PhotoBeamer, the magic picture show

The best innovations in technology are often the ones that combine simplicity with a sprinkle of magic. Think about the first time you connected a device to WiFi or the first time you made a video call with Skype.
Our latest app for the Nokia Lumia 820 and Lumia 920, PhotoBeamer, offers a similarly amazing new experience for smartphone users.

Download PhotoBeamer

Press the Search button on your Nokia Lumia and then tap Vision
Scan the QR code
Tap on the link when it appears on the screen
Install the application from the Windows Phone Store
This is what happens. You install the app and use it to look at pictures in your gallery. As soon as you open a picture, you’re told to go to photobeamer.com in any web browser (not the one on your phone!).

Point the phone camera at the QR code that appears on the website, tap it when it’s visible on the camera screen, and then the magic happens.

Your photos are automatically transmitted to the website and shown on the screen without another click. It’s the fastest and most adaptable way to show off your pictures we’ve seen.

Simplicity is hard to do

Of course, behind the scenes, there’s quite a lot of complexity going on that’s required to allow things to happen so quickly and simply.

David Fredh, who joined Nokia as part of the recent acquisition of imaging know-how from Scalado, is the lead product manager behind the app. David explains: “We had two main aims for PhotoBeamer: to make sharing as simple as possible. But also to make it as fast as possible.”

The QR code is, of course, unique every time the site is opened, and as soon as you’ve scanned it, the app starts sending your pictures, caching them for fast performance as you scroll back and forth through a set.

Images are streamed progressively from the device to the target screen. Thanks to this optimisation of the data, PhotoBeamer can work even on a standard 3G connection, as well as 4G and WiFi.

Samuli Hänninen, who heads up Nokia’s imaging efforts, commented: “It’s great to see the first full delivery from our colleagues in the new Lund office, and a terrific product that reaffirms Nokia’s leadership in the imaging space.”