Ever since it was announced that Nokia had purchased the technology and intellectual property from imaging firm Scalado, we have been waiting to see how the company’s assets would be integrated into Nokia’s mobile devices. Following today’s ‘Switch to Lumia’ keynote we now have an answer: Lenses.
During the keynote — where the company launched the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 — Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore touched briefly on a new Lenses applications that would come to Windows Phone 8.
The apps, which integrate deeply with your Windows Phone device’s camera, allow you to send your images to supported camera apps and add more detail or provide more features over the stock camera application. CNN, Bing and Photosynth are among the apps supported.
In a briefing with The Next Web, Nokia’s Vice President of Product Marketing Ilari Nurmi delved more deeply into two new Lenses the company has created since the Scalado team came on board: Smart Shoot and Cinemagraph.
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The Smart Shoot Lense app allows Lumia owners to capture the best parts of a photo instead of having to wait until everyone is sitting still or a scene is just right. It works by taking a number of photos in quick succession and analyses to see if there is any movement.
It’s actually similar to the technology that RIM will include in BlackBerry 10, an agreement that Scalado made with RIM before it merged with Nokia. On devices offered by both companies, if you find there’s something you don’t like in your photo, Scalado’s technology (and the Smart Shoot Lense) just removes it.
Scalado’s other Lense app, Cinemagraph, is similar to the popular iOS application that allows users to create animated GIFs from videos. However, the Cinemagraph Lense app from Nokia is completely image based, adding more depth to animations. These can then be shared with your wider friend networks, whether it be via messaging or social networks.
“A few things that were shown on the stage are the first ingredients of Scalado integration. The two Lenses that we are showing [Cinemagraph and Smart Shoot] are examples of this,” says Nurmi.
Nokia purchased the technologies and the intellectual property from Swedish imaging software firm Scalado in June, to help it bring “outstanding imaging experiences” to its Lumia line of smartphones.
When the deal completed in July, the company said the Lund site in Sweden will become a crucial place for its imaging software for smartphones, in addition to its existing locations in Espoo and Tampere, Finland. As part of the deal, approximately 50 imaging specialists from Scalado were transferred to Nokia.
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