Nokia’s Head of Design
Over at Wired, there’s an article on Ahtisaari (full name Marko Ahtisaari, but like Pele, Charo or Stifler, he’s better known by a singular name), head of Nokia’s design studio. Nokia currently cranks out the best-looking of the Windows Phones, and the new 920 is continuing that trend. Ahtisaari is big on big-D design, seeing it as more than just how something looks, but how something feels and works. It’s a philosophy most associated with Apple, which explains why the article’s author fixates so much on Apple throughout the article.
Specs for Nokia’s Lumia 820 and 920
The Verge’s live blog covered the big Nokia announcement earlier today, and now Nokia have released their official announcements of their new high-end Lumia 920 and mid-level Lumia 820 phones. Their specs are:
| Lumia 920 | Lumia 820 | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 4.5 inch Nokia PureMotion HD+ WXGA IPS LCD Super Sensitive touch Nokia ClearBlack with high brightness mode and Sunlight Readability Enhancements |
|
| Battery | 2000mAh with integrated Qi wireless charging | 1650mAh with integrated Qi wireless charging |
| Processor | 1.5GHz Dual Core Snapdragon S4 | |
| Main Camera | 8.7MP with Nokia PureView advanced optical imaging stabilization and Carl Zeiss optics Full 1080p HD video capture at 30fps |
8MP Auto Focus with Carl Zeiss optics Dual LED flash Full HD 1080p video capture at 30fps |
| Front-facing Camera | 1.2MP with 720p HD video | VGA |
| Memory | 1GB RAM 32GB mass memory with 7GB free SkyDrive storage |
1GB RAM 8GB mass memory with microSD memory card support and 7GB free SkyDrive storage |
You can find a full Lumia 920 spec sheet here.
The Shoestring Budget “Ugly Little Game” That Became an App Store Hit
The thought process behind Luca Redwood’s game 10000000 (pronounced “Ten Million”) — an App Store hit despite its complete lack of marketing — was built on a budget so small that he had to borrow a friend’s Mac to build it. It’s also a great reminder of the importance of cutting stuff out, the lesson that Antoine de St-Exupéry taught: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
How to Build a Simple Drawing App for iOS
Ray Wenderlich’s site remains my favourite place to learn about iOS development. In the latest post, there’s a great tutorial on using UIKit to build a drawing app.