Improve your mobile phone photography

To support the launch of the Nokia N8, widely acclaimed for its camera, Nokia has enlisted the services of  Haje Jan Kamps, blogger over at the photocritic.org blog.

So if you are into (even semi-) serious photograhpy with your mobile phone, click yourself over to the Nokia N8 camera school for tips and tricks to improve your photography. And it really does not matter what gear you have, the lessons are actually not very much at all tied to the N8.

Cudos to Nokia for (finally) realizing that the camera is more than just so many megapixels!

The portfolio machine: artist's preview of the Nokia N8

While presenting the 3 Inch Canvas exhibition at the Nokia Flagship store, I had the chance to briefly play around with the new Nokia N8. Here are a couple of observations on the phone from the perspective of artists.

Firstly I have to say that the N8 certainly seems to be the best Symbian phone Nokia has ever produced. The only detail that might make you think otherwise is the lack of a real keyboard. At least personally I type so much slower on the touch screen. If the rumors of a similar E-series device are correct,  you should soon be able to choose a keyboard version as well.

When talking to artists at the exhibition, one of the recurring talking points was how artists could use a mobile device to carry with them their portfolio. With some of the new features of the N8, this is one role where the N8 really shines.

If you are looking to be able to carry your portfolio with you at all times, you should take a look at the N8. Regardless of whether you want to present your work as images, video or Flash, you can show them on the N8.

The N8 also has a really good display letting your content shine when you show it directly on the device. I thought the X6 (which we used  for the exhibition) has a great display, but the N8 seems to outperform it, not by much but still. Colors look great and the image and video gallery works very smoothly with all the touch/swipe action you would want.

What takes the N8 to a next level with respect to showing content,  is the fact that the N8 comes with an HDMI interface. This means that you can connect the N8 to most modern flat panel TVs or desktop displays and show content in full HD format. You need to carry a cable with you, but the payback in terms of image quality on a big screen is well worth it.

The N8 can have up to 48G of memory, so you should be able to take pretty much any content you want with you. And if you still run out of memory, the N8 comes with the capability to act as a USB host, so now you can connect USB memory devices to the phone if you really need to go beyond that 48G.

All in all, the N8 looked like a very nice device and as an artist’s “show them what you’ve got” device to put on an instant display of your works, the N8 seems to be a hard act to beat.