Product Review: Nokia Lumia Icon (Verizon Wireless)

I had the pleasure, and honor, of product testing the Nokia Lumia Icon for the past month or so. It was a very fun experience, as I've never product tested, well... anything before! It was quite a learning curve as I've never used a Windows-based phone, but I liked the interface overall, and liked the camera and editing aspects of it. 

Photo Quality: 8/10
 - Amazing. What else can I say about the fact that the camera gives you TWO options for taking/savings photos, and each of them are GREAT! I was still surprised at the quality difference the Pro High Res presented, but was still more interested in how the PHR setting was NOT always the best photo option. I wish I knew why! Even still, these are photos I would be happy to send to clients. 

Mechanics: 6/10
 - Though the camera has a great, high megapixel quantity, the fact of the matter is the mechanics of the camera didn't work like I wanted or programmed them to. When used in short distances, the flash STILL went off despite the fact that I turned it off. The shutter was delayed (but quick when it did finally go off). The lag in the shutter can make a huge difference between getting the shot, and not. 

Editing: 7/10
 - Nokia has some fun apps that allow you to edit the photos you take. But keep in mind, they are very SIMPLE. Most of them (if not all of them), are basic filters to allow you to change the colors on the photos, but they are still fun if there's certain looks you're going for. 

Overall: 7/10  -  Great CONSUMER level camera!
 - While I liked the quality of the photos, and the ability to choose camera settings, the shutter lag and flash usage even though I had turned the flash off, was something that bothered me a bit too much. As a consumer, looking for a great camera on a phone, I would highly recommend this. But as a professional photographer, I'm going to have to pass.

Thanks again to Chelsey, Core Creative, and Verizon Wireless for allowing me to test this fantastic device!

Product Test: Nokia Lumia Icon (Verizon Wireless) - Startup Milwaukee

Back in January 2013, I became the photographer for Startup MKE. I had friends that were involved in the organization and by their recommendation I reached out to the co-founders. After a short round of email communication, I joined the team as the Official Photographer for their Meetups. I was thrilled and honored. It had been a couple of years since I had really taken photos, and I felt that I needed to get back in the game. These photos are from one of their most recent Meetups.

You can see how the flash went off, even though I had manually turned it off. It only happened in close settings, but it was bothersome nonetheless. 

No idea why this happened, it only happened once or twice while I was taking photos, but they turned out dark like this. 

 

 

 

 

  

Below are a few shots that I really wanted to highlight. Since I had primarily set the camera settings to automatic, I wanted to experiment a bit. Since I had a small window of time, I wanted to focus on the ISO. Leaving all other settings at automatic (f-stop, shutter), and standing in the same spot for each photo, this is the result. Obviously, the higher the ISO, the grainier the photos that are produced.

ISO 4000

ISO 800

ISO 400

ISO 200

ISO 100

ISO 250

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

Product Test: Nokia Lumia Icon (Verizon Wireless) - Misc Shots

I decided to take a few test shots with the camera to get a feel for how it worked and operated. This is a Windows-based phone, which I am not at ALL familiar. What I like is that on the home screen, you're able to customize the tiles and how they're set for you. I thought that was nice, as I'm used to customizing my other devices (both Android and Apple). However, since I've never used the interface before, it took a little getting used to. I ended up being able to pick it up pretty quickly though. 

  

The camera was easy to focus, and quickly auto-focused to what I wanted it to. For the test shots, I left all the settings on auto (though they are customizable: more on that later).

 

One thing I noticed as I was scrolling through photos on the phone after I had taken a few shots, was the difference! Every shot I took (or very nearly every one!) had a double. I was very confused at first. Then realized they had different names they were saved under. While each shot had the same beginning of the name, the ending was different. One was "Pro" and the other was "Pro High Res". And I could immediately see which was which. The clarity and crispness of the PHR photo was AMAZING. And while the Pro image was great, it couldn't hold a candle to the quality of the PHR photos. 

Pro

Pro High Res

One thing I thought was interesting was this was NOT the case for EVERY doubled photo. 

Pro - looks clearer

Pro High Res - doesn't look as crisp

Product Preview: Nokia Lumia Icon (Verizon Wireless)

A few weeks back I was contacted by a good friend of mine, Chelsey from Core Creative, and as asked if I would be interesting in product testing a phone for Verizon Wireless, to test the photography capabilities of it. She knows me as a photographer through quite a few mutual friends, and thought of me. I was honored and thrilled! We got together, and she showed me the beauty: the Nokia Lumia Icon.

I was impressed. This this is gorgeous. The styling of it (me being a very aesthetic person, I tend to notice the physical design of things first) I fell in love with. It's very lightweight, has a nice large screen, easy to access buttons. Everything physically is something I like and would enjoy having in a phone (I personally have a Samsung Galaxy S4, and I'm in LOVE with that! :) )

More tests (and images) to come!


Here's some basic tech specs for you (straight from Nokia's website, the more detailed specs are available on the site):

• Main camera sensor: 20 MP, PureView
• Display size: 5''
• Display resolution: Full HD (1920 x 1080)
• Processor name: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 800
• Maximum talk time (3G): 16.4h
• Battery capacity: 2420mAh
• Wireless charging: Built-in (Qi standard)

• • Main camera
    • Main camera sensor: 20 MP, PureView 
    • ZEISS optics: Yes 
    • Sensor size: 1/2.5 inch 
    • Main camera f-number/aperture: f/2.4 
    • Camera focal length: 26 mm
    • Camera minimum focus range: 10 cm
    • Camera image formats: JPEG/Exif 
    • Flash type: Dual LED flash 
    • Flash operating range: 3.0 m
    • Flash modes: Off, Automatic
  • Main camera features
    • Main camera - other features: 6-lens optics, Backside-illuminated image sensor, High resolution zoom 2x, Optical image stabilization, PureView
    • Digital camera add-ons: Panorama lens, Bing vision, Cinemagraph lens, Creative Studio, Nokia Camera
  • Photography apps
    • Nokia Camera7: Nokia Camera brings together the features from Nokia Pro Cam and Nokia Smart Cam modes into one application. It gives you the whole exclusive Nokia camera experience with fast access to editing and sharing. 
    • Creative Studio: Get more out of your pictures with this quick and easy photo editor. Creative Studio’s editing tools let you quickly adjust color balance, remove red eye and apply filters. Then, share your pictures directly on Facebook and Twitter. 
    • Cinemagraph: A magical blend of photo and movie-like animation, creating pictures that seem almost alive. Helpful on-screen assistance lets you select the animated area of your picture and easily create and edit a cinemagraph. You can share your cinemagraph with friends via social media, email and messaging. 
    • Panorama: Get the bigger picture with Nokia’s easy-to-use Panorama app. Simply take your pictures and the app automatically stitches them into a picture-perfect view. Once you’re done, share your panorama directly to Twitter and Facebook. 
    • Nokia Storyteller: Nokia Storyteller organizes your photos into stories on an interactive HERE map by time and place. Cinemagraphs and smart photos play automatically. See points of interest around the photos taken and pull up contact info, call or email directly from Storyteller, enabling you to authentically re-experience your entire journey when the time comes. 
  • Image capturing
    • Capture modes: Video 
    • Scene modes: Automatic, Sports, Night
    • White balance modes: Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Daylight
    • Light sensitivity: Automatic, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600, ISO 3200, ISO 4000
    • Photos viewed by: Month, Photo editor, Album, Timeline, Camera Roll, Favorites, Nokia Storyteller, Photos from social networks
  • Secondary camera
    • Secondary camera resolution: 1280 x 960 pixels
    • Secondary camera - other features: Video recording, HD 1.2 MP wide angle, Still image capture, Video call

Whoa.

Here I am, deciding to BLOG again! WHAAAAAT?! Let's hope it goes better this time! :)

This will be a forum for me to show off tested products, current projects I have going on, and some things that I just like! 

So, here we go!