Jo Harlow and the Nokia Lumia 920 (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
I think it would be fair to say that Nokia's launch of the Windows Phone 8 powered Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 has not gone to plan. While a number of elements were outside of Nokia's control (such as not being able to mention any details of the core operating system), other factors under Finnish control have spun out of control.
Take the furore around the online video demonstrating the PureView technology that would be included in the Lumia 920. Thanks to a larger aperture, floating the entire camera assembly to reduce vibrations, and I suspect a huge amount of software development, the Lumia 920 boasts low light handling abilities closer to that of an SLR than a phone camera.
Here's the video, which is still available on YouTube but is now unlisted so it will not show up in a regular search.
Unfortunately the phone wasn't available when the advertising videos were being filmed, so Nokia used some stand-in technology, which included a camera crew, external lighting, and a camera that wasn't the Lumia 920. They forgot to mention this when they published the video (an overlay has now been added at the appropriate moments on YouTube). You can guess what the lede was after the launch in New York. Here's the Wall Street Journal angle, and Nokia's apology on their Conversations blog.
But perhaps there is a silver lining for Nokia in all these stormy clouds.
Anybody with a passing interest in technology and consumer electronics is now aware that Nokia designed their new smartphone camera to work in incredibly low lighting conditions and has some fantastically complicated image stabilisation technology.
