Nokia 808 PureView review: Photo Finnish

22 June 2012
The Nokia 808 PureView is the best cameraphone ever made. End of story. Now, how do you proceed from there? And why is this particular phone so hard to write about? How about because a picture is worth a thousand words and we just had a...

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KMnO4, 19 Aug 202427? 12 if anything, since it is a nonapixel, monochromatic ... moreNope. That sensor is actually Quad Bayer, not Nona Bayer. It's the Samsung ISOCELL HMX sensor.

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    • KMnO4
    • xjH
    • 19 Aug 2024

    Amrch, 27 Feb 2023Good ol' Xiaomi Mi Note 10 easily outperforms Nokia (o... more27? 12 if anything, since it is a nonapixel, monochromatic pixels.

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      • Amrch
      • JI9
      • 27 Feb 2023

      Good ol' Xiaomi Mi Note 10 easily outperforms Nokia (or at least on par) with Lumia. And it is 108mp sensor too. It combines four pixels into one giving you 27mpix (rare sight these days). Mi 10 flagship series does this too. It's just minote 10 that is the cheapest option.

        Nokia808king, 04 Jul 2022Sorry mate.. even the likes of P40 falls short in terms of ... moreThe 108 megapixel sensor are usually a Nona-bayer filter(9-1), so the produce 12 megapixels of detail.

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          • Nokia808king
          • tDI
          • 04 Jul 2022

          Anonymous, 14 Jun 2021Obviously with all due respect it seems you haven't ha... moreSorry mate.. even the likes of P40 falls short in terms of detail.. only Nokia has true 38MP sensor.. todays 108MP only give 32MP of detail due to the quad bayer layout.. close but still cant match the mighty 808.. others 64MP, 50MP, 48MP are only equivalent to 16mp, 12.5mp and 12mp respectively which is way below the details produced by king 808.. only when the sensor reach 152MP will we start seeing pictures with better details than the 808.. even then it needs to be at least 1/1.2" in sensor size to compete.. before that i'm sorry but u can't break physics.. i'll be waiting for a new king with 200MP rumored samsung sensor.. till then all hail the Nokia 808.. 10 years of reign and counting

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            • Anonymous
            • xvS
            • 14 Jun 2021

            bla, 11 Apr 2019Yes, all modern phone cameras make pictures of grass look l... moreObviously with all due respect it seems you haven't had used many modern smartphones cameras or you would't have said these nonsenses nor nokia 808 aparently...as i have said back in the days of 2012 it was charming but again not samsung not iphone of course or NTC that doesn't means that nokia 808 camera wasn't good but with nokia out of the smartphones game fo over a decade of mediocre devices to got the nerve to compair it with it's era finest smartphones cameras it is funny but to comparing nokia 808 with todays modern cameras not flagships but even middle range it is all due respect ridiculous not to say badget smartphones today doing amazing job in all camera fields like video mode or photo mode or colors naturality or idol sharpness background detail or black colors detail or in pictures shadow area but from middle range but to put on the test flagships of today or 4-5 years ago with nokia 808 is a bad joke and i can't get how such a trustworthy web page like Gsm Arena remember the 808 and the obscure Nokia brand after almost 15 years absence of smartphone business it's very strange not to say a little bit weird and again i was ower of nokia 808 back in 2012 and i have many flagships from time to time like iphone, huawei, xiaomi, sony and i'm also a pro-photographer for a fashion magazines or else i wouldn't dealing with that subject!!!

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              • Anonymous
              • xvS
              • 14 Jun 2021

              Anonymous, 27 Mar 2019After read P30 review, back to here, and i think nokia 808 ... moreDid yo ever have a nokia 808 i'm sure you don't back in the day i have it and though some major issues like software screen ok charming camera but no close even with todays middle range cameras at best even trolling must have some limits!!!

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                • Anonymous
                • xvS
                • 14 Jun 2021

                Come On, 17 Dec 2018GSMArena definitely needs to do a new article comparing thi... moreCome to your senses it was a nice phone for his time but to compair with Huawey p20 or p30 or any other modern smasrtphone makes me with all due respect please cut the bullshit stop trolling by remembering nokia 808 and got the nerrve to make comparisons with midle range hi-tech smartphones is as if you try to compair a WWII fighter plane with what an F-22 for gt sake!!!

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                  • bla
                  • xUD
                  • 11 Apr 2019

                  Anonymous, 27 Mar 2019After read P30 review, back to here, and i think nokia 808 ... moreYes, all modern phone cameras make pictures of grass look like a impressionist paintings. :(

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                    • Anonymous
                    • 6c6
                    • 27 Mar 2019

                    After read P30 review, back to here, and i think nokia 808 stil best image. Look at 40 Mp, nokia 808 look natural without oversharpening.

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                      • Come On
                      • 3DR
                      • 17 Dec 2018

                      GSMArena definitely needs to do a new article comparing this beast to the new big camera phones of today.

                        AnonD-750978, 09 Apr 2018BEST CAMERA-PHONE TILL TODAY [2018] I managed to develop... moreNice work, mate.
                        Fellow 808 user.

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                          • AnonD-750978
                          • BSa
                          • 09 Apr 2018

                          BEST CAMERA-PHONE TILL TODAY [2018]

                          I managed to develop such workflow, from which i can easily achieve crispy clear 3000x2000 files, without any noise. Of course only in daylight.

                          Despite the fact, that camera uses FSI sensor it is the biggest till today [2018], even bigger, then in shiny new Huawei P20.

                          I am in a bit high mood, so I even can share the whole process with all of you.

                          -1) convert image to 16bit mode
                          0) Crop extreme borders to throw away blurry corners
                          1) Apply delicate noise reduction
                          2) Resize with sharpening to 3000x2000
                          3) 2-nd pass noise reduction
                          4) Apply contrast curve
                          5) Do color processing
                          6) Apply selective sharpening
                          7) Ta-da!

                          Such processing easily outflank cheap image computing from any “modern” device.
                          Mobile algorithms are optimized for power consumption, so they are not precise, as desktop ones. So dump your iPhoneX, Google P2 to garbage bin.

                          One more thing, I use hacked camera app with increased effective resolution from 38 to 41.5 mpix. Maximum file size 35Mb. The beauty of N808 is that it provides images in whopping resolution and there is ability to substantially increase output quality. So files are ready for processing. Raw is not needed. What’s the point of it? If you have barely visible sensor.

                          Here is sample link for your enjoyment. Some random pix from goldie N808.
                          First 30 pix or so. Full sized images available.
                          https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacedrone808/

                          From above mentioned statements I could approximate, that P20 will have nearly N808 quality or maybe the same, but definitely not significantly better. So, guys, 2012 tech is still on the top. Believe it or not. Enjoy computing.

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                            • AnonD-407077
                            • HIJ
                            • 14 May 2016

                            My lovely phone 😍

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                              • Anonymous
                              • MvM
                              • 02 May 2016

                              AnonD-50654, 22 Jun 2012One of the best reviews I read in a loooooong time . Looks ... moreNow symbian is gone, Android and iOS rule the market, and Nokia has subdued to Android, making it's own launcher. What the world has come to...

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                                • Anonymous
                                • MvM
                                • 02 May 2016

                                DANIEL, 10 Jan 2014my nokia 808 does not login facebook twitter and cannot eve... moreare you connected to a wi-fi network? (one that works?)

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • MvM
                                  • 02 May 2016

                                  AnonD-100588, 23 Feb 2013You can use google maps offline.Think before typing.that wasn't google maps. that was Nokia Maps

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                                    • heynekko
                                    • IV8
                                    • 09 Nov 2015

                                    Anonymous, 23 Oct 2015offline GPS not working in my 808... can anybody help me ou... moreCheck your settings>privacy>find my location.. Make sure it is enabled

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                                      • Anonymous
                                      • utY
                                      • 23 Oct 2015

                                      offline GPS not working in my 808... can anybody help me out to Fix it :(

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                                        • AnonD-196717
                                        • rvQ
                                        • 25 May 2014

                                        I still use my 808 as my primary phone every day. It's fantastic. The Nokia store sucks, but I now have a Galaxy tablet for the power-user stuff... so as a phone, camera, navigation device and whatsapp messenger, all these in combination, it still kicks ass. Fantastic device still after almost 2 years and more than 6000 photos. It's very sturdy and everything still works.