Nokia 9 PureView hands-on review
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- Kunal Raj
- XQZ
- 26 Feb 2019
Finally some good camera phone to play with on-the-go photography. Partnership with Adobe LR is really welcome and integration with Google Photos is a big plus here. I dont know what people are whining about with this phone. It comes with standard flagship features, heck it even has water resistance which I didnt expect. If you want to play games and long battery life, then go buy some chinese high-spec super cheap phone - they are good for games and endurance. If you just use photos for social media sharing, then u may settle with an iphone, samsung or google. It's a good camera phone for those enthusiasts who loves to tweak pictures. Im waiting for the GSMArena's comprehensive review. I have high-hopes for its camera. I dont need the telephoto nor the wide angle lens, those can be achieved by foot and honestly, those features are really gimmicky. I cant remember when did I last use telephoto and wide angle for taking a good photo.
Im tired of my Google Pixel 2 XL (its only good for fast snaps and social media, its not that detailed and the dynamic range is quite awful especially in lowlight - yes, even my friend's Oneplus is beating my Pixel's DR and Im ashamed of that). Im also disappointed with my new Mate 20 Pro (it has strong watercolor effects when shooting in Automode). Both of my current phones also does not do well with post-processing. I hope Nokia nails this one. Placed my pre-order.
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- Trz
- 4wc
- 26 Feb 2019
Rough, 25 Feb 2019Lol you cry about not having FM radio in a smart phone? Lol... moreActually, International Telecommunications Union under the United Nations want OEMs for their phones to have FM radio receiver (or have its chip activated). You see, FM shortwave radio is one of the easiest mode of long distance communication to establish when internet, GSM and other modes of communications are down due to natural and manmade disasters. Let's do our research first shall we?
- c
- czr
- 4wc
- 26 Feb 2019
Anonymous, 25 Feb 2019GIMMICKY camera. Pixel 3 can get much better pictures with ... morePixel 3 and S10 costs like what? This is a $699 phone. And Nokia can use the same technology for their future phones.
- L
- Lewis
- 0Wf
- 25 Feb 2019
taz-chaz, 25 Feb 2019the og pixel didnt have ois and the results were pretty goo... moreBut they added it in the Pixel 2 and 2 XL to improve their photos and continue competing with the new flagships. And sure that their software take profit of it too. The fixed focus in the Nokia 9 rest a lot funcionality too. You can't always get close to the object you want to capture, or don't have the space to open the angle and distance. If you don't have zoom or adjustable lens different ones to choose, you lose a lot of flexibility for a few gain in practice.
The fixed lens camera is used in scenes prepared for the quality you can get. But it is not the camera that a photographer is going to take to the street without knowing what circumstances can be presented at the time you take an unforeseen photograph.
It can has its niche for someone who wants to try something different, or an enthusiast who knows what he buy. But the vast majority of people sure prefer to play with the zoom, focus and lens. It is more, if someone buys the phone unaware of that characteristic and limitation, can catch a terrible anger when he discover it. And more if he don't have a firm hand or use phone in movement. The limitation in the video recording too. You must to know perfectly what you are buying in this case or you could end regretting it a lot.
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- taz-chaz
- a0V
- 25 Feb 2019
Jon.SWE, 24 Feb 2019OIS would probably create a bit of an issue when it comes t... morethe og pixel didnt have ois and the results were pretty good i trust nokia s wizardy in this matter since they created such a sleek device and im sure their camera would be up with the rest of the flagship camerasmarthphones
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- Anonymous
- uvE
- 25 Feb 2019
GIMMICKY camera. Pixel 3 can get much better pictures with 1 camera.
Hoping for wide angle lens on Pixel 4.
This time Samsung really nailed before MWC. Galaxy S10 is real flagship with NO COMPROMISE
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- chabusch
- pqp
- 25 Feb 2019
Can I use Viber or Messenger on this phone? Or will it kill each and every background process like recent Nokia phones do?
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- Disappointed
- sxs
- 25 Feb 2019
Wow, the specs sounds good, but the result is painful to watch. Awful images. After all this time, how can the imaging software still be this immature?
So much blown out highlights, everywhere. Even on the first photo, you can't even read half of what's written on that wooden clipboard and even the yellow little appetizers are blown out. Amazingly bad.
Detail level is also anything but impressive on all photos.
At this point calling this device a PureView is just awfully misleading with regards to quality expected. PureView should be the best of it's time. This is mid range at best, again - at this point. I would not buy until SW matures. Or at all, because once getting a versatile cam setup, it's hard to go back.
At least system cameras can swap out primes/zooms and aren't sick work only one focal length. So that comparison was distasteful.
When you're at the top of a mountain you can't really go much further back to get a significantly wider shot of the scenery. Likewise, on many occasions you just can't physically get any closer to the object, but with a decent telephoto you can. Or both and anything in between with a zoom lens.
Who even gets a DSLR or mirrorless for private use with only one prime lens?
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- tonymancs
- 3p7
- 25 Feb 2019
Anonymous, 24 Feb 2019No, 12 megapixel photos will never have an insane amount of... moreIncorrect, you have 3 monochrome cameras, each of them set on a different exposure value (something like -2 0 +2). This leads to drastic noise reduction and detail enhancement. See samples for yourself.
- h
- harianilchandran
- YTY
- 25 Feb 2019
Rough, 25 Feb 2019Lol you cry about not having FM radio in a smart phone? Lol... moreFM Radio is most important feature for me also along with headphone jack and sd card slot
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- Durga
- U{W
- 25 Feb 2019
Imka 18:9 display aa waited for 1yr not up to the mark
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- Maria
- 6cc
- 25 Feb 2019
I do not understand well about the technique of camera development, I just use it practically and aestheticaly. Good luck Nokia! I was so sad that you did not follow the trend of Android long time ago till you woke up and found there are so many competitors and the design of today's phone is not so important.
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- paul
- sxr
- 25 Feb 2019
nokia is the best. nokia ❤️
i will buy this when is up to market already
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- Prabhat
- fCP
- 25 Feb 2019
Timing is one the key components for a products success, especially in mobile world.
In my opinion, this phone got one of beat camera setups and offers promising photo quality however this is late to market by 5 months. But better late than never. Nokia made right decision to sell it till stock last.
Looking forward to buy this one soon :)
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- Wayne Morellini
- F@2
- 25 Feb 2019
6 cameras. Depending on who makes the TOF camera it can have huge HDR capability. The dynamic range quoted is a lot less than I would have expected from so many overlapping sensors (and less than a good large sensor camera like the Black Magic pocket cinema camera series). The sensors can be independently adjusted to stretch the overall dynamic range.
Your specs here make it sound like it records 4k 30 fps in DNG Raw, which would be exciting, but you say video on it is not as exciting?
It was due for the Christmas rush, which would have made outing an 855 in a challenge, but at this time, yes an 855 is a better choice. But Light has been putting heaps of money into developing custom chips. Which should be in there to handle this.
Why do the pictures and colors look weird?
It's a bit disappointing. I presume refocusable video is there, but the video needed to have 3D parallax ability, high datarate 12 bit rec2020 4:2:2 4kp60+ to standout. The lack of real focal range might be OK, depends. Light is known to use the extra sensors to interpolate larger resolution (50mp or so on the Light16) which can be used to enhanced digital zoom. But without these sorts of features, we are still in amateur hour for professional video. Maybe an 855, or firmware, update will give it. 8k is also possible in a future edition.
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- Jon.SWE
- mhB
- 25 Feb 2019
Anonymous, 24 Feb 2019No, 12 megapixel photos will never have an insane amount of... moreNo small optics in any mobile today can resolve anywhere near 48MP.
So the sensor will not even receive enough details. Besides, the sensor, even in perfect light, with better lens, could not capture 48MP, there is too much noise and distortion in the sensor itself.
Specified resolution matters little here. It is all about the captured amount of details. And because of the multi sensor system here, there is no telling how much details resolution the system will capture, and in different light conditions. The 48MP system, will in low light quickly fall below 12 megapixels in terms of amount of captured amount of details. Besides, typically the 48MP sensors will pixel-bin aiming at just capturing 12MP, anyhow, and when doing so it would be impossible to capture more than 12MP anyhow. So 48MP specified resolution of a sensor does not mean higher amount of captured detail compared to a system that combines the result of several of sensors to 12MP, even if it might in some situations, there are no guarantees it will, and certainly not in any light condition.
- R
- Rough
- M8r
- 25 Feb 2019
Auren, 24 Feb 20193X 12MP f/1.8 Monochrome + 2X 12MP f/1.8 RGB + 3D ToF camer... moreLol you cry about not having FM radio in a smart phone? Lol go troll somewhere else
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- Charles
- JMs
- 24 Feb 2019
I hope this device meet my expectations. Camera promise good results, but 3320 for the battery, so sad...
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- Anonymous
- gBV
- 24 Feb 2019
Jon.SWE, 24 Feb 2019misleading implies intention. Are you sure they wanted the ... moreYes, I was thinking that. I guessed that they meant a panorama.