Panagraph, a computational photography app that creates David Hockney inspired multi-image mosaics, is now available in select markets (US, AU, NZ) exclusively for the Lumia 1020. The app, which was first mentioned at the Lumia 1020 launch event in New York, uses gestures to manipulate and break up high resolution images for artistic effect.
Microsoft today published the Xbox Video app to the Windows Phone Store, enabling the purchasing and viewing of video content on Windows Phone 8 devices. The arrival of the app completes the initial roll out and relaunch of the Xbox video service and fulfils Microsoft promise to provide a multi-device, cloud-enabled, "three screen" video service.
Nokia Motion Monitor Beta, the latest release from Nokia Beta Labs, allows you to use your Lumia 1520 to track your physical activity, based on steps and motion detected by the sensors built into the phone. The new app, which provides functionality akin to wearable accessories such as Fitbit Ultra and Nike Fuelband, is enabled by new hardware, built into the Snapdragon 800 SoC, that off-loads sensor data processing from the main processor, thus allowing the necessary tracking algorithms to run constantly in the background whilst using very little power.
As part of a relaunch of its streaming music service, Nokia has renamed its Nokia Music app to Nokia MixRadio. The new version of the app also adds a new "Play Me" feature, which offers a personalised mix crafted from your unique music profile. Also new is the capability to share mixes by social network, email, and SMS, and the ability to "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" down tracks, something that helps refine your personal music profile.
Long awaited, long expected, and after gigabytes of texts pondering its absence, Instagram has arrived for Windows Phone. Naturally there are some caveats, notably that this is a Windows Phone 8 only release, and it is a Nokia Lumia exclusive, but for many that will be immaterial. Instagram has arrived.
Microsoft Research has a released Office Remote, an app that lets you control documents open in Microsoft Office 2013 on your PC from your Windows Phone device. The most obvious use case is for controlling a PowerPoint presentation, but it can also be used to move around Word and Excel documents, making it a handy tool for showing off documents in both formal and informal group settings.
Nokia has released a new version of its HERE Drive+ and HERE Drive apps for Windows Phone 8. The update offers improvements to the way traffic information is displayed and used in the app, provides a way to view a route overview of turn-by-turn instructions when commencing a navigation session, and adds a new "find my car" feature.
Do you remember I wrote recently about issues with the Xenon flash on the Lumia 1020, caused by the shutter speed being artificially slow? After doing some tests, I've noticed that the new Nokia Camera (rolling in Nokia Pro Camera and Nokia Smart Cam) is more intelligent with shutter speed when taking typical indoor/party/event shots, with photos appearing crisper and with more natural colours. In tests, clarity and colours now match or exceed those from Xenon-lit shots on the Nokia 808, previously the gold standard here.
Following its announcement this morning, we're all surprised to see Nokia Camera (rolling in Nokia Pro Camera and Nokia Smart Cam) available in the Windows Phone Store already. We link to it below, along with screenshots of the tweaked interface in action and descriptions of the changes. Summary: highly, highly recommended - if you weren't taking lots of useful photos on your Lumias before, you will be after this. See below for why....
Microsoft today formally announced the forthcoming availability on the third major software update for Windows Phone 8 (GDR3). The key features of the update include support for higher resolution displays (1080p), support for more powerful hardware (Snapdragon 800), a new Driving Mode that is triggered where you phone connects to a pre-defined Bluetooth accessory (e.g. car kit), and improved accessibility options (screen reader and associated functions).
