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There’s been a lot written on the Nokia Lumia 920 this week, and I’ve made it my job to find the best of it and bring it all to you in one compact package. Yes, it’s round up time.

Let’s begin at the beginning, with an unboxing and some first impressions from Juan Bagnell from Your Tech Report:

With the screen being taken to ‘an entirely new level’ and preformance that has ‘improved significantly’, Juan is a big, big fan of the phone. So there’s Juan’s considered, well-balanced views, and then there’s this (almost as good).

For further first thoughts (try saying that quickly!) we turn to Daily Mobile’s Kevin Everett and his video:

He doesn’t know what ‘all the hubbub’ was about with other people talking about the weight of the phone, and finds it ‘much zippier’ than previous iterations. Also with the new screen layout he’s able to fit all his previous home screen tiles, but in a lot more compact space.

Finally for today, how about a rather extreme test of the OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) – strapping the Lumia 920 to the front of a Jeep while off-roading around the sand dunes of Dubai? Mesmerizing and a little…hypnotic.

All part of their Lumia 920 week, and all awesome.

That’s the round up – what do you think? Will you be getting your hands on a Nokia Lumia 920? Anything to ask any of the guys featured here? Pop over to their sites and ask, or let us know here (or on Twitter) and we’ll pass them along

[Image credit: Slashgear]

The Nokia Lumia 920 has been called the world’s most innovative smartphone. It’s a bold claim, however, it does have a ton of features, which show us how the future of mobile tech looks. But more than that, the Nokia Lumia 920 also packs in not one but five technology firsts.

Pentaband LTE support

Nokia has led the way when it comes to pentaband 3G radios in its phones, so it was a natural progression to build the world’s first smartphone with pentaband LTE. This means you’ll be able to use LTE, which is capable of speeds up to ten times faster than traditional 3G networks, with more carriers, in even more places around the world.

Super sensitive touch

Maybe it’s not surprising when you consider Finland’s sub zero winters, but the Nokia Lumia 920 is also the first smartphone to have a touchscreen so sensitive, you can operate it with gloves, mittens, nails and even certain pens. This new super sensitive touch technology is the biggest leap forward for capacitive touchscreens since multi-touch gestures were introduced. It’s also worth noting that this super sensitivity doesn’t make the screen any more fragile, affect the water resistance, or increase the likelihood of coins or keys in your pocket accidentally making calls on your behalf.

Optical Image Stabilization

The Nokia Lumia 920 is the first ever smartphone globally available with Optical Image Stabilization. Thanks to a camera module pairing both sensor and lens-based optical IS, still images and HD video captured with the Lumia 920 will be steady, even if your video shooting hand isn’t.

60 FPS HD display refresh rate

The Nokia Lumia 920’s PureMotion HD+ is the latest technology advancement in smartphone displays. We’ve already talked about its sensitivity, but it’s also one of the brightest and most pixel dense displays out there. What’s more, it’s the first smartphone in the world to deliver a full 60 frames-per-second (FPS) without any blurring. This means no more lag or pixelated video and ghost images appearing as your screen moves. Thanks to an IPS type LCD display, which is given a higher voltage difference when changing states, you’ll enjoy a clean transition from frame to frame, even when operating at top speeds.

Integrated wireless charging

The Nokia Lumia 920 is the first integrated wireless charging smartphone, available worldwide, with the technology built right into the handset. Compatible with the Qi wireless standard, the Lumia 920 not only uses a wide selection of Nokia wireless charging accessories, but can be charged anywhere using Qi, such as the Virgin Atlantic lounge in London’s Heathrow airport.

Of course there’s plenty more innovation packed inside, but these world firsts just go to show why the Nokia Lumia 920 deserves its title as the world’s most innovative smartphone.

Image credit: Pasukaru76

I would like to think that there is an artist within each and every one of us. I think this particularly when I am wandering around a gallery looking at examples of modern art!

How often have you thought, ‘I can do better than that?’ Well, now you can. 

There is nothing more modern than creating art on your mobile phone. The touch screen is a natural canvas for you to show off your talents and to experiment to your heart’s content.

Think of all the advantages of using your phone to make art… Don’t like what you’ve done? Start again with zero waste! Why wait for a gallery to show off your work when you can just email a jpeg it to your friends or post to social networks?

There’s no need to buy lots of expensive equipment and you can use different effects with a tap of the screen. 

Feeling inspired? Here are some apps in the Nokia Store that I have been using on my Nokia Asha 311 to create, ahem, art. 

Paint (free)

As an artist you’ll no doubt appreciate the freedom that this app provides. Pick a colour and swipe your finger across the screen to start painting.

There is a practically limitless palette of colours for you to choose from, you can choose the thickness of the brush and, of course, you can easily erase any bits you don’t like.

You can save your favourite pieces, although sadly there are no sharing options. All in all though, this is a really easy and fun app to use, and a great place to start.

Spray Painter (£1)

The emergence of street artists such as Banksy has somehow transformed graffiti from being seen as a social menace to a highly lucrative career option for hooded youths who can handle a spray can. 

There is no doubting that graffiti has its own unique look and this app does a good job of replicating that urban sensibility.

There are eight colours for you to choose from, three brush sizes and, most realistically of all, different background patterns as well. Is that a nice plain wall, I see?

Pro Sketcher (free)

This is, strictly speaking, not a pure drawing app but those of us who are artistically challenged will appreciate its charms very much.

The app takes one of your existing photos and applies natural sketching effects to them, so it’ll look like you drew it yourself. Vincent van Gogh, eat your heart out! (Or should that be cut your ear off?)

There are some pretty effects to choose from such as pencil sketch, colour sketch or a charcoal effect. When you’re finished, you can set it as your Asha’s wallpaper to show off to the world. 

One Touch (free)

This is a drawing app neatly disguised in a strategy game that works on your knowledge of geometry and appreciation of perspective – two qualities that every artist needs.

The aim is to trace the shape and drawings shown on the screen without lifting up your finger or going back over the same lines. Sounds simple? Give it a go!

One Touch is a nice way of making you think about how different shapes fit together and to get your finger swiping across the screen in long fluid strokes.

Pin The Best Art (free)

Finally, this is not, strictly speaking, a drawing app but it has been included to help inspire and be something of a muse to fire up your talents.

It is a continuously updated list of the best art, photography and design that has been pinned to the popular imaging ‘noticeboard’ Pinterest.

Take a look and try creating some great art of your own on the Nokia Asha. Let us know how you get on in the comments below.

Remember when… No, wait… It’s at the back of my mind and right on the tip of my tongue… What was I going to say?

Our memory has let us all down at one point or another. The best that we can hope for is that it doesn’t happen at crucial moments such as school exams or job interviews! 

Much like working out to keep your body in shape, there are also mental exercises you can do to keep your mind sharp as well. Many people play chess for this very reason.

In the Windows Phone Marketplace there are many apps designed for the express purpose of helping you to improve your memory. 

While I have never stepped foot inside a gym, I am very much open to the idea of sitting down, having a cup of tea and playing with some apps on my Nokia Lumia to aid my self-improvement. 

Memory Test (free)

The aim of this game is to watch and remember the sequence of green squares as they light up across the grid on your Lumia’s screen. The sequence gets longer and longer with every successful effort.

This is very similar to the classic Simon Says game (of which there are many variants in the Windows Phone Marketplace) but I think it is much more challenging because the grid is bigger. 

You can also change the difficulty level by playing on smaller grids and there are suitably pleasing sound effects (oddly, especially when you lose) and vibration options for you to choose from.

Memorina (free)

Many parents with small children will be familiar with the ‘matching pairs’ gameplay that drives Memorina. 

You are given a split-second glance of all the cards before they are turned over. Your challenge is to memorise each card and match it with its identical pair. It sounds easy doesn’t it? Well, there’s also the time limit for you to consider.

This is a devilishly addictive game that genuinely gets harder and harder the further you progress. Plus, don’t let the pictures of children’s toys put you off. This is great memory training for adults too.

Brainy Cells 

This game really lives up to its title as I found it really difficult – obviously I don’t have enough of those brainy cells in my head.

The aim is uncover the random pattern of icons in the grid, of which there are many sizes and shapes to choose from, in the shortest time possible.

When you first start you won’t know if there’s an icon underneath the tile. If there is an icon there, remember its position.

Each time you select an empty tile all the other successful icons that you’ve found will turn themselves over. In effect, you have to start again. Can you remember where they were again?

Flashdeck (£0.99p)

Flashdeck isn’t a game but an interactive utility designed to help you remember the answers to specific questions.

The premise is very simple and will bring back memories to students all over the world: You create a card with the question on one side and the answer on the reverse. 

Once you’ve filled out your cards, the app then quizzes you on your knowledge of them. It keeps the score so you can track your progress. This is a great tool whether you are studying for exams or if you’re learning a new language.

This is a paid app, but the trial version is well worth trying out. You are limited to creating two decks with just five cards in each, whereas the paid version has no limits.

PiMaster (free)

One of the ultimate tests of having a great memory is the ability to remember as many digits of Pi as you can, so it would be remiss of me not to include this app.

Using PiMaster you can memorise up to 10,000 digits of Pi and then test yourself to see if you’ve got the sequence right. Or not.

Also, while 10,000 digits sounds impressive it might be worth bearing in mind that the official world record stands at a mind-boggling 67,890 digits by Lu Chao of China. That’s what you call a good memory.

Have you used any of these apps to help improve your memory? Let us know in the comments below.

Let’s face it, email attachments suck. They might be great for sending a small file over quickly, but when you have multiple files to share or a large file you want to send someone’s way, email attachments show their weakness. 

How many times have you sent an email with an attachment and crossed your fingers that the mail wouldn’t bounce back?

That’s where the new YouSendIt Windows Phone 8 app comes into play. This “cloud” service has been in the cloud since the term even existed, making file transfers a little less painless for everyone. For those who’ve never used the service, when someone uses YouSendIt to share a file with you, you simply get a hyperlink, and once you click it the download starts instantly. 

Tap to share

We’re happy that there’s now an extremely useful YouSendIt app for Nokia Lumia that makes file sharing easy and simple. The Lumia-exclusive NFC app feature even allows owners of NFC-enabled Lumias (running Windows Phone to share files by simply tapping them together.

If you’re using YouSendIt in the more traditional sense (sending files to those over the Internet), the new app for Lumia will be useful in sending files, sharing folders and signing documents while you’re in a meeting, on a trip or anywhere. If there are updates to your YouSendIt files, they are instantly available across your computers and mobile devices. 

One thing I really like about using YouSendIt is not only an easy way to send files, but also a way to track the files to see when my colleagues, friends and clients have accessed them.

For those who need to digitally sign documents, YouSendIt for Lumia will enable you to access these documents, sign using the phone’s touchscreen, and send the files back to the sender via YouSendIt. This is perfect for anyone who needs to authorize a document while on the go.

YouSendIt is a ‘freemium’ service, meaning that basic functionality is free and costs are only involved when you add more premium service. For starters, YouSendIt allows you to send files up to two gigabytes, add password protection and control who has access to what content in your YouSendIt folder. 

Grab the YouSendIt Windows Phone 8 app today in Windows Phone Store or the Nokia Collection!

As if you need any more motivation to ditch whatever phone you are using right now and switch to the Nokia Lumia 820, Abbi gives her reasons to choose the ‘smartphone chameleon’.

The review is liberally spread with phrases like ‘great functionality with some serious style’ so it’s a fair assumption to say she’s a fan of the phone. Focussing on the looks of the phone and the interchangeable coloured covers, Abbi phrases it neatly, saying you can

‘change the look of your mobile as often as you change your pants’

Stuart Miles adds his own take on the Lumia 820 in what one commenter calls the ‘best review’ of the phone. Stuart thinks it ‘takes its own style and approach’, and that the Lumia 820 is ‘a phone you’ll enjoy using’. There’s much more (including a great gallery), covering everything from the camera to wireless charging, so head over and give it a read.

Once you’ve read both posts, let us know what you think of the Nokia Lumia 820 by sharing your thoughts in a comment below, or on Twitter.

We recently introduced LiveSight, a technology based on a highly accurate, 3D map of the world. LiveSight provides the most precise and intuitive augmented reality experience and uses a phone’s camera viewfinder to make discovering the world as easy as lifting up a phone. After type pads, touchscreens and voice recognition, we want sight recognition to be another standard way to interact with the world around you.

Nokia City Lens, exclusively developed for Nokia Lumia devices, is the first application to provide a LiveSight-enabled experience and today we are pleased to announce that we are working on a new version that leverages the full power of this technology.

Because we want you to try these new features before anyone else, we are today making a beta version available for Nokia Lumia 900, Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 for you to test and provide feedback for.

With your help we will make Nokia City Lens even better and soon all Nokia Lumia owners, including owners of Nokia Lumia 820 and Lumia 920, will get to enjoy the new features. So let’s see what’s new in Nokia City Lens.

The current version of City Lens shows you all the places nearby, even around the corner or a block away. In crowded areas, that can be a lot to take in. Our new Sightline feature lets you switch your view to only what’s in your direct line of sight, making it easier to spot great places that are right in front of you.

Please note that this feature is only available in supported areas, where we have already collected highly accurate, 3D data. In these cases, you will automatically see the filter icon in Nokia City Lens.

When scanning your surroundings in camera view, you can now freeze your view and study your options without having to keep your phone pointed at the target. Just tap and the screen “freezes,” letting you browse the scene more comfortably.

Now you can quickly view a place’s address without leaving your camera view. Just tap to view the information overlaid on your display while you keep scanning. When you’re ready to learn more about the place, another tap pulls up complete information of that place.

With this new version of Nokia City Lens we are making good use of the key features in Windows Phone. Nokia City Lens now lets you pin individual categories to your home screen, so you can jump directly to your favourite category searches with just a tap. Art buff? Create a Sights tile. Foodie? Create a Food tile. Wherever you are, you can instantly find what you love.

But you can pin even more than just predefined categories, you can make Nokia City Lens even more personal by pinning your favourite searches to your start screen, whether it’s books or sushi. Wherever you are, you’ll be able to see your closest options within the live tile right on your home screen without even having to launch the app. Just glance and go. Or tap to see what else is nearby. 

If you want to test this all-new Nokia City Lens with your Nokia Lumia 900, Nokia Lumia 800 or Nokia Lumia 710, download it from Nokia Beta Labs and let us know what you think.

image credit: kevin dooley

Listening to the radio feels intimate and personal in a way that’s difficult to replicate when you are watching TV. Unless, of course, you’re only listening to some pop or dance music station while you are doing the washing up. 

But isn’t that variety part of radio’s magic? You might be listening to a heart-rending eulogy one minute and then a live sports commentary the next.

Another advantage that radio has traditionally enjoyed over TV is that it’s genuinely portable. Portability certainly lies at the heart of the Nokia Internet Radio app for Series 40 devices.

This great app, which is free to download from the Nokia Store, streams hundreds of radio stations from around the world direct to your mobile phone.

It is one of my favourite apps on my Nokia Asha 311, where it uses the WiFi connection so that it is not using any of my precious data allowance.

Finding the stations

Using Nokia Internet Radio is extremely easy and once you are familiar with how it works then you can also set up quick access to your favourite stations. 

To start you will need to select a station to listen to. As you might imagine, there are hundreds of radio stations being streamed online all over the world, so Nokia Internet Radio has created a directory to help you find what you are looking for.

Select the three horizontal lines icon in the top left corner to open the app’s menu and tap on Station Directory. 

The directory itself is further divided into these categories: 

• Genres
• Languages
• Countries and Regions 

There is also a search option if you happen to know the name of the station that you wish to listen to. 

For example, if you want to discover which jazz music stations are available then you would select, Genre and scroll down to Jazz.

Selecting this folder will present you with a list of all jazz stations  – as a matter of fact there happens to be 707 jazz stations listed in the directory. Pressing on any of these stations will start the stream and you can listen to your heart’s content.

As I am writing this, I happen to have 4U Smooth Jazz, a French station, playing on my Asha 311’s fantastic external speaker. That’s not a station I could have picked up with my old analogue radio!

The player 

At any time you can return from the directory to the ‘player’. You do this by again selecting the option in the menu button (or by pressing the back button in the bottom right).

The player gives you further controls such as adjusting the volume, selecting the next station in the directory, or previous station and, where it’s available, the name of the song that is being played will even scroll across your screen.

One thing that may not be immediately obvious is that you can tap on the name of the station in the player and this will give you further information about it.

Saving favourites

Having such a vast directory is fantastic but it can also make navigating through them all rather time consuming.

Thankfully, once you’ve found the station you’re after, or have stumbled upon something that you like, it can be easily saved as a favourite for quick access in the future.

You can do this for any station that is currently playing by bringing up the menu on the player screen and selecting ‘Add to favourites’.

From the menu list – if you select Favourites you will find all your selected stations. After a while you might have a lot of stations stored even in your favourites! However, there is an easy remedy to this problem – you can also create different folders within your favourites to keep them organised.

To create a folder, select the menu button when you are in your Favourites and you will see the ‘Add New Folder’ option appear. You can even name your folders.

Another of my favourite features is the ‘recently played’ list that you can select from the main menu.

This shows you all the songs (where the naming information is available) that you have been listening to across all the radio stations. It’s really handy if you want to get the name of a song.

One final great feature about Nokia Internet Radio is that it continues playing even when you have put the display to sleep and the phone is locked. A minor thing perhaps but it truly turns my Asha 311 into a true Internet Radio.

Nokia Internet Radio is available for a number of Series 40 devices, including Asha. Series 40 devices with a smaller screen than QVGA are not supported.

Let’s face it, email attachments suck. They might be great for sending a small file over quickly, but when you have multiple files to share or a large file you want to send someone’s way, email attachments show their weakness. 

How many times have you sent an email with an attachment and crossed your fingers that the mail wouldn’t bounce back?

That’s where the new YouSendIt Windows Phone 8 app comes into play. This “cloud” service has been in the cloud since the term even existed, making file transfers a little less painless for everyone. For those who’ve never used the service, when someone uses YouSendIt to share a file with you, you simply get a hyperlink, and once you click it the download starts instantly. 

Tap to share

We’re happy that there’s now an extremely useful YouSendIt app for Nokia Lumia that makes file sharing easy and simple. The Lumia-exclusive NFC app feature even allows owners of NFC-enabled Lumias (running Windows Phone to share files by simply tapping them together.

If you’re using YouSendIt in the more traditional sense (sending files to those over the Internet), the new app for Lumia will be useful in sending files, sharing folders and signing documents while you’re in a meeting, on a trip or anywhere. If there are updates to your YouSendIt files, they are instantly available across your computers and mobile devices. 

One thing I really like about using YouSendIt is not only an easy way to send files, but also a way to track the files to see when my colleagues, friends and clients have accessed them.

For those who need to digitally sign documents, YouSendIt for Lumia will enable you to access these documents, sign using the phone’s touchscreen, and send the files back to the sender via YouSendIt. This is perfect for anyone who needs to authorize a document while on the go.

YouSendIt is a ‘freemium’ service, meaning that basic functionality is free and costs are only involved when you add more premium service. For starters, YouSendIt allows you to send files up to two gigabytes, add password protection and control who has access to what content in your YouSendIt folder. 

Grab the YouSendIt Windows Phone 8 app today in Windows Phone Store or the Nokia Collection!

We recently introduced LiveSight, a technology based on a highly accurate, 3D map of the world. LiveSight provides the most precise and intuitive augmented reality experience and uses a phone’s camera viewfinder to make discovering the world as easy as lifting up a phone. After type pads, touchscreens and voice recognition, we want sight recognition to be another standard way to interact with the world around you.

Nokia City Lens, exclusively developed for Nokia Lumia devices, is the first application to provide a LiveSight-enabled experience and today we are pleased to announce that we are working on a new version that leverages the full power of this technology.

Because we want you to try these new features before anyone else, we are today making a beta version available for Nokia Lumia 900, Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 for you to test and provide feedback for.

With your help we will make Nokia City Lens even better and soon all Nokia Lumia owners, including owners of Nokia Lumia 820 and Lumia 920, will get to enjoy the new features. So let’s see what’s new in Nokia City Lens.

The current version of City Lens shows you all the places nearby, even around the corner or a block away. In crowded areas, that can be a lot to take in. Our new Sightline feature lets you switch your view to only what’s in your direct line of sight, making it easier to spot great places that are right in front of you.

Please note that this feature is only available in supported areas, where we have already collected highly accurate, 3D data. In these cases, you will automatically see the filter icon in Nokia City Lens.

When scanning your surroundings in camera view, you can now freeze your view and study your options without having to keep your phone pointed at the target. Just tap and the screen “freezes,” letting you browse the scene more comfortably.

Now you can quickly view a place’s address without leaving your camera view. Just tap to view the information overlaid on your display while you keep scanning. When you’re ready to learn more about the place, another tap pulls up complete information of that place.

With this new version of Nokia City Lens we are making good use of the key features in Windows Phone. Nokia City Lens now lets you pin individual categories to your home screen, so you can jump directly to your favourite category searches with just a tap. Art buff? Create a Sights tile. Foodie? Create a Food tile. Wherever you are, you can instantly find what you love.

But you can pin even more than just predefined categories, you can make Nokia City Lens even more personal by pinning your favourite searches to your start screen, whether it’s books or sushi. Wherever you are, you’ll be able to see your closest options within the live tile right on your home screen without even having to launch the app. Just glance and go. Or tap to see what else is nearby. 

If you want to test this all-new Nokia City Lens with your Nokia Lumia 900, Nokia Lumia 800 or Nokia Lumia 710, download it from Nokia Beta Labs and let us know what you think.

image credit: kevin dooley