my battery gets me through a full day of work. Often times that didn’t happen, and I was forced to re-charge by 3pm. I know the use of 4G has a lot to do with it – but I’m not one of those who like to toggle my connections. I use the phone the way it is advertised and I expect it to last for a day. It’s not the Windows Phone operating system or 4G that is the problem here, it’s the battery size.

With a 1300mAh battery, you can’t expect to get much out of it. This is one of the reasons why I can’t recommend this phone to a power user. At the same time, my critique of the battery is an issue I have with almost all phones nowadays. Manufacturers need to up the ante or find other solutions.

Sound

Let’s start with the loudspeaker. I’ll admit it has good volume and the clarity is sufficient enough for calls and listening to talk radio. But trying to play music through it won’t bring you much satisfaction. It’s loud enough, but you won’t enjoy the sound quality too much. It’s just a single speaker after all. Sound on the Lumia 710 through the earpiece is not the greatest either. Nokia has always been known for having great call quality, but this time around they went cheap. I’m not saying it’s bad or unbearable, just not what I’d expect from a Nokia – no matter the price. It’s small things like this that consumers remember when shopping for their next phone, and I really feel Nokia dropped the ball here. Music playback is another weak point. The volume is noticeably lower than it should be, and I don’t hear the quality and power that I think should be standard in any smartphone.

Camera

In my opinion this is another weak spot for the Lumia 710. For a company  that’s known to make great cameras, I’m pretty let down here.

I understand this is not a camera-focused device like the N8 or N82, but the photo samples, especially indoors, are unacceptable. I’ve seen much better shots taken for most Nokia Eseries devices, including the 5-megapixel Nokia E72. Shots from the iPhone 4 look great when placed beside photos from the Nokia Lumia 710. I’ve included a few photos samples below, and have a separate article about the Lumia 710 camera coming up soon.

Nokia Lumia 710 Software

Here is a positive area for the Lumia 710. This is Nokia’s first device in the US running Windows Phone, and also my first time using this operating system. I gave it a good spin, using it as my main phone for the past 4 weeks. Overall I’m surprisingly happy with Windows Phone. It has a few problems, if you want to call them that, but for the most part it is ideal for the first time smartphone user or the customer who just wants a phone that works.

I’m going to save the details of my Windows Phone impressions for another article, but here I can give you a few thoughts…

As a phone

All the basic components of a smartphone work great in the Windows Phone OS. Phone dialer, messaging, email, calendar, keyboard, all have a modern look and feel to them. The UI doesn’t slow down even after going through many applications and tasks. Words, subject lines, titles, etc. are big and easy to read. This makes the Lumia 710 easy to glance at when pulling it out of your pocket or the desk drawer. Unlike other operating systems, the fonts are big enough so that you don’t have to bring the phone closer to your face. A quick look with your arm fully extended is enough to see all the info you need to decide if you want to ‘read more’.

Facebook

Facebook integration is the best you’ll find on any phone. It pulls in your Facebook contacts and optionally links them to your phonebook contacts, makes them one. You can see status updates and photos just like they are built-into your phone. Of course if you’d rather not have this close integration you can turn it off completely and just rely on the standalone Facebook application, which also works nicely.

Email

Email works great on the Lumia 710. It connected to my Gmail account and Google Apps account with no issues. Sync works perfectly and the user interface is fast and fluid. Marking multiple items is a breeze and again, the large subject lines means less squinting. I’ll talk more about email on Windows Phone in another write-up, but please trust me when I say this: Windows Phone will give you the best email experience of any mobile OS. That’s right – better than Android and better than iPhone.

Apps, Apps, and more Apps

I have plenty of apps installed on my Lumia 710. Foursquare, weather, Kindle, Amazon shopping, Dropbox, Twitter, ESPN, Evernote, SimpleNotes, Fandango, Flashlight, Flickr, Google Search, Word Feud, iHeartRadio, Lyrics, Netflix, Google Reader, NHL Pro ’12, Maps, Seesmic, Spotify, WordPress, Youtube, and plenty more that I neglected to mention. As you can see all the major apps are there. You can check the Windows Phone Marketplace for yourself to see everything available.

Conclusion

While I may have been a bit harsh on the review the Nokia Lumia 710 hardware, just remember it’s free with a 2-year contract. First time smartphone users or those looking for a phone that ‘just works’ will probably find this an exceptional phone. If you’re a longtime Nokia fan looking to get a deal on a quality Nokia product, don’t expect to get the same hardware experience that you’re used to. This is probably the most cheaply built Nokia smartphone that I’ve ever held. I’ve mentioned this on my Twitter account (@mikemacias) and I got some heat for the comments. Things like, “It feels the cheapest because it is the lowest-priced Nokia smartphone ever”. Well – I’m still a bitter US phone consumer that isn’t happy with the prices in the mobile industry. A 2-year contract for this phone is nothing to scoff at. That contract is expensive in itself, and if you ever decide to upgrade early you’ll pay full price for the next phone. To me, this free phone isn’t worth burning a 2-year contract. But that’s just me, and I’m not the average American consumer. If you just want a free phone and don’t mind the contract, then you will probably end up being happy with the Nokia Lumia 710. In the end it’s all up to the individual needs of the buyer.

Please leave your questions and comments below. Thanks for reading!

Review: Nokia Lumia 710 for T-Mobile is a post from: The Mobile Fanatics

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This deal is for those looking at AT&T for the best prices on top Android phones. Right now the Galaxy Skyrocket 4G takes the cake on the nation’s biggest carrier, and Amazon has dropped the price to $99 with a 2-year contract. The Samsung Galaxy Skyrocket has all the bells and whistles you’d want from an Android device. Good camera? Check! Great screen? Check! Fast processor? Check! Let’s take a look at the details…

Shop: Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

Galaxy Skyrocket for AT&T specifications

• 3G/4G/4G LTE connectivity
• Android 2.3 OS
• 1.5 GHz dual-core processor
• 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen
• 16 GB memory
• 8-MP camera + Full HD 1080p video capture
• 2-MP front-facing camera
• 1850mAh battery

Click here to shop Amazon for the Galaxy Skyrocket.

Be sure to check out all the best Android phone deals on AT&T.

Best Deal: Price of Samsung Galaxy Skyrocket 4G for AT&T drops under $100 is a post from: The Mobile Fanatics

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