14 DAY TRIAL // One of the new features that Microsoft announced for its Windows Phone 8 operating system was the support for a new type of camera applications, called lenses.
Through them, app developers could expand the capabilities of any smartphone, just as Nokia’s Smart Shoot, Cinemagraph and Panorama did for Lumia 920 and Lumia 820.
However, these are only some of the lenses that were made available for these devices, and others more are available through the Windows Phone Store for users to enjoy.
With more developers taking advantage of this feature in Windows Phone 8, the capabilities of these apps started to stretch beyond simple photo snapping.
Reading Lens, for example, was designed to enable users to magnify text, provided that it is too small for them to read.
”Use your camera to focus on small text and, hey presto, you can see it large and clear on your display. You can also turn on the light and take snapshots of the page,” a post on Nokia Conversations explains.
There is also the CNN iReport app, through which users can easily share images and videos with CNN. The app is free, but users will have to login, register or sign in as guests to it.
Through another app, CamWow, users can apply a variety of fun filters to their photos, all in a very simple manner, straight from the smartphone.
There is also a Handyscan app available for those interested in scanning documents and having them saved on the device or on Dropbox or SkyDrive, as well as a Voice Controlled Camera, which takes advantage of the handset’s speak recognition feature.
To access more such apps, owners of Nokia Lumia devices will simply have to open the camera app and hit the Lenses icon on the viewfinder screen.
In addition to receiving access to the list of already available lenses on the device, there is also a button called “find more lenses,” through which users will receive access to similar apps available for them to download.