Easily share your photos with others using PhotoBeamer from Nokia

By Rich Edmonds
last updated

Nokia has released an interesting tool that enables the sharing of photos on a Lumia Windows Phone with a PC or other web-enabled device. Through the use of QR Codes, those with a Lumia smartphone can send a photo on the device over Internet tubes to a larger screen or to a friend's smartphone. All that's required is the Windows Phone app and a second screen, both with Internet access.

So how does it all work? The Windows Phone app opens up and browses the photo albums located on the handset (no Facebook integration here, folks) and said content can then be displayed on a supported / approved display that's connected to an Internet enabled device. Opening the app up will show the file chooser, and once a photo has been selected the app will then fire up the camera and will require the user to head to the PhotoBeamer website (www.photobeamer.com) on the hardware where the photo will be displayed.

Photobeamer Site

The website will render a QR code, which will need to be scanned by the Windows Phone to initiate the connection. From then on the Windows Phone can be used to swipe through an album with the photos being generated on the connected display / device. It's basically a mobile projector which is available at any point should a WiFi or mobile connection be presently available. What's more is the service requires no registration and is free to use.

PhotoBeamer App

As mentioned above, PhotoBeamer does require a 3G / 4G network or WiFi to function. It saves plugging in cables, connecting to SkyDrive, copying and pasting albums and more. Unfortunately the Windows Phone app is limited to Lumia handsets, which is a shame as it would prove to be a handy tool for every owner to utilise.

You can download PhotoBeamer from the Windows Phone Store (Lumia handsets only).

QR: PhotoBeamer

Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds is Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him over on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

84 Comments
  • No luck in Mex U_U
  • I have a 2500€ ES8000 tv and a 600€ Lumia 920 and I have to pass through the cloud to show my photos on my tv ???
    Where is PlayTo For wp8 ??? Where is wifi Direct and dlna ???
    A 99€ android of a friend of mine shared His video and photo with My tv using wifi in 2 seconds !!
    Nokia and Ms can you please answer this ?
  • im assuming its a DLNA tv? hopefully they will update the Play To app for lumia 920 soon - http://www.wpcentral.com/nokias-camera-extras-play-now-available-lumia-windows-phones
  • Article date is April...And is referred to wp7.
    No DLNA or wifi-Direct App is available TODAY for wp8 to play yoir video to tv (3rd part apps do not work too).
    It is simply a shame...
  • dude, relax... Play To will definitely be coming and probably within the next month too, it's there for WP7 there is no reason it doesn't come to WP8, probably just working out the kinks right now
  • Coming...Always coming..
    In my humble opinion dlna should be preinstalled or available day 1, as wp7 has it !! They have only to recompile it...PlayTo is a feature of WinRT too (works good on my Asus rt tablet).
    I m a huge Ms fun, my frustration came from my friend's android phone beating my 920 :P...
  • It just has to be scaled to wp8 - notice lots of Nokia apps getting updated lately? This will be within the week, im sure of it, as its a core basic function these days. Dont get to hung up on a droid or iphone doing something that wp cant, all of them do things others cant - rather celebrate the differences as it gives us choice and drives prices down :) if they all did what the other did - where would be the fun in that? - curious though, how many times have you needed this feature since your droid run in?
  • I will never change WP, my friend :)
    I m a developer I love all Ms goodies (first of all development frameworks ;).
  • Now lumia users can share pics and enjoy more while Samsung and HTC users can sit without any hope of getting any more good apps.
  • Lmao
  • Lol
  • Tell HTC and Samsung you want similar.
  • Nice app! When I first tried at home some of the pictures did not load completely (i.e. had only a part of the top of a picture on the screen). Bug, server side problem? But when I just tried it again at work it worked perfectly this time! It does seem to – understandably – compress/reduce the quality of the pics somewhat.
  • There's an option to adjust the size of the image being displayed. And it took a few secs to fully load detail, presumably due to the 8mp-sized photos.
  • Where is that option? Under settings all I have is "delete history".
    Yes, at least for some pics the details got loaded, but others stayed slightly blurred.
  • Just tested it out. Pretty awesome!
  • Awesome little app!
  • Really liking this one. Works awesome on my Lumia 920.
    it seems like this is one of the things Nokia acquired when they bought Scalado this year. 
  • Can't download on 900? Is it Win 8 only?
  • Same here. 900 won't let me.
  • Yes, I believe it's only for WP8 Lumia devices only
  • apparently yes, neither can i on lumia 800.
  • WP Central should really find a visual way to specify app compatibility in their posts. Would really help us poor WP 7.x users!  
  • WPCENTRAL PLEASE READ THIS! Do something to distinguish news between WP7 and WP8 (or WP7+WP8) so that everyone is able to see what it is all about at a glance. This is really important and i think MANY here want this. I hate to have to read through the whole article and search for this information. In this case it isn't even in there! Just mark it as "WP8" and i know i can dismiss this app as WP7 user.
  • i second that.
  • This!
  • Only for next 2 or 3 months, later wp8 devices will be 10x wp7 ones ;)
  • I third it
  • Forth'd
  • Fifth'd through 22nd it
  • Hi, we will add support for Lumias with Windows Phone 7.5 by the end of this year.
  • Works pretty well. Upload is a bit slow on hi res images.
  • Nice. Works great. once connected, you can scroll through photos and change albums. Very cool.
  • Would you kindly start putting WP7 or wp8 only or both for apps now cause all I see is wp8 apps being highlighted in news now and I get excited for no reason. Please and thank you.
  • :) Yes I agree
  • i second that too.
  • cool. This is the app created by the imaging company that Nokia bought a few months back, they released this app for iOS couple of months back. Good to see the app here too. The name of the company is scalado  ,looks they removed iOS app!
  • It no longer works for iOS. Thru their acquisition it seems like it's exclusive to Lumia for now.
  • any valid reason why no WP7 is supported?
  • This is why I love Nokia, always something new to impress :)
  • Once again an awesome app for Nokia owners. I feel terribly sorry for those who have HTC or Samsung devices. Hmm.. Actually.. I don't. :P
  • what sucks is that I don't have a Windows 8 phone just the L900.  Thats whay I selling it ang going back to iPhone.
     
  • Nokia just updated e.g. Transport/Transit for 7.5. Seems quite likely they would do that for this too. But hey, do enjoy your iPhone!
  • Thanks for visiting.
  • Enjoy your return, so you didn't like the platform.
  • How come I can't find it on my L920? The Michelin app last week was another one I couldn't find.
  • did you follow the link in this story? when I tried searching in the Store could not find it yet either, but the link worked.
    Also, I gather there may be regional variation in the Store selection.
  • The web page shows the app but it says it can't be downloaded over the web and asks me to try on the phone. It's been like this for all Nokia exclusive apps. On my phone, I see a dozen or so apps in Nokia Collection but this one and the Michelin app are not found.
     
    I have another phone (Focus) on my marketplace account. Maybe they are not handling multiple phones properly even though I have selected L920 as the current phone. In any case, it looks like MS has a bug to fix.
  • Just hit the link in story directly from your phone. It will take you to the apps you can't find by searching. It's also a good way to find some hidden/discontinued apps.
  • Thanks. I just fired up the wpcentral app and its download tab for this story worked like a charm! BTW, wpcentral app is a great app. well done guys.
     
    MS still needs to fix this bug. If the regular web link and the marketplace search don't work, most people won't be able to find it.
  • Works ok, but don't expect to use this for a presentation. I made a slide in photoshop the exact resolution of my monitor and saved it to Skydrive. On my phone from my Skydrive folder I opened the JPG and downloaded it, which saved it to my Saved Pictures folder, which is the only way I can think of to get a photo from my computer to a place on my phone that Photobeamer will allow access to it. 
    From there I tried to beam that photo to my screen, but it lost a lot of quality along the way. I'm not sure if it was the download from skydrive that downsized the image, or Photobeamer when it sends it up to the computer. It looks perfectly sharp on my 920's screen, but very soft around the edges on the computer. 
    It didn't need to load anymore, the progress dots stopped moving across the screen. A little disappointing.
  • yea that's true, it seems the pic quality gets degraded
  • Best App EVER. just impressed my boss with what my lumia 920 can do.
  • Takes way too long to upload onto my computer via wifi
  • Nice, but you guys really need to put in the articals for which windows phones its ment. Remember there are still alot people on wp7.5
  • Nokia really missed the boat on this one.  Interesting idea, yes.  Not so great implementation...
    They should have:
    (1) Made it a Lens accessible from the built-in camera app.
    (2) Made the QR codes go to a web site that anyone can view the photo without installing the app (at least a reduced-size version of the photo anyway), and then provide a link on that page to download the photo to the app.
     
  • Good ideas. Would love to see these implemented in an update.
  • You don't need to have the app to view the file. The app is only to share the photo.
  • Another Nokia exclusive that no one will have any use for when the novelty wears off :D
  • This one seems like a novelty, yes, but most exclusives are still put to daily use by myself & I'm sure many others.
  • Isn't this the same thing as sending a picture via text messaging and/or email?  Just saying...
     
    "You know who else sends pictures via text messages and email?  MY MOM!"  -  Muscle Man
  • No, it's not the same. 
    As long as the device, TV, screen got web brwoser showing on it you can "beam" the picture to it. 
  • Ha ha it's a neat app. I will definitely keep this one.
    But I hope they improve the photo quality displayed. It shows up a little grainy. I know Skydrive's rendering is also a little soft(even if you upload in full res), but photobeam is noticably worse.
  • Sucks for me since I'm using 710. Seems like the new apps only supports WP8.
  • Apparently WP8 only? Sigh....
  • this is a great strategy by Nokia....to introduce "lumia exclusive" apps for wp7 and wp8 devices. And its working. With every new app and update, I regret trusting Samsung :/
  • I loved the Focus, but the fact that I only got a Rubix cube app from them pushed me to Nokia (Lumia 710). Now I'm on the Lumia 920, and the only thing I wish is to have the option to use Bing Maps (alongside Nokia Maps). That's it.  BTW...I used this at work today, to show some photos I took of a business event we had yesterday...the boss loved it.
  • Please mention somewhere in the post when an app is only available for WP8. I don't think this is an unreasonable request.  Instead of writing "the Windows Phone app is limited to Lumia handsets" just write "the Windows Phone app is limited to Lumia handsets running WP8." Without knowing whether you are talking about WP8 or all Windows Phones, this site is becoming more and more useless for me.
  • Anyone get this on the 810? Does not show up in the store or through the link provided.
  • Nm. It works when linking through wpcentral app as mentioned above.
  • Whatsapp does just fine
  • Cool thing. Tried it and worked easily on my 920.
  • App works great!
    I have a questions though...can you take over someone else's stream?
    I used the app to hit the QR code in the article & it seemingly connected with no problem or error.  Is is that easy to hijack someone else's display?
  • I have the same worry
  • bummer.. i cant seem to find this in the store.  keep getting no results when searching for photo beamer
  • Like the idea, to view pictures on a larger screen or to just show off your pictures to others.
    Using the Lumia 920 and the pictures taken with the 920, the web  page on the pc only shows the top 1-3 inches of the picture? Some times it shows the whole picture and try it again and only top part?
    On the 920 the Photobeamer only option is to delete the history, nothing about number of pictures or sizes that can be selected . Does any one no how to get pictures be complete?
  • Another reason to stick with Nokia.
  • PhotoBeamer in action. sharing photos from Lumia to TV http://youtu.be/Pv7LqbYb4qg
  • If you want dlna and have Xbox use amartglass
  • Not available in India :(
  • This app rocks !!!!!
    But DLNA streaming would be great too !!!!
  • I'm thinking export PowerPoint slides as jpg, then use this app like a remote for the presentation pc. Well, you could.
  • i'm using nokia lumia 920, but in extras+info said my phone is RM-820_att_100, no wonder I can't download this app and many apps that is not compatable with nokia 820, why they push the update but change my model?
  • Sounds pretty awesome and nifty...wouldn't it make for a great TV ad to showoff something like this?