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Lumia 730 redefining the selfie
In the last few years, the world has seen a growing trend of narcissism through selfies
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In the last few years, the world has seen a growing trend of narcissism through selfies.
So popular is the term that the Oxford Dictionary officially included it, defining the word as 'a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media'.
The emergence of smartphones that could easily link customers with social media in 2009 really kicked off the trend of selfies ' as did the emergence of front-facing cameras on smartphones.
In 2014, the selfie exploded with the famous photo that Ellen Degeneres took at the Oscars, featuring her and a bevy of Hollywood's most famous stars.
Selfies, however, are now less cool than so-called 'wefies' ' the emphasis on 'we' ' images taken with your friends or the famous.
In Indonesia, where social media activities are significant, wefies have become the most popular form of self-taken photos.
Local social media users meet up at events called kopdar, making adequate time for selfies and wefies.
Taking selfies like Degeneres', however, is not an easy task: With more people in one frame, the smartphone camera used must be able to catch wider angles. Using a remote-controlled selfie stick to activate the camera while holding at an ideal distance is also essential.
Realizing the need of smartphone users to take better gang-up selfies with better angles and reach, Nokia recently launched the Lumia 730 Dual Sim.
It is a smartphone that redefines the selfie, according to Microsoft Devices Indonesia president-director William Hamilton-Whyte.
'As of now, front cameras are no longer used just to take an individual selfie or close up Skype communication, but also to display other things, such as locations or the surrounding activities,' Hamilton-Whyte said. 'With the growing number of social media applications in Indonesia, users also need an instrument that can make it easier for them to share.'
The Lumia 730 features a 5-megapixel full high-definition front camera with a focal length of 24 mm.
The camera allows users to catch better looking and much sharper selfies with the front camera, while at the same time offers the possibility to catch wider angles and backgrounds without having to utilize a selfie-stick.
Lumia 730 also comes with the Lumia Selfie application, which will allow users to edit images on the fly before sharing them on social media.
'With the Lumia Selfie application, users can edit their selfies easily,' Microsoft Devices Product Manager Wirda Haryani said at a recent demo of the Lumia 730 in Jakarta. 'The application allows users to have their teeth whitened, their cheeks to become more chubby or less, et cetera. This way, you can make sure that you look good in your selfies before sharing them on your social media accounts.'
The wide-angle front camera of the Lumia 730 also benefits users who would like to use Skype video calling in communicating with their friends.
The camera allows more people to be included in the image, and also enables people to share what is going on in the background during Skype camera calls.
Users of the Lumia 730 will also receive free 15 gigabytes of cloud storage via the Microsoft OneDrive application to store selfie photos, videos and other files. The application is automatically synchronized across a user's other Microsoft devices.
The Lumia 730 uses the Windows 8.1 operating system with 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, supported by a 2220 mAh battery.
On aesthetics, the Lumia 730 will be launched in four colors ' orange, green, dark grey and white ' and make its bow in the Indonesian market at about Rp 2.99 million (US$248).
For the launch in Indonesia, the Lumia 730 will come with a special 43.2 Gb data package from XL for a period of 12 months.
'Data service is an important element for smartphone users,' XL vice president for service experience management I Made Harta Wijaya said. 'With this packet bundling, we hope users can experience faster Internet browsing and will be able to share whatever they like through their social media accounts.'
