Nokia Lumia 1020

Amazing Camera
     I don't know about you but the Nokia Lumia 1020's camera is amazing! If you didn't already hear about it, the phone houses a 41 mega-pixel camera. That packs an astronomically high 4 million pixels into an image. That is just crazy pro quality there. Image provided by WP Central.

The History of the Smartphone

     The smartphone has slowly evolved from clunky interfaces, fat, slow pen enabled phones to slick, fast, slim super phones powered by apps. Originally the smartphone was created to act as a PC and have the portability of a phone. Originally the smartphone was a niche product and picked up by very few until today where the smartphone today has become a status symbol. Many think that Apple was the main innovator of the modern smartphone and has the only viable product. Truthfully Nokia, Samsung, and RIM are the major innovators in this realm and two out of the three are in financial trouble. Come with me on a ride through history of where the first smartphone was born up to today where the market has truly been cultivated.

Conception

     

      The first batch of smartphones were not very small or light, but rather large and bulky. The IBM Simon pictured above was created in 1994. The earliest concept was introduced by a man named Theodore George "Ted" Paraskevos who birthed the early smartphone. Still we follow a very thin line of scattered concepts by various people until we get to the date 1992. The "Angler" by IBM was announced at the now discontinued COMDEX trade show. Two years later the Simon was released to the public in 1994. Of course the Simon phone would never compare to today's smartphones or even some feature phones, but at the time it was in a class of its own. It could send and receive faxes, e-mails, and pages thanks to a stylus guided touch screen. Of course it did not have a fancy 720p HD screen or a Clearback AMOLED screen like most flagship smartphones today, but at the time the monochrome back lit LCD was revolutionary enough. It had a fold out keyboard and was powered by the Datalight ROM-DOS a.k.a Microsoft mobile Disk operating system. It wasn't wildly successful compared to current smartphones with a modest 50,000 units sold at killer prices on contract: $899. It weighed 1 lb 2 ounces which would be clearly unacceptable today for modern standards. Other things like an address book, calendar, world time clock, alarm clock, some predictive touch keyboards, and a few games. Via an upgrade you could even run 3rd party apps! The bummer was only 1 3rd party app was ever developed called Dispatchlt which ran for $300. Of course the price would be so outdated today and now would be at the most $8.00. This may not have been wildly popular, but it was a revolution that has set the standard for the modern smartphone. Next came along Finnish phone giant Nokia with the Nokia 9000 as part of the communicator line. Compared to the Simon the 9000 was more powerful and lighter at 14 ounces. Thus began the evolvement and creation of the smartphone line. Still the majority of the populous did not want these phones because they could do even more tasks with their PDAs. Finally the first phone to be marketed as a smartphone was the Ericsson R3880.
 

     The True Early Years

     Now with a phone on a real smartphone OS the market expanded to include other competing OS like WebOS and Windows CE/Mobile. I can't truly cover every single smartphone, but I can cover the OS that have come over the years and their biggest phones. 

Blackberry

• Originally created in 1999 for the Blackberry pager. 
• Soon took off as a big player in the smartphone race when at once was the "smartphone to get." 
• Now is struggling in 3rd place with 9% market share.
• Biggest market is now Enterprise and government due to unique protected calling feature. 

     

Windows Mobile

• Originally made in 1990 to run on "pocket pcs' a.k.a Windows CE
• Windows Mobile 6 was released around the time of the Iphone 3GS 
• was later replaced by Windows Phone 7 with a new store and a totally new look
• At its highest point in 2007 it had a commanding 42% marketshare

Windows Phone 7+

• Announced in Spain at Mobile World Congress in 2010
• Was meant to replace Windows Mobile 6 but was not compatible with existing phones
• has a measly 3.5% marketshare according to IDC
• has Office apps unlike any other platform which are going to be updated with Office 15

 

iOS 

• announced in 2007 as Iphone OS
• was not released with any 3rd party apps
• homescreen is called Springboard
• 1 a year the OS is updated via OTA update
• 12.4% of all mobile users (smartphones and feature phones) have an Iphone.

Android

• Android OS is a linux based Open Source OS headed by Google
• First Android phone was sold in October 2008 
• Android Inc was originally founded in 2003 by Andy Rubin and was bought by Google in 2005
• Android is the largest mobile OS with 48% marketshare and over 400 million devices
• One biggest problem for Android phones is the update system with over 55% of users still on gingerbread. 

Web OS

• Also based on a linux kernel developed by Palm
• Originally launched in January 2009 on 3 phones by HP the Veer, Pre, and Pixi.
• April, 2010 HP bought webOS for 1.2 billion dollars
• Was originally launched with 18 apps in the store which grew to 10,000
• Current marketshare is 0.6% 

          

What is to happen?

       Well we have seen smartphones evolve from clunky phones referred to as bag phones with limited functions to insanely thin and light phones with high resolution cameras and speedy ARM based processors that can handle games desktops in the 90's couldn't. Nokia recently came out with the Lumia 920 and 820 which features wireless charging from Qi which debuted in the Samsung Droid Charge. The advent of the portrait keyboard is slowly dying as virtual keyboards get better and more advanced. For now the future is unknown, but inevitably things will be thinner, lighter, and more powerful. We just have to wait and see.

HTC comes back to their true love

      Well HTC has been in the Windows Phone bag from the beginning. One of the most popular was the HTC HD2 which could run Android and Windows Mobile side by side. Now HTC still makes the bulk of the Windows Phone and has 1 on every platform and considerably the only Windows Phones on Sprint and Verizon. Still they have not really based all of their hopes on Windows Phone like Nokia did which means they have also expanded their growing Android phones with things like 720p 3D screens, 3D cameras, 16mp cameras, the HTC One series Image chip, and the cool kickstand found on a lot of their phones. Now HTC has gone out and released two out of the three phones they promised The Verge for Windows Phone on three of the major four networks which is rarely done and is reserved for high quality phones like the Samsung Galaxy 3 or the Iphone. So lets look at these carrier trotting phones with looks that are shockingly similar to Nokia and Sony counterparts. 

HTC 8X

     

      So far we have seen the Samsung Ativ S and the Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 been released for Windows Phone 8. As far as flagship phones go the Lumia 920 so far has been the most popular and the 8X is trying to change that. A lot of Nokia fans are already complaining about the similar look of the two phones. I admit they look pretty identical, but the HTC logo and the speaker and beats logo make them look a bit different. As far as specs wise there is not that much that differs mainly due to Windows Phone 8. RAM is 1 GB, has the same 1.5GHz dual core Snapdragon S4 processor, an 8 mp rear camera with LED flash, and the 3 WP 8 required soft keys. Other than the cool colors and the basics like LTE and NFC the similarities stop there. Sadly this flagship phone does not have the same 32 GB storage instead opting for 16 GB of storage. The camera is a lot like the HTC One series high end camera even with the Image chip that makes taking 1080p videos or 8 mp shots fluid and beautiful without the camera bump like the One X and S. What is very surprising is how they are touting a usually overlooked spec feature the front facing camera. I have never heard of a 2.1 mp front facing 1080p camera on a phone before that has a f2.0 aperture for taking wide shots and can reportedly fit 5 people into a shot comfortably. Next is the beats audio. So far HTC has withheld their classic beats branding for Windows Phone and left it to their high end Android phones. Truthfully beats headphones look better than they sound. Any audiophile will tell you that beats are just a bunch of hype and all that they do is turn up the bass not add any clarity or richness. What we have not seen in other beats enabled phones like the HTC One X or the highly popular HTC Rezound is the 2.5 watt amp. Now that means the sound will be loud and adding the beats audio will be great for some electric dub step. The next is the rear camera. It does not have the same high power flash or Carl Zeiss Optics and the fancy pureview floating camera of the Lumia 920, but it has a capable dual LED flash and an 8 mp camera with 1080p recording. Also they added the Image chip which can really process images in a second and beautifully too. Other than that not much else different than any other Windows Phone device.
UPDATE: Thanks to a WP dedicated website (sorry I forgot which one) we have seen what the HTC 8X can do in terms of audio. They played the wildly popular song Someone like you by Adele and not only did the song sound clear and beautiful it was louder than the surrounding noise and the reviewer trying to talk over it! This can really be good news for people who love to listen to music.

HTC 8S 

      
      Well of course we have all seen the HTC One series which has a top line, middle line, and bottom line device. They are X, S, and V. In the Windows Phone 8 case it is unknown, X, and S. How do we know? Well according to the Verge it was from high to low: Zenith, Accord, and Rio. The 8S is code named Rio and the 8X is code name Accord. Anyway that is off topic. The 8S has a different look with specs near Android low end to middle end specs. A dual core 1.0 GHz processor which is more than capable to run Windows Phone is at the core of the machine courtesy of Qualcomm powering a 4 inch 840 x 480 screen with gorilla glass. We have a 5 mp rear camera with AF and LED flash with 720p recording without the Image chip like in the 8X. If you have not already noticed we have beats audio, but there is no 2.5 watt amp which will probably deliver less than optimal sound. It is pretty light at 113 grams battery included which makes it great for small people (no offense). Overall it is a smaller, less powerful variant of the 8X much like the Lumia 920/820 combo. But we have 1 big design difference: the chin. Yes, we have a very odd looking chin on the bottom of the device which differs in color depending on what color you decide to get. I think it provides some very nice flair to it and differs from the usual boring hum drum designs of other smartphones. Even the Iphone 5 has a 2 tone back which is better than the norm. The catch is it oddly shares the design of the Sony Xperia U with the chin and squarish design.
 
I will be glad to overlook this little niggle with design because the 8S has  rounded edges. Still Sony (in a bit of financial troubles) could try to sue HTC over it so we better watch out.

I think that these phones can really help the Windows Phone 8 warhead along with Nokia's and Samsung's offerings.

  One of the best ultrabooks on the market. 

Is the Nokia Lumia 920 looking more and more attractive?

     Well if you have not heard already the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Iphone 5 have been announced and we have seen some completely different opinions. So far the Iphone 5 has been received with a slightly more negative then positive approach especially in social media. Even CNET had to re ask the question because they said, "Since we have heard so many people hating the Iphone 5 is there anybody who wants it?" Others like Windows8update.com founder Onoura Amobi have said, "The launch was one of their worst." On the other hand the Nokia Lumia 920 has had a mildly favorable launch except for the faked video and stills of the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) feature. Still Nokia managed to do some pretty convincing damage control and has not had a truly polarizing affect on the bulk of the tech media or consumers. With the new "slimmer, taller, and faster" Iphone 5 comes three major problems. 

• new "Retina" screen. with the new taller 4 inch retina screen they have to letterbox apps. so unless app developers make new apps to take advantage of the larger screen real estate we will have apps looking stretched on your new shiny Iphone. Still it will not be a big problem to all consumers except if the news media says so as usual. 
• It is slimmer because they have forgone the old 30 pin docking connector for a smaller 8 pin connector that will be another cable that looks virtually identical. If you would like to use the old one now you have to pay up $29 for an adapter. With the Lumia 920's wireless charging I think that problem would be irrelevant. Via an article that I saw thanks to a fan people are raising a fuss over it and it will be a legitimate problem Apple will have to face. I can't wait to see how this will go down.
• The faster has posed a different problem that will be only relevant on Verizon and Sprint's new LTE networks. The Iphone 5 unlike other competitors will not offer support for simultaneous voice and data. Thanks to this article by The Verge we now know that you can only call and use data via Wi-Fi with the Iphone 5 even though every other Verizon 4G LTE phone can. 

Now the Lumia 920 even with a half an inch more screen real estate it has a better screen that can be used with gloves and will have no letterbox problems because WP8 apps are made to work and look good on all devices, it may not be slimmer but we will not have to worry about the 8 pin connector, and we do not know about simultaneous voice and data but we will learn later on. What do you think? Say so in the comment section!!!

Free Windows Phone!!

If you sign up with T-Mobile you will get a free brand new Lumina 710 with a 2 year contract!! Check out the link below for more details

http://phones.microsoftstore.com/ecommerce/phones/?filterbycarrier=59&filterbybrand=1&refcode1=MST_0228_003_STORELUMIA

Windows Phone 7 UI review

Test Subject: HTC Trophy

OS Version: Windows Phone 7.5 Mango

Rating 4.7/5

Performance

     Windows Phone 7.5 is a big step up from 7.0 with over 400 bug fixes and a more beautiful, natural, and ergonomic design. Multitasking is much better in Mango and the overall performance is very zippy. Some of the big things is more apps able to run in the background, message threading, more stable UI, and a whole lot more apps. On the HTC Trophy apps loaded up fast and games ran very quickly. Windows Phone is very minimal and everything is bigger, faster, and better than other mobile operating systems. Internet Explorer 9 is not what you think it is big bulky and always in the way. This time around it is almost non existent and the address bar is at the bottom of the screen and is much improved in quality and speed. Also the entire look and feel is more refined. I prefer this OS to any other and hope to see some of WP7 (marketplace apps) on Windows 8.

Marketplace

     Windows Phone 7.5 brought in a lot of mainstream apps but not enough for many picky consumers. Adobe reader, ESPN, Shazam, Pandora client, Tune In radio, and Iheartradio shows you that they have great music choices for the regular music streamer. There is a ton of Xbox Live games for the true gamer at heart and the average daily Joe like angry birds, Hydro Thunder Go, fruit ninja, and Pac Man Rally. Even at 70,000 apps it is still found lacking in some departments but also has some very unique apps that I found like the free Tom and Jerry app with 100+ episodes and for $3.99 you can get the best outdoors app to date SAS Survival Guide with not only the best selling book in the app it also includes video gallery, comprehensive picture database of edible and non edible plants and animals, and pop quizzes to test how smart you are in the wild! Windows Phone apps are the best looking and quickest loading apps out in the smartphone arena.

Design

     The Windows Phone 7 team must have taken a long time planning the layout of a otherwise unknown Operating System. The important thing about the layout is the ease of use of the WP7 platform. The main thing to know about the design or layout is the unique metro layout. The idea behind the "metro" look is putting the user first. The word metro derives from a subway station where there is a whole bunch of metro or retro stores underneath the ground. The entire metro interface follows you wherever you go even especially in every app. The whole design has a similar character trait with Apple's IOS platform uniformity. In Android you do not get the same experience where ever you dare enter. With IOS it is the same look wherever you go even if it is not a very refined look. Also the only thing able to be customized is the background and all you see is a wall of apps which do not tell you anything except for the few with little red notifications on them. With Windows Phone 7 you get a beautiful Start menu which you can choose to pin certain items and things like the temperature on your weather tile or how many and who e-mailed you all show up without you actually going into the app. The whole fluid minimal design puts the user up front and personal with what you want not just random bloatware. It may have a ways to go but for me it does the job well and beautifully. 

Score 9.5/10