Today was my son Addison’s 6th birthday party, where we had an incredible setup by my wife utilizing a Skylanders theme. It’s amazing to think he’s already six! I told my wife that she is getting old, but she just reminded me to look in the mirror at my bald head (Wife – 1 Gabe – 0). My son’s party and the announcement of the Nokia Lumia 1020 device this week are springboards to my title thought and I’d like to share that with you.

 

When preparing for a big event in life (like your child’s birthday party), you always want to make sure you have all the tech essentials in order to capture life’s important moments. For most people this means preparation of and bringing along a digital camera and/or video camera. Last night I did my due diligence, since I am a system admin by trade “all things tech” fall under my purview at the Beaver home. I made sure our digital camera and video camera were properly charged and that we had replacement batteries, all extension cables, spare SD cards, etc so that we were ready for the big day. We packed everything up for the party today, including all of our tech essentials.

 

We spent our time at the party setting up food, entertaining guests, chasing down our other smaller children, and trying to take in the moments with our son in between it all. We played games, served and ate party food, sang happy birthday, and enjoyed some fun in the rain playing in the puddles and shooting silly string.

 

In all of the moments described above, our hands were always busy, we were on the move the entire time. There was no time to tell the kids playing games or being funny to, “Wait, I am going to go grab my video camera, do that again just like you did it before,” or “Hold on a sec, let me pick up my camera…ok lets go,” Kids move fast and technology needs to be available instantly to capture moments you’ll never have the opportunity to seize again. What does this mean? Every single picture and video we have was taken on our mobile devices. My Nokia Lumia 920 and my wife’s iPhone5. The digital camera and video camera, while great devices individually, were never removed from their bags.

 

A quick look at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et al these days will show that our situation tonight is a growing trend and becoming the norm. We’ve got these amazing devices in our pockets, micro-computers with cameras that maybe not best dedicated devices in quality, but they are available immediately in mere seconds. The unfortunate thing for many people is that their smart or feature phone is equipped with a sub-par camera that does not perform well in low-light or less than optimal situations, leading to grainy images or low quality videos that may not capture the essence of their memory in the way they would have liked.

 

My Nokia Lumia 920 has been responsible for capturing my oldest son’s kindergarten program, his first season of coaches pitch baseball, my younger son’s blossoming imagination and curiosity, and many of my daughter’s firsts, and precious random moments in between. The quality of video recording and pictures has been stellar, but I was intrigued to hear about the new 1020 device this week.

 

The Nokia Lumia 1020 is a Windows Phone 8 device, just as my Lumia 920 is, but this device will sport a 41 megapixel camera. That is not a typo, its a super-high resolution 41 megapixel camera. If you check out the link for the 1020 I posted, the first thing you will see is “Your moments captured like never before”. This to me is exactly what many, many people are using their smartphone for more and more these days. The smartphones in many people’s pockets can check email and browse the web at amazingly fast 4G speeds, can play some intense graphic games, and much more; however, pull them out to take a quick photo or video of your dog playing in the backyard at dusk and more than likely the result will be, meh.

 

We’ve got the smartphone spec wars with OEMs adding bigger, faster processors, improving battery life and graphics, and more. It’s great to see Nokia, and even Samsung has seen potential with its GS4 Zoom offering, pushing the smartphone market in a new direction with the focus on improving photography on mobile devices including both the hardware and software.

 

Anyone considering a new smartphone in the near-future and want to have a high-quality digital and video camera ready at all times should definitely give the Lumia 1020 device a serious look. In life’s special moments like, your child’s first steps, a surreal sunset, or even that new dish at your favorite restaurant you want to share with your followers on Instagram, you only have seconds to capture the moment, you need speed and just as importantly high-quality.

 

Is improving mobile photography important to you? Are you satisfied with your current smartphone’s camera? Any other thoughts on this topic? Let me know in the comments.

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