After taking a break for a few weeks, the previously leakedNokia Lumia 929 for Verizon appeared in live photos yet again. This time around, the yet to be announced Windows Phone powerhouse showed up dressed in white attire.
Nokia Lumia 929 (click to enlarge)
Alongside the leaked photo, alleged information on the battery of the Nokia Lumia 929 made the rounds. The device will reportedly hit the shelves with a 2,510mAh unit on board.
The previously rumored specs of the Nokia Lumia 929 include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC, 5” 1080p display, and 20MP PureView camera (we’ve seen an alleged sample from it already). The handset will have 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of built-in memory to go with a microSD card slot.
The latest report suggests that the Nokia Lumia 929 will launch on Verizon in the second half of December. Previousrumors about November unveiling have obviously failed to materialize.
The LG G2 received favorable reviews from critics as well as customers. Now that Google has announced the Android 4.4 KitKat update, naturally everyone who bought one is wondering when will they be receiving the update.
According to Mobile Syrup who contacted the Canadian division of LG, the company will be providing the Android 4.4 build to all the carriers in Q1, 2014, near the end of March. From then onwards it depends upon the carriers how quickly they start rolling out the updates. Those are using unlocked version of the handset can probably expect to receive the update a bit sooner.
The LG G2 is currently one of the best Android smartphones available on the market with top of the line specifications across the board. The software has been criticized for being over the top due to the many features LG tends to add in its phones. Although the KitKat update likely won't be fixing that problem, you would get all of the under the hood improvements that Google has introduced. Too bad there is going to be a long wait for it.
Black Friday is now behind us, but the Cyber Monday deals are already starting to come in. BlackBerry is among the first to give you a cool smartphone promotion, letting you have its former Z10 flagship for just $199.
That’s the price for SIM-free BlackBerry Z10 with no commitment to any carrier. Shipping is also free, so the price announced is final (no taxes included, of course). To take advantage of the promotion you need to use the promo code BFEMAILZ10 at checkout.
The BlackBerry Z10 didn’t quite manage to become the best seller its maker so desperately needed and it’s certainly not a device without its flaws, but it’s hard to argue that at $199 contract-free it offers excellent value for your money. If you are willing to stray off the beaten path and try a non-mainstream operating system this seems like a perfectly good chance.
The deal is only valid until Monday, so make up your mind quickly. If you decide to go for it, just follow the source link to place your order. And if you are still sitting on the fence, feel free to check out our review – it should answer all your questions about the smartphone.
Apps open up a whole world of video editing possibilities.
Think of the best smartphone movies and, at best, you'll be imagining that video you once took of your drunken friends trying to push over a cow before falling into a ditch. At least it was in HD.
But you should realise that your smartphone is silently weeping, hating you for not realising the untapped potential in its high power video camera, as quality and affordability have now aligned in such a way that almost anyone can become a filmmaker.
Don't believe us? Just look at the number of smartphone film festivals that have popped up, from Festival Pocket Films in France, to the iPhone Film Festival and Mobil Film Festival in America and the Olleh International Smartphone Film Festival in South Korea. All of these and more are dedicated to films shot largely or entirely on smartphones.
And filmmakers have already found some success in the field. The first feature length smartphone film, 'SMS Sugar Man', was shot back in 2007 on a Sony Ericsson W900i and since then there have been several other full length movies and numerous shorts and music videos.
These include 'Olive', which was shot on a Nokia N8 with a 35mm zoom lens and was the first ever smartphone film to get a cinema release.
Also of note is Park Chan-wook's 'Night Fishing' short, which was shot on an iPhone 4 and won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival and 'Departure', a film shot on iPhones by three different directors in three different countries.
There's clearly an appetite for using the medium of a smartphone to create a feature length piece of cinematic glory, but surely a 'proper' camera makes more sense?
Power within
It might seem weird to think that a filmmaker would choose a mobile for their movie, particularly someone established like Park Chan-wook, who's better known for his award winning revenge thriller 'Oldboy', but with the phones we have today it's not that much of a surprise.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for example can shoot 1080p video at 60fps or 2160p video at 30fps and soon more phones are likely to have 4K cameras, allowing for higher quality videos across a range of handsets.
Indeed Ruben Kazantsev, the co-founder of the iPhone Film Festival, thinks that this isn't a fad created just because the technology is there.
"Smartphone film making is here to stay," he told us emphatically. "We have been running IFF for over three years now and each year the films get better and better. So as the technology changes so will the quality of the films."
There are real advantages to shooting on a phone too. For one thing, it's a lot cheaper than conventional camera equipment, and it also opens up the medium to a gigantic number of wannabe directors as manufacturers have smuggled this high-power tech into your pocket, removing the barrier for entry.
Not only does that empower almost anyone to be a film maker, but it also makes it easier to counter equipment problems on set. Kazantsev, also a producer on the smartphone film 'Departure', highlighted an issue that only a smartphone could have solved:
"During our filming of departure we had a warehouse space for a limited time and we were down to the last scene with 20 minutes left.
"As we were getting ready to start filming I noticed my hard drive was full and had no time to download the footage to make room, since we had 20 minutes left.
"So I asked our crew 'who has an iPhone?' and almost everyone popped one out of their back pockets. If we did not have the backup cameras/smartphones we would have never gotten the last shot."
Filming on a phone also allows more risks to be taken as there's less money at stake. And because of their size and portability, smartphones can film almost anywhere, which potentially allows for shots that a traditional camera couldn't get.
A smartphone film called 'Goldilocks' included a scene where a phone was put in a ziplock bag, then placed in a glass and had wine poured on it while filming. If you're feeling a little more flush with cash, solid state microSD cards can be fitted to phones and flung around to get some truly amazing shots – you might smash the phone, but the footage will survive.
Smartphones also allow for more opportunistic filming, allowing you to capture moments that would otherwise be lost because you didn't have your video camera with you, used more often than you'd imagine in professionally produced films.
Of course there are downsides too. Susan Botello, the person behind the Mobil Film Festival, laments the lack of storage space on phones, telling us that "a phone with a great camera for video [but] low space makes it worthless."
She also argues that most phones have a horrible microphone and that the handling of low light situations needs to improve – elements which are being focused on quickly by the likes of HTC, Nokia and Apple with multiple microphones with dual membranes to improve sound quality, and massively upgraded low light sensors in cameras.
Other issues include the fact that the battery will be drained quickly when filming and ideally you'll probably still want to invest in some other equipment, such as lights, microphones and a tripod.
These issues and more mean that smartphone films haven't yet hit the mainstream. They're still fairly few and far between and the need for smartphone-specific film festivals demonstrates that they're not always comparable to more conventional films.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing. These festivals give mobile film "a platform which is a parallel to the traditional industry and open a door to film makers who use smartphones to shoot" according to Botello.
And in their very nature smartphones are going to attract independent and guerrilla film makers. Those who are unable or unwilling to work within the system and who can't afford the major expenses of a standard film.
This leads to unique projects that perhaps wouldn't be seen in mainstream cinema, such as Luke Geissbuhler's 'Space Balloon' short, which involves an iPhone being shot into space and then falling back down to earth, all while filming.
Quechua in association with Archos has unveiled a rugged smartphone. The handset is designed with an active lifestyle in mind and is resistant to shock, mud, water, sand, cold and snow.
Quechua's newest smartphone is IP 54 certified and is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and has 1GB of RAM on a Qualcomm chipset. The rugged device is built around a 5-inch display and offers a 5 megapixel main camera and 4 GB of internal memory that can be expanded via microSD card slot.
The smartphone runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and packs a 3,500mAh battery, which according to the company lasts for about 22 hours on calling.
Quechua's rugged smartphone is priced at €230 (about $313). Unfortunately, there is no word on the availability of the device at the moment.
