Show us your Lumia ASCII Camera photos in the Windows Central forums!

By Richard Devine
published

Microsoft is having some fun with us today for April Fool's with the launch of MS-DOS Mobile, computing from the past brought into the modern age. Despite being an elaborate prank we're enjoying playing around with it and its fully working ASCII Camera.

It's not going to shoot any award winning photos, but that doesn't really matter. Come and share your creations in the Windows Central forums!

It's not a contest or anything, this one's purely just for fun. Fire up the MS-DOS app on your phone, take some photos and show us your best ones at the forums link below. If you want to know more about the MS-DOS Mobile application, check out our hands-on post here

Richard Devine
Richard Devine

Richard Devine is an Editor at Windows Central. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently you'll find him covering all manner of PC hardware and gaming, and you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

53 Comments
  • What's the command?
  • camera.exe. All in the post linked in the one above :)
  • camera.exe
  • Just camera works as well :)
  • Where is the download link?
  • Just try 'dir'.
  • Really.. To get the app link from WP app using this command... Silly u
  • 8573c4a8-b9df-4409-90a6-dad2dc0b6b26  
  • Format C: /Y
  • Great idea... ( :
  • Now the leaks of phones can come in ASCII lol
  • Where do you find that thing? (And why does my phone want to correct thing to thong?)
  • My phone do exactly the same with the same word but in portuguese (try correct 'coisa' to 'cousa', both are 'thing' but nobody use 'cousa')
  • Oh, that's weird! Does Microsoft really think people use "thong" more often than "thing"? That's just creepy :-)
  • Yeah! It is really misbehaving lately. I had the US keyboard installed before (which worked perfectly fine), but since I'm using the British spelling more often I thought I should install the British keyboard instead and since then nothing has worked. Swipe gave me for example the word "Wetter" which is a German word! Luckily it seems to work now, after I restarted the phone! At least I had no issues writing this text. Before it would often randomly correct "on" to "in" or "takes" to "take's" etc ...
  • "Thong Song"
  • What other commands work?
  • Type in help to see other comments. Typing "dir" is also a good tip to see the folder paths available!
  • Contacts
  • Camera.exe crashed on my One lol
  • cause it works only for luima phones
  • Really.. Crashin on l820 but working with 930 .. What is the excuse now?
  • Faulty 820?
  • Except that all other commands work don't crash on my One, just used email.exe. Doesn't seem like its very Lumia only to me...
  • Works for L520
  • Camera works on my phone and I'm using a local brand WP. :D
  • 1st article editor should put direct link to market since cant hit 'here' using mp app. Why to use mp app if need to open the link using mp browser to find the other link to go to store, just insert the store link as other ones. 2nd im using l820 and camera launch but doesn't work.. If u hit snap the app close and so anyway its Workin' with my 930 ...
  • View links in the WP app. Simple. Same as downloading an app.
  • Downloading app lead us straight to the store... View Link will open the ms site with article and then there we'll find the store link... So u say is simple and same? No it isn't.
  • how to play rock paper scissors?
  • It's fun. Choose Sound Blaster for sound card, and 256 colors, then it will ask you to run mouse.com, failing which it will ask to run touch.com, then memory will be less and you'll have to move touch.com to high mem. LOL. Fun is.
  • cd games
    cd rps
    rps
  • Start the hashtags everywhere: #ASCIIcamera #MSDOSMobile :P
  • This is so awesome I'd never expect such a fancy thing from MSFT. This company is truly changing and surely will become the trendsetter soon...
  • Idk how to use this app :'(
  • Guess what, these images are sooo good for glance screen
  • dir
    cd programs
    cd phone
    camera.exe
  • From the Neowin article... Full list of commands:- COLOR: change the DOS appearance with customisable background and foreground colours CLS: Clears Screen DATE: Displays current date ECHO: Displays a customisable message on the screen TIME: Displays current time TYPE: Prints out the contents of a file (limited in size as cannot open large files) VER: Displays current DOS version MS-DOS Mobile has also built in several phone-specific commands including: CAMERA.EXE: Opens the camera app INTERNET / IE [url]: launches web browser. URL can be set as a parameter EMAIL [address]: launches email client for you to type and send your message MAP [latitude] [longitude] / [search terms]: launches map app with location or search results MARKET: launches app marketplace PHONE [number]/SELECT: launches phone with number. Use SELECT to open card in contacts SEARCH/CORTANA [search terms]: Launches search/Cortana for the search terms That's not all as there are some little gems (or easter eggs) that Microsoft has thought to bundle including: ASCII/CGA camera: launches a camera with CGA and ASCII modes WIN: Launches Windows 3.1 Rock Paper Scissors: Microsoft's DOS version of this game can be launched by navigating to C:\GAMES\RPS\RPS.EXE.
  • Thanks!
  • Best working prank ever! I love this! Had me chuckling like a nerd for the past 30 minutes. I love this ASCII camera function! (Type 'Camera' to launch it.)
  • I installed the app just now but app is nowhere in my app list
  • It's 4/1
  • and?
  • If you type Win on the command line, it opens up Windows 3.X
  • What else does it do ?? The app ??
  • Articles about MS-DOS mobile = Articles of the Year! :D
  • Takes full advantage of my camera's 20MPs. :P
  • Type "Internet"
  • Is their any interesting command? Other than camera
  • Just launched the Windows 3.1 media player. lol
  • Whatever you do, don't press Ctrl + Alt + Del
  • It launched windows 3.1
  • I do not like the copyright notice MS slaps on the pictures I take with the app. Definitely a huge mistake there.