Nokia 9 PureView hands-on review

24 February 2019
The next Nokia PureView phone is finally here. The long-rumored Nokia 9 PureView has been unveiled at the MWC in Barcelona and enthusiast photographers may finally have their smartphone sidekick.

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  • T
  • TOM gdynia
  • 6k}
  • 01 Mar 2019

According to sample of low light photo, we see on the church tower is 16:34 o'clock, we can check how lights conditions outdoor are during this time. Sky on this photo (and photo) looks like during night, so we can suppose that IA make whole work, situation simillar to p20 pro, quality too

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • JyD
    • 01 Mar 2019

    Well, photos look great at first glance, but some of them look like a work of Rembrandt, so smudgy without details (my P20 could tell). The sky one some pictures has the strange artefacts like lines. But I like the color balance. Quite good, but nowhere I expected it to be.

      Year after year many good features are dissapearing from mobile phones. Mobile manufacturers silently delete convenient features. One recent example is omission of 3.5 headphone jack from phones.
      Modern Apple, One plus phones are coming without 3.5mm audio jack. Thankfully Samsung is still providing the same.
      Below are some of the good features which are not available in modern phones.

      *1- Xenon Flash*
      Xenon flash was once common in high end phones of Nokia and Samsung. It is the same flash which are using in the digital cameras. Nokia N8, N 82, 808 pure view etc were some examples.

      *2- Dedicated Camera Button.*

      Nokia N73, N95, Sony K750i etc had this feature. It was a very convenient feature which allow us to click photos with the help of a dedicated button. It also works as a camera ON button even though the phone is in locked mode.

      *3- Camera Shutter*

      Again many Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones had this feature. Nokia N73, N70 etc are some of them. It helps to protect the camera from dust, scratches and other damages.

      *4- Analog TV*

      How many of you remember those Chinese phones like Sigmatel, G Five etc with tiny antenna for watching television programs. If you are a cricket fan definitely you had this phone. Analog terrestrial tv channels are still available in India. We can watch DD1 and DD News without Internet.

      *5- Qwerty Keypads*

      Blackberry was the king in qwerty phones. After the introduction of android phones qwerty slowly disappeared. Samsung introduced some qwerty android phones but it was not successful. Slider qwerty keypads like the one in Nokia n97 are very convenient if you are a series user. Qwerty slider phones are coming back it seems.

      *6- Woofer speakers*

      Phones like LG GM200, Some Videocon and Lenovo phones etc had this feature.
      Instead of simple paper speakers these phones used woofers for extra bass and sound quality.

      *7- MW Radio on Phone*

      Surprisingly only some Sony Ericsson phones had this feature. Sony R300, R306 were the phones had MW radio
      option.

      *8- Wireless FM Radio*

      I guess this feature is still available with some basic phones. There was a time Nokia and Samsung introduced Wireless FM phones with speakers and all.

      *9- Visual Radio*

      This feature was available in Nokia Symbian phones. It was an interactive feature.

      *10- HDMI on phones*

      Earlier Nokia use to provide this feature on their high end phones. It helps to connect mobile with TV.

      *11- Play via Radio*

      This was a crazy feature available in Nokia basic phones and Symbian Belle phones. This feature helps to play the phone songs via radio. It means we can listen the same song in many phones nearby.

      *12- Laser Auto focus Cameras*

      Nokia, LG Motorola etc used this feature. It means a red laser will point the object which we need to focus.

      Most of the features mentioned above are related to Camera or Music. Introduction of YouTube and other video or music related technologies substituted these features. But phone with Xenon flash is way better than a phone with LED flash

        • N
        • Nokialainen
        • TX5
        • 01 Mar 2019

        geordie81, 27 Feb 2019Where did you preorder this from? I preordered it from a local operator here in Finland.

          "We're starting to break through a barrier where smartphone photos are going to be completely indistinguishable from those shot with a DSLR..."

          Sorry, there's just no way I would agree to that. Unless if there's a development with bigger smartphone camera sensors, it would never achieve the same quality as a DSLR.

            This camera reminds me of old Chinese phones with 5 to 8 speakers. So boring

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • pB$
              • 28 Feb 2019

              Insane camera quality is a huge understatement.
              All the other manufacturers simply can't touch this. The delay was worth it and the outdated SOC is way more than compensated by that camera pack.

                for me the 9 pureview is the real star at mwc

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • pdH
                  • 28 Feb 2019

                  Anonymous, 26 Feb 2019A Nokia flagship with limited numbers, come on Nokia seriously If HMD is going to release an 855 upgraded version of this at the autumn, it is wice to make this batch limited. No poin of making huge amounth of these. If people want to have good camera phone at reasonable price. Get this one, if you want to wait more and put a lot of more money... get the 855 upgrade. HMD is not going to make both models at the same time...

                    Maria, 25 Feb 2019I do not understand well about the technique of camera deve... moreI am so sad they use Spydroid NOW. Even if i wanted Nokia 9, i can't buy it.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • xhm
                      • 28 Feb 2019

                      My first impression seeing those photos, it is beautiful and really good image quality. My eyes pleased with the color, dynamic range, the light captured, and the natural sharpness. The images is above average compared to other flagship phones.Look on my 6 inch screen phones the image is just great. I think I will buy this Nokia Pureview.

                        • s
                        • s-pen pusher
                        • PMT
                        • 28 Feb 2019

                        Itaintrite, 27 Feb 2019People really need to stop with these "omg smartphone photo... moreyes. nothing can replace the physical dynamics that can be had with full-sized optics.

                          simple man, 26 Feb 2019The Nokia 9 might have a great camera, but without a compar... moreThe shallow DoF shots have the smoother transitions I've seen in any smartphone photos tho.

                            People really need to stop with these "omg smartphone photos starting to look as good as dslr" overstatements. Until you can pixel-peep at 100% and still have a tact-sharp image, the answer is no. Just zoom in on any of these photos and you can see focus is either slightly off, or too many artifacts, or just soft. And I'm not even gonna get into low-light capabilities.

                            "But most people will view these photos on their 5-6" phone screens!" Well, there you go then.

                            Don't get me wrong. They look amazing and I'll probably grab one of these over another $1k flagship from Samsung/Google/etc. But...

                              Gandalfdenvite, 27 Feb 2019The camera is the only good thing about Nokia 9, but the ca... more"One big camera sensor is always better than combining images from many small sensors!"

                              If there is room for a big sensor, and good optics, yes, but there is no such room in a mobile.
                              Multiple small sensors, are better than a single small sensor.
                              Multiple big sensors would be better than a single one.
                              If the processing can handle it. For stacking, multiple sensors are better than a single one, and this system can combine stacking images from all sensors with multiple images from each sensor.

                              I haven't seen the picture to picture time of this unit, and how many images it can handle in the buffer.

                                • C
                                • Carol
                                • pwu
                                • 27 Feb 2019

                                Anonymous, 27 Feb 2019My condolences now that Xiaomi also works with Light. Espec... moreYeah, and all of this because you said so. Man, people need to hire you.

                                  May, 26 Feb 2019Yep, and if he need the wide angle or telephoto or zoom som... moreHave you used any phone with a tele lens?
                                  You won't be able to take a picture of that license-plate, the tele doesn't have enough reach, and there is a delay for switching to the tele, and the lens and sensor has worse performance compared to the main, you will get even less of that license-plate of the car moving away with a tele lens, compared to a good main one.

                                    Hoffmann, 26 Feb 2019Dude... you have a lot of free time, to write such long texts.I write quickly, because I use physical keyboards, and not a touchscreen.

                                      Anonymous, 27 Feb 2019My condolences now that Xiaomi also works with Light. Espec... morePureView is a Nokia technology. Light has nothing to do with it. They have been using it since 2012.

                                        Nokialainen, 27 Feb 2019I have just pre ordered this beauty. Firstly, I'm a Finn, s... moreI simply adore Nokia since the time it was the King and I still believe that they'll be back again. Slowly and steadily wins the race. Really liked your comment. Will be getting this one for sure. Cheers