camera

Halide Camera App – Alternative iOS Camera App : Review

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Having recently been restricted to using only my iPhone at a couple of motorcycle road races I found the native iOS Camera App lacking. Thankfully I found the Halide Camera App.

Until this point I had tried a few iOS Camera apps but always found myself going back to the original iOS Camera. ‘It just worked.’ It was handy, wasn’t full of fluff – a proper point and shoot experience, which to be fair is probably what 99% of camera phone users need 99% of the time.

Generally for motorcycle racing events I would have used my Panasonic TZ80 or Cannon DSLR – the ability for a fast shutter is obvious when motorcycles scream past you at speeds I could only guess.

For reasons outside of my control I found myself at the 2019 Cookstown 100, and 2019 Tandragee 100 road races with only my iPhone X. It was instantly apparent that the native iOS app was not going to produce images that were in anyway usable for me – I should be more specific – the native iOS was not going to produce images of the racing and moving motorcycles that were in anyway usable.

2019 Tandragee 100 native iPhone X Camera
2019 Tandragee 100 native iPhone X Camera

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£1000 for a iPhone – Are you all Crazy?!?

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That is the question that is getting fired about everywhere at the moment!  Just look on your Twitter Feed or Facebook Page and you will see it cropping up everywhere, from friends, from tech companies, from idiots, from Apple Haters, but one thing will be common amongst them all, they will be Android Users.  From some reason Android Users are Apple Haters.

Period.

However not all Apple Users are Android Haters.  I can testify to this first hand, as an absolute Apple fan I am also the proud owner of a 2nd Generation Nexus 7 – and a great device it is.

So what is it with Android Users and their exclusive hatred of Apple?  It is weird, but it is definitely misguided.  It is the sheep comment that I love,  ‘I am not a sheep!  I don’t just mindlessly follow Apple and buy what they tell me!  I am an individual and I use Android because it doesn’t lock me down and allows me to be an individual!’

Oh Really – Let’s put it in figures – Android has in 2014 an 80% market share.  Apple hovering about 15%.  It seems that really you are indeed a sheep and one of a much bigger flock.

As for being locked down, what have you customised?  What have you programmed?  What have you hacked, installed, or written that Apple wouldn’t have let you?  Pirate movies?  Pirate TV, anything else?  Probably not.  Oh but you have a nice Incredible Hulk theme on your Home Screen!  Ah now I see your point.  I know, I apologise the sarcasm is hanging out of this post, but it will stop soon for some facts and figures, honestly.

Let’s stop being juvenile about it, some like Apple, some like Android, and you know what, thats ok.  But lets be realistic a high end of the market Android phone isn’t exactly cheap either.  A brand new Galaxy S5 is sitting at £409 delivered from Amazon, an iPhone 5s 16Gb is only £459 delivered, so the Galaxy S5 is cheaper than an iPhone but it is only £50 of a difference, and it ridiculous to be comparing an iPhone with for example a Moto G at £80, although a great phone we need to compare like for like.

Now down to the nitty gritty – the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.  The cries of £1000 for a phone, are you mad ring across the planet!  Well firstly :

– It is not £1000! The most expensive variant, the iPhone 6 Plus, 128 Gb will cost you £789, that is £211 less that £1000 or over 20% less, so it is a considerable enough difference to not be negligible.

So what do you get?  You get an absolute bag full of tech compressed into a 5.5 inch screen and remember of course you can go smaller and take the iPhone 6 which will cost even less £££s, but lets stick with what you get, and the simplest way for me to put it is you get this…

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Nokia Lumia 920 UnBoxing

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I’m not completely new to Nokia Lumia phones nor the Windows Phone OS, having owned a Lumia 620 previously.  As a complete and utter Mac fanatic and convert I have to say the Windows Phone OS is exceptional.  Yes there are a few holes in the app market, but these are more ‘wants’ than ‘necessities’ and as every week passes these holes are getting filled in.  There is now very little that I can’t do on WP that I really see as an immediate must, except for the Sky Go App.  Come on Microsoft and Sky, Windows Phone users need Sky Go!

I previously did a simple guide for getting started on WP8, you can find that here : https://tbni.blog/2013/05/27/windows-phone-8-getting-started-tips-tricks/

Also to touch quickly on the built in Nokia Apps, firstly the Sat Nav Software is simply great.  Last year it took me all across Florida without a single hitch, and it frequently takes me round roads over here, that the rest of the developed world would maybe, on a good day, consider as a track!  Believe me, a Sat Nav working well over here is no mean feat!

So what is different and why did I see the need to change?

That’s an easy one, there are some unbelievable deals about at the moment on the 920 handset, I was able to sell my 620 for about £4 less than I bought it for and a few notes later I had upgraded to the 920.  The differences are basically, everything is bigger and better.  Bigger, better screen, more RAM, faster processor, more storage, much much better camera.

The full Specs of the phone for the technically gifted can be found here : http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_lumia_920-4967.php

Which leads me to my next point, the camera on the Nokia Lumia 920 is outstanding.  (The gallery images were not taken with it by the way – say no more!)  And with each and every update Nokia and WP8 are throwing out it just keeps getting better.  The latest rendition of this Nokia Camera App can be found here : http://www.windowsphone.com/en-gb/store/app/nokia-camera/bfd2d954-12da-415c-ad99-69a20f101e04

With the Nokia Camera App you are not far off the power of a basic DSLr!  With setting from Auto to Manual, Portrait to Sports, the need for a Point ‘N Shoot is quickly diminishing!  Another quality app that has been released by Nokia for the higher end Lumia range is called ‘Refocus’ and with simply touch gestures true depth of field imaging has been brought – live time – to the mobile phone camera system.  A quick preview and demo of ‘ReFocus’ can be seen here : https://refocus.nokia.com

With such a brilliant Sat Nav and Camera system on the 920 it has to be a contender to replace your sat nav in your car alone, and at similar money for a decent sat nag, and with the benefit of it being phone as well as a great camera the benefits are certainly becoming more obvious!

Finally, with Nokia MixRadio you have a massive catalogue of music to take with you, stream and enjoy for FREE!  Yep another brilliant free app in the Nokia Suite, and the details of it are here : http://www.nokia.com/gb-en/apps/app/mixradio/

Of course there has to be a problem right?  Yep unfortunately so.  And it is common with all smart phones.  The battery.  When Sat Naving, photographing and streaming the Lumia goes through a battery as quick as a hungry baby with a bottle.  Same can be said for many other phones of course, but it is a point to be wary off.  If long battery life is a necessity for you, you may need to look else where, or at least at a USB car charger and spare lead, or a battery pack, hell there are that many options I’m sure you’ll be grand!

Nokia Lumia 920 UnBoxing Gallery :

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