It's rare that we have to put news about a smartphone in our photography hub, but that's just what Nokia has merited today with the introduction of the PureView 808. The headline spec is that the brand new camera sensor inside it is composed of 41 million pixels, however as you might have surmised, this handset doesn't take full 41-megapixel stills. Instead, it oversamples — taking the image data from seven neighboring pixels and consolidating it into one pixel's worth — and generates pictures roughly 5 megapixels in size. That's still plenty of dots for most uses, and the image quality you can obtain from such a system is frankly ridiculous. Nokia showed me poster-sized samples captured with the 808 PureView (printed entirely unprocessed) that basically had zero noise in them.
Update: Nokia has clarified to say that you are able to take true 38- and 35-megapixel photos with the 808 PureView. It's just that their pixel-level quality will pretty much suck, with Nokia admitting that it added those options as a sort of creative mode more than anything else. To get the real quality, you'll want to benefit from the oversampling technique and downsize to 3-, 5- or 8-megapixel shots.
Physically, the camera module is quite an imposing beast, measuring approximately a centimeter in width, height and depth. That's the reason for the massive hump on the back of the 808 PureView — in the hand, it feels bulkier than the similarly photo-centric N8, although the devices do differ quite significantly in design. The 808 has a larger 4-inch screen with nHD (640 x 360) resolution and features a more ergonomically-minded case, rounding its edges and offering a softer, grippier surface. The key specs on the processing side of things include 512MB of RAM and a 1.3GHz single-core SoC.
If you're thinking that such a low-res display won't cut it in the modern smartphone world, things get worse once you look at the operating system: it's Symbian Belle. Nokia can say as much as it wants about the steady rate of improvement in Symbian, it's still not an OS we'd recommend any sane person use for extended periods of time. You can notice lag in basic UI navigation and scrolling, which immediately hampers the user experience. There are instant sharing options to Facebook and Flickr in the camera app and the accompanying gallery app does a fine job of browsing through pictures quickly, but overall the software remains this phone's biggest problem.
On the positive side of things, you're getting 1080p video at a quality unlikely to soon be matched by another phone plus the best set of optics yet seen on a smartphone (according to Nokia). The lens for the 808 PureView has been co-developed by Nokia and Carl Zeiss, who have been working together for a long time. Ultimately, the 808 looks likely to be a fantastic cameraphone, but a niche device for those looking for smartphones with extra capabilities.
The best news of all, then, may well be Nokia's assertion that it would be "reasonable to expect" other platforms to get in on the PureView action. Windows Phone would be the most obvious beneficiary should Nokia opt to follow through on these words and use its giant new sensor on another mobile platform.
Comments
OMG!
By travisonfire on 02.27.12 3:10am
I know right! I’m even more amazed that it isn’t some thin pos, but a phone you can put between your head and shoulder and use as a phone!
By 22redlined on 02.27.12 3:24am
I believe it’s almost the same thickness as N8
By travisonfire on 02.27.12 3:42am
If it is, then I’m utterly sold.
By fEast91 on 02.27.12 3:44am
Here some full size sample shots:
http://press.nokia.com/wp-content/uploads/mediaplugin/photo/climbing-in-south-africa-captured-with-nokia-808-pureview.jpg
http://press.nokia.com/wp-content/uploads/mediaplugin/photo/climbing-in-south-africa-2-captured-with-nokia-808-pureview.jpg
http://press.nokia.com/wp-content/uploads/mediaplugin/photo/streetview-in-rio-captured-with-nokia-808-pureview.jpg
http://press.nokia.com/wp-content/uploads/mediaplugin/photo/capoeira-in-rio-captured-with-nokia-808-pureview.jpg
By Zarnikon on 02.27.12 10:44am
Those images are quite impressive. I’m interested in seeing how it performs in low light conditions. I would also love to see video performance.
By MrSeanWashington on 02.28.12 4:41am
.55 inches vs .51 inches. Guess which one is thicker.
By ianmboyd on 02.27.12 12:06pm
Looking forward for the PureView Lumia with Apollo. I reckon by then they’ll have shaved of a few inches and perfected the tech too. Now that’s going to be the phone to beat. That said, I reckon this is great for users that don’t mind Symbian – possibly those in markets in Asia, including China… it’s clear that’s where this is targeted by the lucky number “8” in the title.
By kwiiiq on 02.27.12 4:36am
buy the 900 or wait for the PureView Apollo version ? damn,,,,
By IceCrush on 02.27.12 5:30am
I know Symbian is an old and uninspiring software in the minds of most of the readers here, but the truth is, that Belle is actually offering a very polished and stable experience. What Belle and future Carla and Donna editions of Nokia’s OS need is more app developers and more marketing. And with good hardware to come (like the Nokia 808) this OS is far from dead. It is good to point out that the N9 that Vlad himself so positively reviewed is less powerful than this phone spec by spec. Symbian is a lightweight platform and has much more apps and developers behind it than MeeGo ever had. The CBD technology of the display, even with the lower resolution, provides a very good viewing angle, color reproduction and even reading experience, that you can hardly put it far behind most other high end screens out there. And this image sensor with Carl-Zeiss lenses is simply phenomenal! I can hardly see myself using WP7, unless it is on hardware similar to Nokia E7. Nokia Belle is perfect for other form factors and use cases, allowing for much greater customisation and personalisation. I can see Nokia differentiating its line up based on markets – with USA, Canada and some of the EU markets having Nokia’s high end mostly from WP7, while the rest of the world will continue to receive high end Nokia OS devices in the years to come. Mid range and low end devices of both OS’s will be available throughout.
By Emil Vulkov on 02.27.12 11:04am
I hope so, too…bg?
By Caco on 02.27.12 11:06am
Yep! It seems we are strong here. ;]
By Emil Vulkov on 02.27.12 5:13pm
Couldn’t agree more regarding the Belle experience. When reading “not an OS we’d recommend any sane person use for extended periods of time” and so on I wonder if he accidentally used a 5800 during writing. It just so at odds with my own experience (Admittedly only a few days with a 701 – compared to a nexus s I’m using normally).
Note to Vlad: Yeah, we get it. You hate Symbian. So could you please pass Symbian articles to someone who is at least able to retain a smidgen of objectivity in the face of things he doesn’t like.
By dahauns on 02.28.12 6:10am
First samples have arrived and they’re pretty OMG indeed::
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_808_pureview_video_and_camera_samples-news-3905.php
By mahmut on 02.27.12 9:00am
Damn, it uses interpolation.
41 / 5 = 8.2 MP
By Tj00139 on 02.27.12 3:10am
The sensor is 41 megapixels. But a 41 Mp photo would have what.. 100MB?
By AndroidHD on 02.27.12 3:16am
Yes, but people are going to assume that the photos it takes are also 41 MP.
By Toss3 on 02.27.12 3:18am
I doubt anyone would after taking a second to think about it.
By chaddaddy on 02.27.12 3:24am
I wouldn’t put it past people to assume so.
I mean come on, an overwhelming number of people think dinosaurs never existed.
By Fozee on 02.27.12 3:28am
They wouldn’t put it into their PR if they didn’t think people would believe the 41-megapixel BS (yeah sure, your phone with it’s miniscule sensor has the same resolution as a Hasselblad with a 37×50mm sensor chip, a chip half the size of the phone )
By Strabo on 02.27.12 4:41am
It takes 38 Mp photos
By deva_p on 02.27.12 3:35am
You cant take pictures up to 38mp.. wich is still huge
By jrtorrents on 02.27.12 3:42am
you can take full resolution photos…. its in the settings; its auto set to 5mpx
By Stylinred on 02.27.12 6:00am
As the Nokia rep said; It’s 41 Mega-Pixaahls. totally different unit of measurement. It takes data from 7 Pixaahls…and condenses them into one perfect Pixaahl.
By DarthBanHammer on 02.27.12 8:26pm
That’s not interpolation. Interpolation is making up pixels. This would be oversampling.
By jodyfanning on 02.27.12 3:27am