Lumia 800 software update rolling out

As I'm writing this post, the much awaited software update (version 1600.2487.8107.12070) for Nokia Lumia 800 is being installed on my phone. The update should significantly improve the battery performance and it also includes some usability improvements and fixed bass audio levels.

Update instructions can be found from Nokia's Lumia 800 Software Update page. The availability page there is also pretty neat, now I know for certainty that my Lumia 800 is a German Country Variant 059L7F7 (I bought it from Amazon Germany unlocked) =)

More background information about the update procedure itself at can be read at Nokia Conversations.

The battery has drained out quite quickly before now, which is why I previously posted some battery saving tips. Extra battery life is most welcome, but I'm still more anxiously waiting for the future updates that should be on their way, including camera software fixes + tethering support.

6609 games later - Halo: Reach

Wohooo! On Friday 23 March 2012 I finally reached the max rank of Inheritor in Halo: Reach, after a whopping 6609 games! =D Reward: the haunted helmet. Price: weeks and weeks of time sacrificed for the cause. Since the game has played a big role in my life for the last years I figured achieving the max rank was worth a little sparkling wine!

Becoming Inheritor doesn't actually mean I'd be among the top skilled players, not at all. If anything it only tells that I've spent ALOT of time playing the game =) I can honestly say I'm only about average+ player by my skills, perhaps party because of my playing style - I just want to rush into battle (foolishly) and have fun instead of hiding in distance and sniping the enemy players.

Reaching the end of the line is something I never believed I could achieve when I started playing the game over 1,5 years ago. But now I'm there, the journey is finished and new challenges await - not in Halo: Reach, but in Halo 4 that is coming out later this year. Looking forward to that!

Thank you Bungie and 343 Industries for the great moments I've had over the thousands and thousands of games played!

If you're interested, you can see my Halo: Reach stats page

Tracking ships, planes and satellites!

It's inspiring to live in a world where technology and the internet have revolutionized the easiness of sharing information - and made vast amount of knowledge available to everyone. There's actually so much information that quite a bunch of it is totally useless too. But even useless stuff can be cool and that's what this post is about.

Have you ever wondered where that big jet flying in the skies high above you is actually heading? It's possible to find out with Flightradar24.com! It's kind of amazing that an average Joe is able to track all the flights and see their real-time position on the map. For years, I've suspected that an intercontinental route is going just above my hometown of Rauma, and checking out Flightradar a couple of times has proven that - there's planes going from especially Japan, Dubai to USA. So, check out the site and watch the skies from a new perspective =)

  People suffering from lost sense of balance and vomiting, must be the Baltic Sea...
or Tallink Silja ferries!

But it doesn't end there! If your friends are on a ship, say, like the "Swedish ferries" going from Turku and Helsinki to Stockholm, you can stalk the exact locations of their party boat. Or, if you're about to head out to enjoy the archipelago, you just might as well check out if the big ships are going to pass you by for a nice photo shoot! Track the ships with Marinetraffic.com

And finally, you can even track the satellites orbiting the Earth! For a reasonable, satellite specific tracking you can check out www.n2yo.com. If you want to to see all of the satellites, you can check out Google Earth Blog page that utilizes the 3D map view familiar from Google Earh. It tracks 13 000 satellites! Makes you wonder how many big brothers are there, watching down upon us? =D

Creative Studio for Nokia Lumia phones

Nokia recently released Creative Studio, a simple yet very useful image capturing and editing tool for the Lumia Windows Phones. And it's free! Here is a quick look into it.

The app features a basic set of effects and editing capabilities, both for new pictures or pictures from your image albums. To me, however, the most precious feature is the panorama shooting mode that enables you easily to stitch four photos into a single panorama image. It's really fast and easy to use plus it's quite accurate (assuming the gyroscope sensor in your phone is ok).

Another cool feature of Creative Studio is the possibility to preview "face warp" and "live styles" effects on your phone's screen while pointing the camera on your desired target. Then, if you like what you see, just tap on the screen or the press the camera button to capture an image.

Taking photos is basically lag-free, even when taking the panorama shots. After you've taken a photo, in either regular mode, panorama mode or some of the live styles, you can choose to further edit the picture and repeat editing as many times as you see fit. You can also compare "before and after" before applying the effects. Only after you're done editing and hit Save, the effects are applied to full size images and it takes a few seconds.

Here's a few sample photos taken and edited with Creative Studio:

If you have a Nokia Lumia phone, you can (and should!) download Creative Studio from the Windows Phone Marketplace. It sort of combines different apps you might be using at the moment (image editing apps / panorama apps) and it definitely will be my #1 photo shooting app for the time being.

End note: One thing I've been dreaming about since I got my Lumia 800 is a panorama feature built-in with the actual camera app of the phone (like it was featured in HTC Radar). Now I've got a good panorama mode but in separate app. Luckily, the camera wizard at Nokia, Damian Dinning, has confirmed that a panorama feature is coming as a built-in feature in the near future so I really look forward to that too!

Windows Phone 7 lock screen wallpapers

I've noticed some cool WP7 wallpapers shared around on different tech blogs. Since I like taking photos and use them as my phone's lock screen background, I figured why not put the images here so everyone can use them if they will =) So, if interested, click on the image below to see a gallery of 480x800 pixel wallpapers for your Windows Phone!

Updated 1 April 2012: Added a bunch of new photos to the gallery of WP7 lockscreen wallpapers:

Windows Phone wallpapers (480x800 pixels)

PS. I might add new pictures some day to that same folder so keep visiting it every once in a while if you like my photos!

HTC Radar photos + video

I found a SkyDrive folder with a few pictures and a video of my HTC Radar. Originally I took those photos mainly to show how the exterior of the phone looked like as I was about to sell it (I had just gotten Nokia's Lumia 800 and wasn't in need to hold two new smartphones).

You can see the pictures in this HTC Radar image folder on my SkyDrive. Here's the video where I hold and flip the phone + turn it on:




HTC Radar was my first Windows Phone and it was a really good device, solid, slim and fast. You can read my HTC Radar review from earlier post on this blog.

A (digital) rose for the ladies =)

International Women's Day was a good enough reason to grab the Wacom drawing tablet from my closet and make this simple drawing of a rose - or something resembling it. I like drawing nature related stuff because no matter how you draw it, it usually looks "correct". A still-life of a machinery doesn't allow much errors or artistic freedom.

Going wild with colors has never been my thing, but in digital art it seems much more pleasant to use vibrant colors as it is in comparison to traditional coloring pencils and such. Additionally, filling huge areas with color is so much faster and pleasant when done digitally. In this drawing I like the fresh and lively colors and their contrast. Hope the ladies like it too! ;)