Don't obsess over missing out on Fall Creators Update (FCU), you're not missing much - on Mobile, at least. I write this for all the Lumia 640, 735, 830, 930/1520 owners who have been following along at home with AAWP, accessing all the various official production and Insider-level updates. You'll have ended up on Creators Update, but don't lose sleep that you're not on FCU, you're not missing anything important. Really.
I go into some depth when testing smartphone (stills) cameras, I even occasionally test smartphone video capture. But I rarely test the audio that's captured. Whether you're videoing some live music in front of you or just shooting video at a party, the louder, clearer and higher quality the better - audio is often more important than picture quality, I contend*. Here's a quick test of seven contenders, back to back, play along at home and let your own ears decide!
Now, a heads-up, this isn't new, it's just a little Friday 'FYI' mini-tutorial. But Mr Old School here didn't know about this feature in Windows 10 Mobile's keyboard, specifically its Emojis system, so I'm guessing that a few others might appreciate a quick demo too. And if you knew about the built-in auto-search system for Emojis already, then pat yourself on the back!
With all the recent renders and patents seemingly predicting a 'Surface Mobile' this Spring, with double-hinged design allowing use as a phone or mini-tablet, I thought it appropriate to look back into the past - such a double hinged design was seen before on a business-aimed smartphone, back in 2007, just over a decade ago. And thanks to a kind reader, I've got the Nokia E90 in front of my camera again. It's not much actual use in 2018, but it's extra food for thought.
No, Windows 10 Mobile isn't dead. But 2017 has been a tough year for a Nokia & Windows on phones enthusiast, I recap it below, though there are some glimmers of light in the darkness. And what of 2018? I place a few predictions, too.
Twitter this week saw a number of very skillful CAD renders by designer David Breyer of what could be the 'Surface Mobile', ostensibly to be announced in the Spring. He based the renders on the very detailed patent filing by Microsoft a few days ago. The illustrations in the latter were such that we now have an excellent idea of what's coming, though questions remain and I'll have a go at answering them with some educated guesses below.
Now that most of us have been firmly in the digital photography domain for well over a decade, old paper prints are quite a long way in our rear view mirror. Yet, when we do go through old albums (say, pre-2005) which of us hasn't wanted to quickly get favourite snaps in digital form, to be preserved and shared? Here are some tips for doing this with your Lumia or other Windows 10 Mobile phone.
8 versus 8, etc. I've lost count of the number of times readers have asked me to pit the new Nokia 8 against its namesake, the classic Nokia N8, from 2010. However much a monster the latter was, surely 2017 technology can trump it? I'm also including the reigning champion, the Nokia-designed (and Microsoft-made) Lumia 950. This will win out overall, but it's a useful modern age benchmark for the others - I'm genuinely curious to see how a 7 year old phone does!
With the Nokia 8 arriving in for review, the highest specced of the 'new Nokias' (running Android), I wondered which Windows phone to compare it to. I settled in the end for the current Alcatel IDOL 4 Pro, though the Nokia nostalgist in me had me tempted for a while to go really 'old school'. See below for my thinking. And for the full blow-by-blow device comparison.
Now, don't get too excited, I haven't found a hack to get the Start screen to work in landscape mode (though this was planned at one point by Microsoft) - but I've made some pleasing discoveries with some built-in and third party applications. Which is as expected, really - if Windows 10 Mobile can expand and re-arrange its screen output for a large Continuum display then we should expect some sense of that when our phones are rotated and their (horizontal) screen size suddenly doubles.
