New Windows Phone 8 features: screenshots, pinch-to-zoom camera, more

Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 8 mobile OS will include the ability to capture screenshots and several new camera functions like panorama setting, the company said on stage at today’s big Nokia event.

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Microsoft corporate VP Joe Belfiore (pictured) talked about new features for the Windows Phone 8, which will be included on the just-announced Nokia Lumia 920. One of the big features the Lumia 920 includes is a PureView camera that claims to be one of the best smartphone cameras ever made. In tandem, Belfiore decided to show off new camera features for WP8.

Here’s what he introduced on stage:

Screenshots — Windows Phone 8 will make it much easier to take screenshots, something developers (and phone reviewers) have wanted for a long while. Pressing the home button and power button will take a screenshot of what’s on your screen.

Pinch-to-zoom camera support — Inside the native Windows Phone 8 camera app, there is no more zoom bar. Instead, you can pinch-to-zoom like you do on other smartphone OSes.

Blink Lens app — This one’s pretty cool. The Blink Lens app, which was written by Microsoft’s research team, lets you get a great picture of someone’s face by snapping a ton of photos at once. It automatically picks the best photo, or you can go back later to modify it and pick one you like more.

Deep SkyDrive integration — Full resolution photos will automatically be uploaded to one’s SkyDrive account. Belfiore took a photo and it automatically showed up in the native SkyDrive app on a Windows 8 laptop, showing the connected state of SkyDrive to all devices. (Just don’t take any naked pics of yourself.)