Oh dear.
I remember when the only mobile phone anyone had was a Nokia. The Nokia 5110, now the equivalent of a telephone housebrick, was in everyone's pocket.
Then, phones started to get smaller.
And smarter.
Nokia fell behind.
First only a little, but then...
...the iphone. And the Android.
They changed everything.
Now Nokia, once THE telephone giant, is struggling to survive.
So Nokia went back to the drawing board. They came up with a new phone that they believed would launch their comeback. The Nokia Lumia 920.
The big selling point on this new Nokia is, believe it or not, the camera. Apparently, it has impressive image stabilisation, which has long been the weak point of the iphone camera.
So, to prove the point, Nokia shot a video. A demonstration video to show how good the images from the new Lumia 920 phone camera can be.
At their press conference, Nokia lauded the new phone's camera, playing their demonstration video proudly. The video wowed the assembled journalists with its image quality.
Nokia were so happy with it, they even put the Lumia 920 demonstration video online.
Big mistake.
You see, they faked it.
A keen eye online spotted a reflection in the video. The reflection clearly showed that the camera used to shoot the video was not the Nokia phone.
Ouch.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/09/06/tech-nokia-fake-ad.html
Nokia, now in damage control, released the following statement:
"In an effort to demonstrate the benefits of optical image stabilization (which eliminates blurry images and improves pictures shot in low light conditions), we produced a video that simulates what we will be able to deliver with OIS."
Simulates?
Rather than use your phone to shoot the video, you use a completely different camera (not even a phone camera!) to 'simulate' it?
Why haven't they learned? In the internet age, you will get caught out.
But that's not what actually amuses me about this story.
I find it more interesting that this is even a scandal.
Why does anyone care? It's a phone, not a video camera.
The reaction to this issue is an indicator of the future. There is a new wave coming.
Young people have no issue watching content on their relatively tiny phone screens.
It stands to logic then, that they will have a better tolerance to content that is shot on mobile phone cameras.
Currently, shooting on a phone camera is a poor man's way to shoot a film. That's the general attitude, anyway.
However, a phone screen is only 4 inches across, generally. Do you need to invest the same in shooting the film for a mobile screen as you would if it was going to be on a 22 foot cinema screen?
Keep in mind, that a cinema quality camera rental for a 6 week film shoot can cost in the vicinity of $50,000, including lenses.
$50,000 or $700, considering it will be watched on a VERY forgiving 4 inch screen?
There is even already a film festival for films shot on mobile phones.
That's why this is even a scandal. Because, in the future, a lot of content will be shot on mobile phones. The phone camera is becoming essential.
If only Nokia realised. Perhaps they would have been a little more honest.
Oh well.
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