Nokia lumia 1020: specifications

Nokia confirms the Lumia 1020, a cameraphone that offers 41-megapixel photos on the Windows Phone operating system.

Nokia's newest handset places great emphasis on its photographic capabilities, boasting a second generation 41-megapixel sensor, and available in a choice of yellow, white or black.

It claims to 'reinvent zoom, enabling people to discover more detail than the eye can see' due to its PureView technology. Deploying features such as optical image stabilisation, the device claims to be able to produce some of the sharpest images possible on any digital camera.

A similar device, the Pureview 808, launched last year, but ran on the now defunct Symbian operating system.

The Lumia 1020 includes a new application called Nokia Pro Camera, designed to make it easy for anyone to take professional quality images. Either before a picture is taken or after it has been shot, the user can see how the zoom capability and the chosen settings will affect the final photo or video.

Another new feature is dual capture, which simultaneously takes a high resolution 38-megapixel image to set aside for editing, and creates a 5-megapixel picture to share to social networks via Windows Phone 8.

The 41 megapixel sensor features Zeiss optics and a choice of six physical lenses, plus optical image stabilisation, claiming to deliver crystal clear pictures even in low light conditions. It also captures blur-free videos with stereo sound even at the loudest concerts due to Nokia Rich Recording, designed to handle sound pressure levels six times louder than conventional smartphone microphones.

Stephen Elop, President and CEO of Nokia said: “We want to take people on a journey from capturing pictures to recording and sharing their lives. The Nokia Lumia 1020 will bring new meaning to pictures and continues to strengthen Nokia’s leadership in imaging.”

Analysts, however, claimedthe Lumia alone cannot turn around Nokia's fortunes.

Daniel Gleeson, mobile analyst at IHS Electronics and Media said: "The issue for Nokia is that photography on smartphones is not just about having the best quality pictures. Sharing pictures to social networks is more important to most consumers than printing. High engagement levels means that convincing Instagram users to switch from iPhone or Android to Nokia's platform will be difficult.

"The lack of an Instagram app for Windows Phone also reinforces the fact that the platform is lagging in choice and quality of applications compared to iPhone or Android. Furthermore, the popularity of Instagram's filters again proves that absolute top rate picture quality is not actually important for the majority of users.”

Alongside the handset, Nokia also released a new imaging software development kit (SDK) that provides key image editing features of the Lumia 1020 to developers, and a camera grip allowing for hands-free photo taking, complete with built-in tripod mount.

Other features include increased battery life, the addition of popular apps Path and Flipboard being added to the Windows Phone app roster, and customers will be treated to an ad and subscription free Nokia Music streaming account.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 will arrive first on US shores on July 26 for $299.99 on a two-year contract, and will make its way across to China and key European markets this quarter.

Instagram announces 15-second video capture

Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom led off the announcement by talking about the origin of Instagram, which started in 2010 as an app called Burbn. He said that the original idea for the app was to offer both photo and video, in an effort to "capture and share" life's moments. The team didn't have the resources to do video properly at the time, so the idea was shelved until now. The slugline for the presentation has been "It's Instagram that moves", and that's pretty accurate. The Instagram team has worked hard to make a micro-video platform that stands apart from Vine, and it looks like they've got a good start on that aim. The first thing is that Instagram thinks 6-seconds is too short and "constrains your creativity", so it has upped the record time to 15-seconds, though there is a minimum of 3-seconds. Second, as you most likely expect from Instagram, there are 13 custom filters that you can put on your videos ranging from black & white, to the various color pop, and vintage options you know from Instagram. Third, instead of simply using the first frame of the video as the cover image, you can choose a "Cover Frame" to represent your video. And, last but certainly not least, Instagram has added a feature called "Cinema", which will stabilize your shaky videos into much more clean clips. From the demo, it looks like pretty impressive image stabilization software, but the bad news is that Cinema will be iOS-only at first, and will only work on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. No word on why the image stabilization isn't coming to Android just yet. Taking a video will be similar to Vine, but with a couple of added controls. Most importantly, each time you hold the record button will create a clip, and you can easily delete the last clip recorded with a simple button tap. Videos will still need to be shot chronologically though as there are no options for rearranging clips. Once you record a video, you name it, tag it with the same full hashtag support that you love in Instagram, and post it to your Instagram feed. Viewing videos will happen similarly to Vine, where the video will play automatically when you reach it in your feed. The big difference is that the video will only play once, and will not loop, like it does on Vine. Videos will also play natively in the Facebook timeline.

Instagram also leveraged some of its new cloud to bring in some celebrities to help show off the new feature. As soon as the announcement was made Burberry, Tony Hawk, Kobe Bryant, and Charity Water all had Instagram videos ready to roll. They aren't all the most interesting examples of what can be done with a micro-video platform, but since they're only 15-seconds, it's hard to complain too much. Instagram announced that the service currently has 130 million active monthly users, and everyone will get access to videos at the same time. During the Q&A section, there was a question about a Windows Phone version of the app, but that got the standard "nothing to announce at this time" answer. And, probably the best news of all is that from day one, Instagram video will be available to all users on iOS and Android. And, although it wasn't clear when that "day one" would be, it looks like you should expect the updates to roll out today, so keep an eye on the Google Play Store and iTunes App Store for the updates.

Instagram picture leads to arrest of theives

A steak dinner posted on Instagram by an identity thief led to his arrest and the arrest of his accomplice. Nathaniel Troy Maye, 44, of Harlem, N.Y., and Tiwanna Tenise Thomason, 39, of Miramar, Florida both pleaded guilty in Federal Court in Fort Lauderdale on Friday, to aggravated identity theft and possession of unauthorized access devices. Both face up to 12 years in prison.

The picture that led to the arrest

Back on January 5th, a witness working undercover for the IRS had dinner with the couple at YOLO restaurant on Las Olas Boulevard. During that meal, the witness told the IRS that he had met with a man  named "Troy," who was dating Thomason. The man said he was from Harlem and had 700,000 stolen identities to sell. The undercover witness met again with the couple two days later at Morton's steakhouse during which time he was given a flash drive containing 50,000 identities from the couple. The agent told the pair that he was going to use the identities to file fraudulent tax returns and promised to pay him for the names after the returns were filed.
Now here is where the Instagram trend to memorialize meals over the app backfired for the thieves. When the IRS examined the flash drive, they found information linking the drive to "Troy Maye." Another IRS agent, Louis Babino, checked Instagram and found an account for TROYEMAYE. Looking at the pictures on the account, the IRS found a photo of a steak and macaroni and cheese meal containing the caption "Morton's" that matched the January 7th meal between the undercover witness and Maye. The IRS agents also found a profile picture of Maye on his Instagram account and the witness immediately identified the man in the picture as the person who turned over the smoking gun flash drive full of stolen identities.

Thomason

Maye

With a fairly long prison term awaiting both Maye and Thomason, let this be a warning to those of you out there who feel compelled to share their meals with the rest of the world on Instagram. Make sure that you have no skeletons in your closet before you post your lunch on the app.


 So all you naija instagram freaks be careful of the pictures you post cos they might be used against you in the court of law. just saying. . .






Source: Gizmodo