Nokia continues to show its prowess in photo capabilities. The Lumia 930's 20 MP camera includes many of the algorithms and other optimizations from devices like the Lumia 1020, with its 41 MP camera, according to Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. The demo room had all sorts of odd lighting, so it was impossible to do any side-by-side photo testing, so we'll have to wait for a review unit. The front-facing camera is only 1.2 MP, and the Lumia 630 and 635 do not have front-facing cameras at all, only a rear-facing 5 MP camera.
The cameras take what Nokia calls Living Images, using a series of photos to create a slight animation. In the Nokia Story Teller app, those Living Images come to life in the picture collages. Those collages are automatically created based on knowing the time and location of those photos. In other words, it's an automated picture story maker. The Lumia camera takes Living Images photos automatically, as long as the shot is in focus, and it does so by capturing about 15 frames prior to the actual photo. The image creates an MP4 file, according to a Nokia spokesman, and that image can be shared on social media sites.
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Like every phone manufacturer, Nokia couldn't announce a new flagship phone without also hocking some accessories, and in this case it's the Nokia MD12 Speaker, which bonds to the surface it's on to accentuate the bass and can play music for 15 hours uncharged. On it you can play all the music from Nokia's Mix Radio app. The MD12 comes in Orange, green, yellow and white.
There's also the Fat Boy Pillow. Don't ask. OK, it's a small, green pillow that wirelessly charges the Lumia phones. Good luck with that.
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Nokia is also including Creative Studio, an app that allows image editing, with filters and high resolution re-framing.
The Lumia 930 includes 4 microphones, which lets the phone capture surround sound, but you can also do directional stereo recording as well. The room we were in was too loud, with too many echos to really get a sense of the quality.
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Finally, the new Lumia devices include SensorCore, which tracks motion and location, and third-party developers will be building apps that take advantage of this with the SensorCore SDK. Nokia sees this as a potential phone-version of a fitness tracking wearable.
