Nokia 9 PureView review

05 April 2019
The Once and Future King of mobile photography - the PureView camera - is back! The Nokia's champion has lived through the twilights of Symbian and Windows Phone, to be once again reborn in the peak of Android era. HMD's Nokia 9 is the bearer of the next-gen PureView snapper, and it's not one, but whole six of them!

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  • B
  • Buxz777
  • 3Jn
  • 09 Apr 2019

One other thing to consider.....

The Nokia 9 takes data from 5 small sensors to make one high quality image

The pixel 2 takes 9+ images from one larger sensor at different exposures etc to make one high quality image

One method is fast and battery efficient.... One method is slow and a battery drain... One method is giving great portrait results the other method is giving very hit and miss depth data with portraits.... One method uses a large sensor for video the other method uses one tiny sensor for video.... One method can utilise night mode type photography with multiple exposures the other is struggling with night mode type photos and ideally needs a tripod

Honestly it seems like Nokias method has to many problems when multiple exposure photography like the pixel phone is doing its so potent and doesn't come with so many restrictions

    • B
    • Boogieman
    • 6wt
    • 09 Apr 2019

    The reviewer is "SURE" that edited RAW on i.e. Huawei will look way better....BUT...he has not tested it.

    SURE gets a whole new meaning here at GSM arena.

    I am NOT SURE i trust this review when it comes to the image quality section as it is so different from all other reviews i have read.
    JPEG's are sharpened (vs RAW) but NOT to the extent shown here for example. Either they got a bad review unit (less likely as every single Nokia 9 is calibrated individually to align the 5 cameras, so in that case it must have broken during shipping) or they mixed up photos with some other phone?

    I hope they will get a new unit and re-review the camera

      six_tymes, 09 Apr 2019A big let down, Nokia should fire everyone in their procure... moreIt shows how little you know about soc since the s8 came with a 835 processor the 845 is more than capable of handling everything that the 855 have so relax it wasn't a big difference in terms of benchmark anyways btw the 835 is a capable processor probably better than a midrange processor

        • L
        • Lightning Mcqueen
        • ucs
        • 09 Apr 2019

        six_tymes, 09 Apr 2019A big let down, Nokia should fire everyone in their procure... moreDisappointed for putting SoC 845 in 2019? Nonsense!!!! Then go put SoC 805 from 2014 to launch in 2019 phones. Lets see how much disappointed you are.

          • N
          • Nokia super fan
          • ucs
          • 09 Apr 2019

          AnonD-860090, 08 Apr 2019I would like to appologise to all the persons who didn't un... moreUh numbers of Nokia 8 sirocco owners are too less yet you say they are on top of the line complaining in twitter...do not understand what you are talking about.

            I would allow Nokia to ship out a few updates to fix various camera bugs. It's a new thing and i think we should give them a chance. Because if most issues can be fixed through software, this camera could turn out really awesome.

              • s
              • simplemen
              • 2Am
              • 09 Apr 2019

              lpl, 09 Apr 2019I can't believe that some of you out there are still discus... moreit's simple those are the haters and fan boy of other brands. me as a phone user i buy what i want without a fan

                • n
                • nixi
                • mCu
                • 09 Apr 2019

                Nokia, here's a suggestion - when shooting only JPEG just focus on optimizing only one of the sensors and use the output of only one of them for the picture. The JPEG quality from all the sensors is shitty anyways and the border mashing, because of the different perspective of the sensors is just ridiculous!

                  • l
                  • lpl
                  • ndi
                  • 09 Apr 2019

                  I can't believe that some of you out there are still discussing the s845...just. no. Save energy. Open your eyes. Make a valid point. Otherwise it's just a copy paste bla bla comment

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • P$b
                    • 09 Apr 2019

                    six_tymes, 09 Apr 2019A big let down, Nokia should fire everyone in their procure... moreSamsung S8 and S8+ both have sd835. Even i found Note 8 too have sd835
                    So where does this damn sd845 comes to picture?

                    https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s8+-8523.php

                      • s
                      • six_tymes
                      • kvH
                      • 09 Apr 2019

                      A big let down, Nokia should fire everyone in their procurement and marketing department that was responsible for selecting the 845. This phone especially in 2019 should have been released solely with an 855 out of the gate. It should have come with the best there is available, that would have at least satisfied the many who are avid highend phone users, and would have alleviated at least some of the draw backs, better battery life possibly? I mean come on, give reason to own it. The 855 was in your control, this phone should not have an 845, that came out in 2017, heck my wife's S8 was purchased in march of 2017 and has the 845 snapdragon, that's a long time ago in phone years.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • xhm
                        • 09 Apr 2019

                        Little bit dissappointed, so it can't be a good snapper without post processed images. Bigger sensor means better image quality. too bad this pureview still used tiny sensors, so weak. nokia 808 and 1020 way better than this new pureview. Better to buy good old 808 or 1020 the real and pure Nokia Pureview. Overall it shoots decent images but oversharpened, too much oversharpened makes the image looks so fancy and unnatural. Below average for a flagship phones.

                          It would have been an excellent phone 2 years ago, except maybe the battery...

                            Can anyone state with surety what Imaging Sensors are in the Nokia 9? Imaging Sensors are one of the 3 weak points of this smartphone.

                              • C
                              • Carol
                              • nUL
                              • 08 Apr 2019

                              Buxz777, 08 Apr 2019I've owned the phone and sent it back.... Battery life i... moreActually they bring updates to the table quite often. I presume you refere to Nokia 8. Well, this one does not have the greatest camera in the world, people expect fixes that do not exist. The camera won't take better pictures, no matter wjat they think.

                                • B
                                • Buxz777
                                • 0Fs
                                • 08 Apr 2019

                                I've owned the phone and sent it back....

                                Battery life is poor... Plus it takes over 2 hours to charge from 37% to full..... Fingerprint sensor is rubbish... OK Google doesn't even work on an android one handset.... Its a pain to use with the gear S3 smartwatch compared to other phones and doesn't always auto connect....video recording comes from one of the tiny sensors... The speaker isn't very good.... The phones best automatic setting for night shots is iso 6400 and 1/33s shutter... Night results aren't great... You can improve them handheld at iso 1000-2000 with 1/4s shutter speed of by using the flash in certain situations... The depth mapping is really bad and needs lots of work in most situations... It takes great daytime photos... The jpegs have lots of over sharpening... The raw files are better but you need to do work on them for the best results... Processing speed are slow and the fusion system doesn't process images when the screen is off which is strange

                                A quick look on Nokia forums shows me they haven't been fixing previously reported bugs on old phones .... Let alone the completely different Nokia 9 with complex algorithms and 5 lens camera system

                                The phone is selling at 550 pounds in the UK at the minute and no one bar die hard Nokia enthusiasts should buy it... No one even knows if a software update will come... Even if it does there is so much wrong what will they fix

                                I'm sorry but for what you get in daytime shots is not worth giving up on things one better video... Better low light performance... Better bokeh and subject separation... Fingerprint scanners that actually work and batteries that charge much quicker and last much longer

                                Save your money people

                                  Nokia 808 is the king of mobile phone photography..
                                  real PureView ❤

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • Feq
                                    • 08 Apr 2019

                                    MUSTDOS, 07 Apr 2019One thing most people miss out on the point of having a lar... moreI wish they will make a CM2, I miss my CM1.

                                      • l
                                      • lpl
                                      • mYV
                                      • 08 Apr 2019

                                      i, 08 Apr 2019i agree with you. i am a photographer for almost 30 years n... moreExactly!

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • KhB
                                        • 08 Apr 2019

                                        Who jump to the battery life page first and get disappointed latter?