Skip to main content

The canceled unicorn known as the Nokia McLaren gets its 15 minutes of fame

Codenamed the McLaren, the phone was supposed to be the Nokia Lumia 1020’s successor, and was expected to include Kinect-like 3D touch gestures. Unfortunately, it never saw the light of day as Microsoft reportedly opted to cancel the project, though some have doubted its existence. Windows Central put those doubts six feet below ground, however, as the outlet got its hands on the mystical McLaren and showed us its ways.

Starting with the more mundane, the McLaren features a 5.5-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 resolution display, with a 2-megapixel camera right above it. Around back, the McLaren includes a similar camera sensor crater to that on the Lumia 1020. Whereas the Lumia 1020 packs a 41MP whopper of a camera, the McLaren steps things down to a 20MP PureView sensor with optical image stabilization.

Recommended Videos

Unfortunately, since the camera software was not finalized, the McLaren can only shoot 8MP pictures.

Elsewhere, a 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset and 2GB RAM power the phone, with the 32GB of native storage augmented by up to an additional 128GB through the MicroSD card slot. A battery with unknown capacity keeps the lights on, with the McLaren running Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 out of the box.

Where the McLaren truly stands out from other phones is its 3D Touch implementation. Using a variety of sensors in the phone, including sensors on the sides, 3D Touch responds to your hand both when it hovers over the phone and when it applies pressure. For example, you can silence an incoming call by either gripping the phone or having your hand hover over the display. You can also wave your hand over the phone to answer calls, as well as keep the screen on by gripping the device.

Using the sensors, the McLaren can also tell how you hold it in order to avoid accidental orientation changes. The phone also mutes the speaker phone if you hover your hand over the lower half of the display. Finally, and rather impressively, hovering above certain apps executes the “exploding” Live Tile MixView feature, which theoretically allows developers to show more information on a Live Tile when a user’s hand hovers above it.

Unfortunately, it is unknown why Microsoft and Nokia canceled work on the McLaren. According to Windows Central, reasons range from users not properly understanding 3D Touch’s concepts to Microsoft not getting past the proposal stage regarding 3D Touch’s uses. Regardless of the reason, the McLaren could have been a unique, groundbreaking offering had it been released.

Microsoft Research is still working on 3D Touch, though, so time will tell if we will see its implementation in a future product.

Williams Pelegrin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…
Instagram takes a page from Spotify’s book to launch Blend for Reels
Instagram on the Samsung Galaxy A54.

Watching a variety of Instagram Reels has never been easier than in a special group chat with friends. Instagram has launched Blend, a new feature that allows you to create custom Reels feeds for you and anyone you invite into a DM group.

The Meta-owned platform announced the rollout of Instagram Blend on Thursday (per TechCrunch), which is inspired by a Spotify playlist of the same name called Spotify Blend that mixes your music tastes with those of the person you invite into that playlist (assuming they have Spotify at all), and the songs refresh daily. With Instagram Blend, you can create a Reels feed in a one-on-one DM with another person or in a group chat with friends or family.

Read more
I tested the Pixel 9a and iPhone 16e’s cameras, and the two almost tied
A person holding the Google Pixel 9a and Apple iPhone 16e.

The Google Pixel 9a’s arch rival, almost regardless of whether you are trying to decide which one to buy, is the Apple iPhone 16e. Just like dogs chase cats, a new Pixel phone will go up against an iPhone in a camera test at some point, and over the past week or so, we’ve worked to answer the question of which phone takes better photos, the Pixel 9a or the iPhone 16e.
The camera specs
Google Pixel 9a (left) and Apple iPhone 16e Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The two phones have very different camera systems. The Google Pixel 9a has a 48-megapixel main camera with an f/1.7 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS), plus a 13MP wide-angle camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a 120-degree field of view. On the front is a 13MP selfie camera.

Read more
After delays, the Google Pixel 9a is finally available to buy: These are the best deals
A video playing on the Google Pixel 9a.

After a lot of waiting, delays, and hype for the Google Pixel 9a, there's no shame if your hype died down a bit. But now it's here, and we've reviewed the Pixel 9a as "a brilliant phone to buy" and even find picking between the Pixel 9a and regular Pixel 9 a "close call." The Google Pixel 9a retails for $499, and you can see it in the store for yourself by tapping the button below. But there are a lot of offers going on that you need to know about before making your purchasing decision to ensure you get the best deal. Here, we're going to detail all of Google's offers on the phone so you can get the best deal for your unique situation.

What Google Pixel 9a deal is best for you?
Depending on what you have and what you want, there is a different Google Pixel 9a deal out there for you:

Read more