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Since we introduced our location-based apps for Nokia Lumia last year, the most requested feature was to make Nokia Maps work offline just like Nokia Drive. With the evolution of the Windows Phone platform, this feature is now available for Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 consumers.

Offline maps mean you get super-fast maps and can save on data costs, anywhere you go.

Additionally, Nokia Maps will also include:

• voice guided turn-by-turn pedestrian navigation to take you right to your destination
• augmented reality view to reveal the places around you so you literally see where you need to go
• venue maps to see what’s inside venues like shopping malls, airports and stadiums
• a link to Nokia Drive to start voice-guided car navigation directly from Nokia Maps

But let’s see the features of Nokia Maps for Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 in more detail.

Offline maps

As we revealed in June, the Nokia Location Platform is powering the whole Windows Phone 8 ecosystem with the with the intention of developing smartphones that bring advanced location experiences.

Windows Phone 8 partners and developers will be able to use our location assets to build high quality location-based apps and experiences.

One of the key benefits is that location-based apps specifically built for Windows Phone 8 will be able to use offline maps, for a snappier mobile maps experience. In fact, not only can maps be downloaded, but they can also be used by other apps specifically designed for the new OS.

While those features are available on all Windows Phone 8 smartphones, the experience is going to reach the next level on Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820. These two smartphones also include autonomous assisted GPS and GLONASS receivers. In plain English, this means that you can see yourself on a map within seconds, even when you’re offline.

Nokia has recognized the importance of a hybrid location platform that can work online as well as offline from the first time a navigation app was introduced on a smartphone (the Nokia N95).

Now some other players are also recognizing how useful an offline mapping experience can be. However, our experience is much more advanced. It’s not only about caching a part of the map, with a size limit, in only a few countries and without search or navigation, it’s really about bringing part of the experience offline. We have covered this topic previously and you can learn more here.

Voice guided turn-by-turn navigation

We believe that Nokia Maps helps you feel like a local anywhere: you can see where you are, discover the best places around with a tap, and get to know new destinations with trusted guides and tips from locals. But this is, of course, only half the story, because once you’ve found a great place on Nokia Maps, you also want to know how to get there.

If you have a car, you can now start Nokia Drive voice guided turn-by-turn navigation directly from Nokia Maps. But most importantly, if you’re on foot, you have now voice guided turn-by-turn pedestrian navigation too. It is important to highlight that our pedestrian navigation is specifically tailored to take into account footpaths, parks, stairs and all those areas that are only accessible on foot. 

Augmented reality view

So, let’s say you have found a good place to have dinner with Nokia Maps; you’ve followed the pedestrian navigation but you can’t recognize the place. This is very common, especially in very busy cities. Well, today we are happy to introduce an augmented reality view in Nokia Maps to spot the place you are going to.

Venue maps

And if your destination is within a venue, Nokia Maps is going to help you out too. We have been mapping thousands of venues like airports, shopping malls and stadiums to help you orientate yourself even after you have reached the destination and passed its entrance. Venue maps are available in the new version of Nokia Maps too.

What about existing Lumia owners?

Although these new feature of Nokia Maps are not going to be available for current Windows Phone users, we also have exciting news and updates for owners of a Nokia Lumia 900, Nokia Lumia 800, Nokia Lumia 710 or Nokia Lumia 610.

Nokia is continuously updating its location-based apps and after a successful beta test of Nokia City Lens, our augmented reality app is now available on Windows Phone Marketplace in the Nokia Collection. Go grab it now, while it’s hot.

Just last July we introduced a revolutionary feature of Nokia Drive, called My Commute, which learns your driving preferences and uses information about the latest traffic conditions to help you choose between the different routes you usually take to get to the places you travel most. Initially available only in the US, this feature is also going to be available in Germany, Russia, UK and Brazil in the coming months.

Soon, Nokia Transport for current Lumia devices is going to be updated with improved user experience, search history and automatic coverage update.

You may have missed this yesterday while you were transfixed by the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820, but there were a couple of pretty cool accessories announced too.

First to the jump with a round up was Alvin over at Unleash The Phones, who covered the announcement of the wireless charging accessories (including the wireless charging plate, Fatboy wireless recharging pillow), and the NFC pairing of the JBL PowerUp Speaker (that also wirelessly charges your Nokia Lumia 920 or 820).

For a hands on video of the charging mat and the JBL PowerUp speaker we turn to Mobile Geeks (quick note – there’s quite a lot of background noise, it was a busy event, after all):

Shawn Ingram from Gotta Be Mobile also took note of the ‘interesting’ accessories, highlighting the focus on music, whereas the guys at Phones Review concentrate more on the wireless charging aspect, especially the Fatboy pillow.

For an official introduction to the accessories, there are videos of the DT-900 charging plate and the JBL PlayUp Portable Wireless Speaker for Nokia MD-51W

on the official Nokia YouTube channel.So which accessory impresses you the most? Will you be wirelessly charging at the earliest opportunity? And pairing via NFC with the JBL PowerUp speaker? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts on Twitter.

New York, New York: so good they named it the Music Capital of the World! Music’s not the only thing that’s been rockin’ the Big Apple this week though. So to celebrate the launch of a couple of stunningly innovative new arrivals on the smartphone scene, we’ve put on our disco shoes, tuned our hipster acoustic guitar and selected the most innovative New York bands ever to grace our Lumia playlists. Please put your hands together and make some noise for…

The Velvet Underground

Lou Reed and John Cale, with Andy Warhol at the tiller – need we say more? One of the most critically acclaimed and influential alternative/experimental rock bands of all time, everybody from Sonic Youth to Kraftwerk kowtows to The Velvet Underground – and rightly so.

The New York Dolls

Well, the clue’s in the name. In just four years in the early 1970s, the Dolls mixed punk, rock and glam rock into a musical stew that fed future giants like KISS, Guns N’ Roses and Blondie.

Blondie

Think new-wave and punk with a dash of disco, reggae and rap, throw in a rack of Grammy and Juno Awards and nominations, and you’ve got one of the most enduring NYC acts ever. Where would Madonna be without Debbie Harry?

The Ramones

This manic four-chord quartet from Queens were on the starters’ blocks for the punk-rock revolution, inspiring bands like The Clash, The Dead Kennedys and The Undertones. Blitzkrieg Bop, anyone?

Talking Heads

Frontman David Byrne and producer Brian Eno led his New Wave posse to critical success right through the 1970s and into the 1990s. Also, Radiohead nicked their band name from a song on Talking Heads’ 1986 album, True Stories. True story!

Public Enemy

One of the first hip-hop groups to make it big internationally, Public Enemy’s socially and politically charged lyrics changed the face of their genre – and they were the first band to releae MP3-only albums. Revolutionary!

The Wu-Tang Clan

Staten Island, Brooklyn and the Bronx can all lay claim to the Clan, a group that NME reckon are the greatest collection of rap lunatics to have ever walked the earth. Their influence doesn’t stop at music – they’re also all about sampling, rap personas and slang. Hell, they’ve even got their own video game.

Beastie Boys

Mike D, MCA and Ad-Rock made seven platinum albums (or better) between 1986 and 2004, and in 2012 they became the third rap group ever to get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Their 2006 album, To The Five Boroughs, is a tribute to New York City itself.

Sonic Youth

With their performance art aesthetic and idiosyncratic approach to guitars (they’ve been known to prep their instruments with a screw-driver) noise-rock band Sonic Youth have been a mainstay of the NYC scene since the early 1980s. Their avant-garde cool factor laid the groundwork to get the likes of Nirvana, Beck and Pearl Jam onto major labels. Now, that’s influence.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The 21^st Century art-rock/garage-punk scene wouldn’t be much without the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their three albums are all over the Best Of lists, and vocals don’t get better than Karen O’s. Listen and swoon.

If there’s one thing this list shows it’s that New York’s boss when it comes to kickin’ tunes. But are there more we’ve missed? If so, don’t be shy. Let us know in the comments below.

Image credit: Humbert15

You may have missed this yesterday while you were transfixed by the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820, but there were a couple of pretty cool accessories announced too.

First to the jump with a round up was Alvin over at Unleash The Phones, who covered the announcement of the wireless charging accessories (including the wireless charging plate, Fatboy wireless recharging pillow), and the NFC pairing of the JBL PowerUp Speaker (that also wirelessly charges your Nokia Lumia 920 or 820).

For a hands on video of the charging mat and the JBL PowerUp speaker we turn to Mobile Geeks (quick note – there’s quite a lot of background noise, it was a busy event, after all):

Shawn Ingram from Gotta Be Mobile also took note of the ‘interesting’ accessories, highlighting the focus on music, whereas the guys at Phones Review concentrate more on the wireless charging aspect, especially the Fatboy pillow.

For an official introduction to the accessories, there are videos of the DT-900 charging plate and the JBL PlayUp Portable Wireless Speaker for Nokia MD-51W

on the official Nokia YouTube channel.So which accessory impresses you the most? Will you be wirelessly charging at the earliest opportunity? And pairing via NFC with the JBL PowerUp speaker? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts on Twitter.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The new Nokia Lumia 920 sports a number of innovations, but one we’re especially keen that you don’t miss is the latest technology advancement in smartphone displays, something we’re calling PureMotion HD+.

What does it do and why do you want it? Put simply, it combines four leaps forward into one to deliver the fastest, brightest, most-sensitive smartphone display with the highest pixel density in the industry.

Let’s take that piece by piece.

Faster

One of the problems with existing LCD displays used on smartphones is that they can’t keep up. While the internal hardware and operating system are fast enough to deliver a full 60 frames-per-second (FPS), the screens themselves lag behind, leading to pixelated video and ghost images appearing as your screen moves.

PureMotion HD+ uses an IPS type LCD display that is also given a higher voltage difference when changing states to produce a clean transition from frame to frame, even when operating at top speeds. This allows the display to deliver a steady 60FPS without any blurring.

Brighter

It’s nearly two years since Nokia delivered the last big step forward in screen brightness in the form of ClearBlack display, a technology to reduce the reflections that can make mobile phones hard to read outside.

PureMotion HD+ adds a high-luminescence mode that works automatically from the phone’s ambient light sensor, improving contrast and brightness outdoors considerably.

More-sensitive

Ever tried using a modern smartphone with gloves on, or with the end of a regular pen? Exactly. It doesn’t work.

But now it does, PureMotion HD+ incorporates a new super-sensitive touch display that can be used with any of these things.

More pixels: HD+

The Lumia 920’s display has WXGA resolution. HD+ refers to the 768×1280 pixel count and 15:9 aspect ratio. That’s a lot of pixels – lots more than the iPhone 4, with its 640×960 pixels, and even more than the Samsung Galaxy S3, with 720×1280 pixels. The pixel density is higher than either, too, at 332 pixels per inch. (For comparison, the widely praised ‘retina’ display on the iPhone 4 offers 326ppi).

You might be wondering about the 15:9 aspect ratio. You’re probably more-used to computer and television displays with a 16:9 ratio. The truth is that mobile phones have different usability requirements, and 16:9 means that, with larger screens, it’s a long stretch to move your finger from the top to the bottom. 15:9 is simply better suited to normal human hands.

Need more detail on how it all works? Look no further, since the brains behind the display have put together a white paper that explains and demonstrates the technology, as well as the practical differences it will make for owners. 

What’s the key innovation here for you? A display that’s faster, brighter, more sensitive or more packed with pixels?

Since we introduced our location-based apps for Nokia Lumia last year, the most requested feature was to make Nokia Maps work offline just like Nokia Drive. With the evolution of the Windows Phone platform, this feature is now available for Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 consumers.

Offline maps mean you get super-fast maps and can save on data costs, anywhere you go.

Additionally, Nokia Maps will also include:

• voice guided turn-by-turn pedestrian navigation to take you right to your destination
• augmented reality view to reveal the places around you so you literally see where you need to go
• venue maps to see what’s inside venues like shopping malls, airports and stadiums
• a link to Nokia Drive to start voice-guided car navigation directly from Nokia Maps

But let’s see the features of Nokia Maps for Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 in more detail.

Offline maps

As we revealed in June, the Nokia Location Platform is powering the whole Windows Phone 8 ecosystem with the with the intention of developing smartphones that bring advanced location experiences.

Windows Phone 8 partners and developers will be able to use our location assets to build high quality location-based apps and experiences.

One of the key benefits is that location-based apps specifically built for Windows Phone 8 will be able to use offline maps, for a snappier mobile maps experience. In fact, not only can maps be downloaded, but they can also be used by other apps specifically designed for the new OS.

While those features are available on all Windows Phone 8 smartphones, the experience is going to reach the next level on Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820. These two smartphones also include autonomous assisted GPS and GLONASS receivers. In plain English, this means that you can see yourself on a map within seconds, even when you’re offline.

Nokia has recognized the importance of a hybrid location platform that can work online as well as offline from the first time a navigation app was introduced on a smartphone (the Nokia N95).

Now some other players are also recognizing how useful an offline mapping experience can be. However, our experience is much more advanced. It’s not only about caching a part of the map, with a size limit, in only a few countries and without search or navigation, it’s really about bringing part of the experience offline. We have covered this topic previously and you can learn more here.

Voice guided turn-by-turn navigation

We believe that Nokia Maps helps you feel like a local anywhere: you can see where you are, discover the best places around with a tap, and get to know new destinations with trusted guides and tips from locals. But this is, of course, only half the story, because once you’ve found a great place on Nokia Maps, you also want to know how to get there.

If you have a car, you can now start Nokia Drive voice guided turn-by-turn navigation directly from Nokia Maps. But most importantly, if you’re on foot, you have now voice guided turn-by-turn pedestrian navigation too. It is important to highlight that our pedestrian navigation is specifically tailored to take into account footpaths, parks, stairs and all those areas that are only accessible on foot. 

Augmented reality view

So, let’s say you have found a good place to have dinner with Nokia Maps; you’ve followed the pedestrian navigation but you can’t recognize the place. This is very common, especially in very busy cities. Well, today we are happy to introduce an augmented reality view in Nokia Maps to spot the place you are going to.

Venue maps

And if your destination is within a venue, Nokia Maps is going to help you out too. We have been mapping thousands of venues like airports, shopping malls and stadiums to help you orientate yourself even after you have reached the destination and passed its entrance. Venue maps are available in the new version of Nokia Maps too.

What about existing Lumia owners?

Although these new feature of Nokia Maps are not going to be available for current Windows Phone users, we also have exciting news and updates for owners of a Nokia Lumia 900, Nokia Lumia 800, Nokia Lumia 710 or Nokia Lumia 610.

Nokia is continuously updating its location-based apps and after a successful beta test of Nokia City Lens, our augmented reality app is now available on Windows Phone Marketplace in the Nokia Collection. Go grab it now, while it’s hot.

Just last July we introduced a revolutionary feature of Nokia Drive, called My Commute, which learns your driving preferences and uses information about the latest traffic conditions to help you choose between the different routes you usually take to get to the places you travel most. Initially available only in the US, this feature is also going to be available in Germany, Russia, UK and Brazil in the coming months.

Soon, Nokia Transport for current Lumia devices is going to be updated with improved user experience, search history and automatic coverage update.

We’re excited about the Lumia 920 and the ground-breaking PureView imaging capabilities we announced today.

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.

We are looking forward to bringing the Lumia 920, with PureView optical image stabilization to select markets later this year.

Here is the video shown at the press conference shot using a Lumia 920. On the right is a Lumia 920 prototype with OIS. On the left is a smartphone without OIS. The difference is apparent.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The new Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820 are not just innovative smartphones packed with great features, but they look fantastic too.

Nokia’s unrivalled flair for design combined with using unique materials in the coolest colours has once again produced a couple of knockout devices.

The Lumia 920 is available in yellow, red, grey, white and black. For the Lumia 820 there is a choice of red, yellow, grey, cyan, purple, white and black.

We got our hands on a yellow Lumia 920 and a red Lumia 820 together with some of their accessory friends. 

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy and – for maximum detail – you can click through to see a high-resolution version of each image.

The Lumia 920

The Lumia 920 resting and wirelessly charging itself up on the Fatboy Recharge Pillow.

The Lumia 820

The Lumia 820 on the Nokia Wireless Charging Plate DT-900, which is also available in a range of colours.

The Lumia 820, despite appearances to the contrary, has a variety of changeable shells – which fully replace the rear of the device, rather than fitting over it. Here is a selection of the other colours.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone visionary, Joe Belfiore, has paid tribute to the ‘gorgeous and awesome’ Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 smartphones that have been unveiled today in New York.

In an interview with Conversations, which you can watch in the video above, Joe said the innovative new smartphones represented Microsoft’s ‘next big chapter in our partnership with Nokia.’

The Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820 are the first Nokia smartphones to run on the new Windows Phone 8 operating system that has been overseen by Joe and his team.

How significant is Windows Phone 8?

“It is the release where we fulfil the vision of the Metro UI with the beautiful new start experience and with the underpinnings in common with Windows 8 on the desktop, slates and laptops,” says Joe.

“I think the common technology core with a great new user interface across all our products is going to help developers write more apps, help end users be more productive and happy, and hopefully drive our business together in a significant way.”

Talking pictures

Speaking at the joint Nokia and Microsoft press conference, Joe was especially keen to talk about the camera support that Windows Phone 8 offers.

“The main news today is the camera support that we have added to Windows Phone 8 that Nokia in particular has exploited to build an amazing photography device in this Lumia 920.”

Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820

Our first Windows Phone 8 smartphones.

Be a part of it.

Microsoft, said Joe, had added extendibility to the camera experience so that different applications could be created to ‘use our advance pipeline to create all kinds of end user value.’

For its part, the Lumia 920 features the best camera Nokia has ever put in a smartphone.

 ‘A work of art’

Joe has been lucky enough to be using the Lumia 920 as his own phone for quite a while. What does he love the most about the flagship Windows Phone 8 device?

“I really love the screen and the camera both of which are great experiences. But I have to say when I got this near final version in my hand it has got to be the finish and the ID [industrial design]. This is a work of art.”

After the tremendous reception deservedly received for the Nokia 808 PureView, our imaging team was perhaps entitled to a holiday.

Instead, though, we sent them back to the lab to work on two things: bringing the technology to Lumia smartphones and delivering a whole new set of improvements.

The results of this intensive labour are first found in the Nokia Lumia 920.

[NB: If you want to get right into the nitty-gritty, download and digest the white paper. This is the tl;dr version.]

The initial PureView model focused on the problem of digital zoom and perfect details. Phase two of development focuses on low light performance, and adds more practical features that will allow more camera phone users to take better pictures.

The number one camera phone annoyance – fixed

Low light performance has been improved through two particular measures. 

First, the sensor type has been changed. A next-generation Back-Side Illuminated sensor is fitted that places the photosensitive area directly beneath the lens, without wires or metal between, as is the case with Front-Side Illuminated sensors. More light reaches the plate, in other words. That’s of critical importance when there isn’t much light around.

Image captured with Nokia Lumia 920

Image captured with competing high-end smartphone

Second, we’ve adopted a massive f/2.0 aperture – in layman’s terms, it’s a bigger hole, and so it lets in more light from the start when you’re using it indoors. Both these measures mean a lower sensor size is needed in order to get great results when you’re working in low light. 

Ready, steady, snap

These advances are complemented by Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). Your pictures and videos won’t blur when your hands are shaking, or when you are on the move. Again, it’ll help in low-light conditions where exposure times can get significantly longer.

Your images and pictures won't blur

The OIS technology isn’t a digital algorithm, like you may have experienced previously. Crucially the rear-end of the camera is caged with a gyroscope to move the whole optical assembly to compensate unintended camera movement. Enough explanation: this video tells the story best.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

As a self-confessed terrible photographer, thanks to genetically inherited shaky hands, it’s this part of the story that interests me the most. 

But there’s more…

The Nokia Lumia 920 packs a new generation of LED flash. This can be used as a continuous light for video and – for the first time – a pulse burst flash. The technology behind LED flash has improved significantly over a period of mere months, to be able to accurately freeze subjects under many more conditions than used to be the case.

Image capture with Nokia Lumia 920

Image captured with competing high-end smartphone

Next, the image processing algorithms on the Lumia 920 significantly outshine any found on previous camera phones. In particular, the ‘denoise’ algorithm for reducing any visual noise from images is brand new and better than ever. These advanced algorithms compensate for not having the oversampling technology used in the previous generation of PureView.

Once more, we’d urge the true camera-fanatics to take a look at the white paper for more in-depth information. Even if you’re not, there’s a ton of information there that’s just plain fascinating for anyone with an interest in photography.

Note: The Lumia 920 pictures in this post were taken using prototype hardware and software, and then reduced dramatically in size. In addition, the OIS video, above, was not shot using the Lumia 920.