Nokia Lumia 920 Caught Faking Image Stabilization

Normally I wouldn't be writing about something like Nokia getting caught not only faking the video taking footage of their new Lumia 920 PureView camera advertising, but faking the still images as well. But they annoyed me last year when they made those "smartphone beta test" commercials that called the iPhone a buggy product, and then launched the Lumia 900 with embarrassing bugs all it's own. Yesterday, Nokia took a swipe at Apple during their press event, once again making fun of the iPhone antenna. And now Nokia is embroiled in controversy over their new flagship phone.

Here's what The Verge discovered about the Nokia Lumia 920 commercials:

As you can see in the video above, there's a curious reflection in the window of the trailer in the background. It's not a young man riding his bicycle alongside the cheerful model, but instead a big white van with a lighting rig and a cameraman standing in the doorway — with what appears to be a large camera rig. Whatever he's holding, we can reasonably agree it's not a Lumia 920.

Nokia later admitted to the deception and apologized, but now Youssef Sarhan has found similar evidence showing that the still photos might have been faked too:

A Hacker News user by the alias exDM69 astutely shared a photograph of the photoshoot in Helsinki city center. The photo was taken by a friend of his. I knew an image of the photoshoot would surface sooner or later, how could it not.

You can just about see the DSLR lens on the very left center of the photo.

Case closed.

Nokia hasn't responded to the second allegation. Daniel Rubino from our Mobile Nations sibling site, WPCentral, says the Nokia Lumia 920 camera is legitimately fantastic. He's a big camera nerd, so I believe him. Companies fake things like this all the time. Supermodels get airbrushed (sorry boys, it's true!), devices get rendered, cars get closed courses and professional drivers, and screens and features get simulated.

But simulated screens and features also get honestly labeled as such in the commercials. I'm not opposed to people hating on Apple -- I've been accused of doing the same thing. I like it when companies are bold and aggressive and take it to Apple. What I'm opposed to is failing. What I don't like is when they end up looking foolish. If you're going to bring it, bring it.