Here’s what the Nokia Lumia 920 PureMotion HD+ display tech is all about

Yesterday, we talked in length about the new variation of the PureView technology found on the new Nokia Lumia 920. But that’s not the only new feature that Nokia introduced with the phone.

Nokia also announced a display related feature that they like to call PureMotion technology. We are about to find out what it is and how it will help you in real life.

Back in the lab

Now the PureMotion technology on the Lumia 920 includes a bunch of stuff but at its core it concentrates on the response time of the LCD panel. Now in display technology, response time is the name given to the time it takes a pixel to go from black to white and back. The shorter this time, the better the display.

But how short does it really have to be? Well, an ideal display would have a response time of 0ms but that’s not practically possible. Now most displays have a refresh rate of 60Hz, that is the display is refreshed with new information 60 times per second. Now every second has 1000 milliseconds, so at 60Hz, each frame gets around 16.77ms before the next one comes in. If a display fails to switch pixel value under that time, you see visual blurring on the screen.

Having said that, you usually need more time for every frame because the frame has to be written to the display. So if a display has a response time that is slightly under 16.77ms, it would still exceed the time it takes to write one frame in practice, causing motion blur.

Due to this the response time has to be as low as possible, preferably under 10ms. This is where PureMotion comes in. Nokia uses a Response Time Compensation or overdrive process to provide temporary higher voltage to the display to make the pixels change state much faster than usual. This method has been widely used in recent HDTV and monitor panels but Nokia is possibly the first to use it on a mobile display. Nokia promises a response time of around 9ms, which is well under the minimum response time for a display.

The result is pixels that change value or color quickly, thus even at high framerates the display remains blur-free, whether you’re just scrolling through the menus or playing a fast paced 3D game.

Out in the sun

The other aspect of the PureMotion display on the Lumia 920 is about the sunlight legibility. Nokia introduced their proprietary ClearBlack displays two years ago – they utilize a polarizing filter to cut off reflections and make the display easier to see under direct light. And their ClearBlack displays have been amazing out in the open. Now, with the Lumia 920 PureMotion display they’ve improved their ClearBlack tech.

The new feature on the Lumia 920 uses software algorithm in conjunction with the ambient light sensor to determine the amount of light falling on the display and automatically boosts the brightness and contrast of the LCD panel to make it clearer to see under bright light. The adjustments are done on-the-fly without any user intervention.

All the little pixels

The Lumia 920 display has a resolution, which Nokia refers to as HD+. It’s basically a WXGA panel with a resolution of 1,280 x 768, a bit more than the usual 1,280 x 720 that you usually find in high end smartphones these days. This gives the display an aspect ratio of 15:9. This means that when you put a 16:9 and 15:9 displays of the same diagonal size side by side, the 15:9 display would be shorter and wider in portrait mode.

Nokia chose this arrangement because reportedly, it would allow users to reach the top of the display with their thumb more easily. You also get the advantage of the few extra pixels, which will be great for web browsing or playing games but not so much for watching videos or movies that usually have a 16:9 aspect ratio.

It’s not only touching that counts

Lastly, Nokia has utilized Synaptics latest ClearPad capacitive touchscreen sensing technology, which gave the Lumia 920 something they call Super Sensitive Touch. It would let you operate the touchscreen with a glove on, with a fingernail or with an object such as a pen or a key. And since it has a Gorilla Glass layer on top, the last two objects won’t leave a scratch.

Wrapping it up

Those are all the intricate aspects hidden behind the PureMotion display moniker on the Nokia Lumia 920. Hopefully, this article helped dispel any confusion regarding what makes this display so special. We’ll be taking a better look at the display when the phone is released in the next couple of months.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Nokia issues apology for faked PureView video ad

Busted within 24 hours of posting the promotional ad online, Nokia backpedals regarding a misleading video featuring PureView technology.

Detailed on the Conversation by Nokia blog, editor-in-chief Heidi Lemmetyinen released an apology for misleading consumers with a video that was meant to show off how optical image stabilization helps when shooting high definition video on smartphones like the Lumia 920. The concept of the video in question was designed to show the difference between shooting with OIS turned on compared to shooting when it’s unavailable. In the video, the side-by-side-comparison video stream shows a couple riding bicycles and the twenty-something man is filming a young girl with a Nokia smartphone using PureView and OIS as they speed down the street. 

Noted by many people on YouTube and other news organizations, a van can be seen filming the girl with a high-end dSLR or video camera in a reflection off the window of a nearby trailer around the 27 second mark of the video. Not only was the video taken while someone rode in a stable car compared to a less stable bicycle, the type of camera used was completely different from the PureView camera in the Lumia 920.

In the apology, Lemmetyinen stated “In an effort to demonstrate the benefits of optical image stabilization (which eliminates blurry images and improves pictures shot in low light conditions), we produced a video that simulates what we will be able to deliver with OIS. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but we should have posted a disclaimer stating this was a representation of OIS only. This was not shot with a Lumia 920. At least, not yet. We apologize for the confusion we created.”

In addition to the written apology, Lemmetyinen posted a video shown at the press conference that displayed the difference between shooting with a smartphone without OIS and a Lumia 920 prototype with OIS turned on. While Nokia didn’t identify the other smartphone in the video, the side displaying the OIS feature clearly shows a significantly smoother video stream while someone is walking and filming toward a fixed spot.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Nokia adds the Lumia 820 to new Windows Phone 8 range

Nokia has announced the Windows Phone 8 Lumia 820 at its special New York event, where it joins the Lumia 920 with its PureView camera.

In addition to the new Lumia 920, Nokia also announced the Windows Phone 8 Lumia 820 at its special New York event. As the names suggest, the pair are an evolution of the existing Lumia 800 and 900 devices, with the 820 taking care of the important mid-level of the range.

Perhaps surprisingly, it’s not all that different to the Lumia 920 in terms of specification, with only a couple of differences. The big change is with the camera, as the 820 doesn’t use Nokia’s PureView technology, but it does still have a Carl Zeiss-lensed, 8-megapixel sensor with 1080p video recording and a dual-LED flash — so it’s far from being basic.

The screen is smaller at 4.3-inches, and has a more standard 480 x 800 pixel resolution, but it still incorporates the Super Sensitive touch technology — that allows the screen to still function even when you’re wearing gloves — and the Sunlight Readability mode for increased brightness when out and about.

Nokia has used the same 1.5Ghz, dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, and provided it with 1GB of RAM to play with, however the built-in memory has decreased down to 8GB.

Like many Nokia’s of old, the Lumia 820 has switchable rear covers, which come in a variety of eye-catching colors, plus they can be swapped out for one that offers wireless charging for the 1650mAh battery.

Other features include a microSD card slot, a VGA front-mounted camera, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 3.1, NFC and like the Lumia 920, connectivity for LTE and HSPA+ networks. It’s also compatible with Nokia Music, newly launched in the USA this week, plus Nokia’s City Lens app, which combines augmented reality services such as reviews and local information, with navigation.

Despite the presence of the Microsoft crew, including Steve Ballmer, it was obviously decided not to provide a launch date for Windows Phone 8 or its associated hardware at the event. Therefore, Nokia’s press release merely says that both new Lumia phones will be “shipping in select markets later this year.”

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Nokia reveals the Lumia 920, with Windows Phone 8 and PureView camera

Nokia has revealed the Lumia 920, complete with Windows Phone 8 and PureView camera technology, at a special event in New York.

Nokia has announced the Lumia 920, its first Windows Phone 8 smartphones, and the second set to be revealed following the Samsung Ativ S last week.

CEO Stephen Elop took to the stage at 10am, blissfully unaware that the livestream webcast had broken, and talked about Windows Phone. He said Nokia shared a vision with Microsoft, and that together they would create “a new smartphone experience,” and something “very unique in the market.”

With several Lumia devices already on sale, he introduced Jo Harlow to tell us all about the latest additions to the family — first, the Lumia 920.

The Lumia 920 was described as the “most innovative smartphone in the world,” and boasts a camera with PureView technology, just like the Symbian-based PureView 808. It also uses Nokia’s City Lens to provide an improved mapping experience and built-in wireless charging.

Nokia’s event is ongoing, and more details will be added as they come through.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Nokia 808 PureView used to replace a professional cinema camera, does an amazing job

We already know the Nokia 808 PureView has an amazing camera. It even managed to beat a micro four-thirds camera in our blind test from a while ago. We are still blown by the result of the experiment by the Swedish video professional Christopher Westerholm, who gave the cameraphone a even more advanced task – replacing a cinematic camera.

He ended up with an impressive 120-second video showcasing what the Nokia 808 PureView is capable of when in the hands of a someone who knows what he’s doing.

Check the test footage Christopher made for an upcoming project of his. Make sure you watch it in full HD.

Here’s how the Swede got these amazing shots.

I did a “Flat picture” profile in the phone by dialing down contrast, saturation and sharpness and underexposed some of the scenes to protect highlights. I also used a mattebox, and 4’4 polarizing, and for some of the brighter scenes a 4’4 ND filter 0.9. I later upscaled the footage in premiere pro to later crop it for 1:2.35 aspect ratio. I color-corrected quite heavily, because I think I pushed the contrast a little bit to much so it all looked very flat.

Impressive indeed and I can’t wait for him to publish the full video of his project once it’s ready.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com