My visage and a front motif: Bothies with the Nokia 8
4.1.2018
Translation: machine translated
We've got used to the selfie craze by now. Nokia has recently upped the ante and presented what is supposedly the latest craze: the "Bothie". This allows you to take a photo with the front and rear camera at the same time. We have tried it out.
With the Nokia 8, the Finnish smartphone manufacturer has not only presented a new device, but Nokia also wanted to launch a new trend: bothies. I was chosen to test the function. And I'll tell you right at the beginning: if you don't want to see my mug, don't read this article. My mug will appear a lot. Really often.
With Nokia's Dual Sight function, you can use the Nokia 8's front and rear cameras at the same time and take a bothie. The image is split in half and you can take a photo or video with the front and rear camera at the same time. This means that when you take a selfie, not only you but also your subject in front of the camera are in the picture. Nokia has given the whole thing the name Bothie.
According to Nokia's Marketing, they were the first to install the Dual-Sight function in a mobile phone and thus make bothies possible. This is not entirely true: Samsung, LG and HTC phones have been able to take a photo from both sides for some time now.
In addition to bothies and selfies, there are also belfies, helfies, reelfies, shelfies, drelfies and other terms for photos that are preferably uploaded to social media.
We'll stick to bothies for this article. It's better this way for everyone.
Teammate Luca Fontana has tested the Nokia 8 (seriously)
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Because I'm the resident selfie queen (or just the only one on the team who occasionally takes a selfie and gets caught), I was chosen to test the bothie function.
After the hype surrounding the phone died down a little, I grabbed it and went on a Bothie tour.
Bothie role models
The bothies that Nokia shows in the advertising campaign for the Nokia 8 all look super nice with beautiful people doing beautiful things. [[image:10377116]]
I want to know how useful the function is in everyday life and whether I can take such great pictures. Even though I don't believe that Nokia's Bothie function will become as big a trend as the selfie, I'm putting the function through its paces.
Let's Bothie
I've caught bothie fever and I'm snapping away. On the train, on the street and anything else I can think of. Many thanks to Senior Editor Dominik Bärlocher and Editor Luca Fontana for their help and encouragement.
My bothie results are shown here in horizontal format. The picture I took with the front camera is on the left, the picture on the right is the one I took with the rear camera.
The first stop: our office. Some very spectacular bothies were created.
You see: Luca almost goes crazy with joy over Bothies.
Dominik's enthusiasm for the bothie trend is also clear to see.
At the end of my office tour, we found chocolate sculptures. If that's not a reason to shoot a bothie right away.
And dear reader, here you can see a perfect illustration of the problem with bothies: if you take a photo from the typical selfie angle, as Luca does here, you're taking a photo of the ceiling on the other side. Super.
We made a mistake with this bothie, Luca and I should have stood in front of the chocolate sculptures. But we just had to be quick and do our bothie before the chocolate was eaten by our team-mates.
The blanket again
Another typical bothie - I have photographed the blanket again and again with my bothies.
Like Nokia: Bothie with dog
I liked the bothie showing Nokia with the dog. I wonder if I can make it look as cool as that.
My dog Peanut has to be the bothie model. She did a great job. [[image:10373440]]
For me it was a Herculean task to simultaneously look smartly into the camera myself and make sure that the dog also looks into the camera, does not move or simply does not run away.
At Nokia, it looks really easy to make these bothies. Believe me, it's backbreaking work.
Bothies in the mirror
Mega practical: Bothies in the mirror give you a selfie and a mirror photo at the same time. Two in one. Who wouldn't want that?
Bothies on the train
There should also be bothies from the train for this story. Because it's supposed to be so funny to see the looks people give me on the train while I'm posing for the bothies. Luckily for me and my fellow passengers, there aren't many other travellers on the train. Otherwise I would have had to censor them all and make them unrecognisable for the pictures. What a lot of effort.
The slip-up
I swear: I wanted to make an ordinary bothie. Normally you can see the bottom of bothies like this from the bottom up. This time it was different. "Something" got in the way.
Bothie with cake
You can just tell by looking at Domink that he'd rather eat cake than wait for me to finally shoot the bothie.
... And now I'm sure you've had enough of my mug
So here's another bothie from Luca. He and Dominik went out to eat and even volunteered to do a bothie.
I didn't want to inflict videos on you, dear reader. However, it is possible to film yourself and the subject.
Bothie conclusion
After shooting so many bothies and annoying so many people with them, it's time to draw a conclusion.
I initially wanted to test the function seriously. However, it quickly became clear that this was not a good idea. Bothies from Nokia are fun, but that's about it.
The function can certainly be nice for events such as concerts. However, I find it quite difficult to use, as you have to be careful how you look into the camera and at the same time make sure that you hit the subject with the front camera to some extent.
But unlike conventional photos, at least you can see your event through the phone while you're taking a selfie.
Header image: Picture: David Lee
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.
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