Nokia are still telling the compelling story of all they have packed into their upcoming Lumia 820 and 920 devices. We have compiled charts and graphs that include these speeds and feeds but so far, we haven’t touched on their sound capabilities.
Our smartphones increasingly act as our only music source so it’s good to see that Nokia haven’t left sound out in the cold for their new devices.
HTC recently revealed their HTC 8X and 8S devices both come with Beats audio enhancement technology. Nokia on the other hand has chosen long-time leader in sound technology, Dolby. A company steeped in history, famous for noise reduction systems and more importantly surround sound technology in cinemas everywhere.
Dolby, like Beats is essentially a sound processing technology. When it works well it should process the sound in a way that makes it more complimentary on a given device type. Here is what Shawn Richards had to say about Dolby Headphone.
"Dolby has consistently delivered state of the art tech. We know how to make a good sound even better. That’s where Dolby Headphone comes in."
Interestingly, Dolby Headphone will be exclusive to Nokia when it comes to smartphones but it can be found in other products such as AV receivers and decent headphones. The upshot of this is that the listener is said to be able to listen in comfort for longer and achieve much greater definition in sound quality. The system will be presumably native to the OS (or as an added app for updating) and will be similar to how HTC has their current Sound Enhancer system--basically you can turn it on, off or presumably adjust settings:
"But what exactly is Dolby Headphone and how does it provide a better experience? At the moment, you’ll probably think that the sound you’re listening to with your favourite headphones is fine. And it probably is – just fine. However, with Dolby Headphone technology even the best headphones will become better, enveloping you with a comfortable and natural sound – almost as if you were not using the headphones at all."
Windows Phone so far has lacked much in the way of high-end sound enhancement so it will be very interesting to hear how well Beats and Dolby stack up when we get them for review. Sound is a very subjective topic so we just hope that Nokia provide a toggle to switch it on and off.
Is your mobile phone your main music player now? Will these sound enhancements sway you towards Nokia or HTC? Do you believe it’s any good? Let us know wont you!
Source: Nokia
