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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  • D
  • AnonD-3575
  • 3LU
  • 23 Jun 2012

norbi, 23 Jun 2012The camera is amazing, but I won't sell my S2 for this. For... moreheck, it seems everyone has a dslr all of the sudden...
why dont you throw away your s2 and carry a laptop, it's much better

    • D
    • AnonD-52738
    • tu6
    • 23 Jun 2012

    The camera is speechless! wow!

    But...... others than camera, it got nothing.

    The OS - Belle (still from Symbian) is a MAJOR STEP DOWN... and the screen resolution is OMG! Also the phone is way too bulky.

      • S
      • Sausage
      • pd6
      • 23 Jun 2012

      Big evil tech giant Sumsang steps on Nokias toes. Nokia kicks it to a very deep hole and roars: THIS IS NOKIA!!

      Something like that came to my mind after reading that last line. Almost epic, GSMA, almost epic.

      BTW, it's funny to watch the battle of popularity between SGS3 and 808 here in GSMA. There have been lots of reviews of both and they are absolutely attention grabbers. Other is one of the greatest inventions in the smartphone world and other is years biggest cash magnet with awesome spec sheet but barely nothing revolutionary. Guess which is which. Some day, Nokia will rise again with WP8 and PureView, and they will also come up with some other great things like PureView.

        • n
        • norbi
        • 0Ue
        • 23 Jun 2012

        The camera is amazing, but I won't sell my S2 for this. For pro photos I use my DSLR.
        But nokia did a good job.

          • w
          • waqas
          • KIC
          • 23 Jun 2012

          Love you Nokia. U didn't enter the race of android phones and stick to your own OS and join WP phones with ur own conditions to integrate maps etc. Here comes a master piece in terms of camera plus a veryyyyyy friendly and fast OS belle. Now with WP8 8mm thin polycarbonate unibody phone with dual core and pureview master piece plzz make everyone feel embarrass y they left U when U didn't them. 808 is not a smart phone. It is indeed a super phone.

            • D
            • AnonD-54125
            • jxX
            • 23 Jun 2012

            I can no longer trust pcmag or cnet. the apple bias are wayt too evident. they said that the iphone4s has a better camera!!! n8 beats all other cameraphones. 808 beats n8. why the bias?

              • w
              • whoa
              • vj1
              • 23 Jun 2012

              amazing!.. that's how you end a review. impressive GSMARENA!... i havent seen any reviews like this.

              the final words marked...

                • I
                • I4U
                • mLR
                • 23 Jun 2012

                nekko, 23 Jun 2012184 dpi is enough even your hdtv tops at 100 dpi.. Small hd... moreI'm using a Galaxy Note (and a N8): without wifi, the phone works without problems 2 days with a quite heavy use (when wifi is activated, it searches networks and it eats the battery in less than one day).
                And pixel density matters when it comes to read text!

                  • A
                  • Alui
                  • mSu
                  • 23 Jun 2012

                  For 50 euro it might sell well;). I just got today my blue SGS 3 so I hope the 8 MPix camera will work fine the coming holiday. Nokia will go bankrupt because it did not listen what ppl want. From hero to zero!

                    • D
                    • AnonD-57033
                    • Rx9
                    • 23 Jun 2012

                    Anonymous, 23 Jun 2012Because of the Nokia PV 808 my daily dose of GSMA has incre... morethat makes the two of us my friend.haha.

                    I really miss the FM transmitter feature. Guess that made into reason #42 why I should buy this phone !

                      • I
                      • I4U
                      • mLR
                      • 23 Jun 2012

                      AnonD-56331, 23 Jun 2012O and why would we care about if its pixel density isn't as... morePixel density is perhaps the only one point which makes me hesitate to buy a 808. When you try to read text, you can't read if the text isn't magnified to a quite high level... and there is few text on the screen.
                      The reflow feature will probably help, but, yes, the pixel density does matter (N8 and Galaxy Note user).

                        • I
                        • I4U
                        • mLR
                        • 23 Jun 2012

                        hhmmmm, 23 Jun 2012everything about symbian and nokia user interface is ugly h... moreAn archetype of specimen determined by the gaze of others?

                          • I
                          • I4U
                          • mLR
                          • 23 Jun 2012

                          Dee, 23 Jun 2012I have Canon 60D with just 18MP with photo resolution more ... moreRAW versus compressed format?

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • v0q
                            • 23 Jun 2012

                            Because of the Nokia PV 808 my daily dose of GSMA has increased 10 folds. lol
                            I've read the review a couple of times then read all the comments and then wait and read some more comments. Truly an awe inspiring camera with a smartphone attached. hahaha!

                              • D
                              • AnonD-60346
                              • ubc
                              • 23 Jun 2012

                              This comes across as a fair appraisal. The iPhone is the defacto benchmark for touch interfaces and app ecosystem.
                              The 808 Pureview is now also a benchmark device and will remain relevant in history. From now on, any smartphone released by any manufacturer will always have its camera compared to the 808.

                                • n
                                • nekko
                                • ve8
                                • 23 Jun 2012

                                falesh, 23 Jun 2012why cant nokia give higher resolution screens....same old c... more184 dpi is enough even your hdtv tops at 100 dpi.. Small hd screens just suck batteries.. What you want to stare at your hd screen so close til your nose rub the screen all day? Do that and you'll become a hunchback in no time. In fact i can imagine in the future a group of people enjoying their life with friends taking photos and all and another group with their hunch and hd screen phone splat on their face. Small hd screens just give the ooh ahh for one day and then you'll use it as any other screen...from a distance!

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 7Ei
                                  • 23 Jun 2012

                                  engadget and all the other apple sites should take note, this is how you write a review. 808 = awesome.

                                    • L
                                    • Leijona
                                    • L12
                                    • 23 Jun 2012

                                    PUREVIEW Really means PUREview.
                                    the performance stands with the name! GREAT! awesome!

                                      • h
                                      • hughie
                                      • i2s
                                      • 23 Jun 2012

                                      The best camera is the one you have on you. I own a fantastic DSLR and this is the perfect accompaniment to it. It's better than ALL small sensor compact cameras by a long way, you have to start moving up sensor sizes before you hit comparable quality. You will never miss a shot.

                                      Chuck in the excellent OS, connectivity and everything else makes this the phone to have for everyone who isn't an app monkey.

                                      I think Nokia will sell millions of them if they play their cards right.

                                        • a
                                        • and1one66
                                        • K7e
                                        • 23 Jun 2012

                                        Wow! PureView tech is really a WOW! I hope they would bring this kind of tech to their Lumia series!

                                        Anyway, I also hope that Nokia would do something to fix three problems (on camera & video dept.) I saw on this review. Like the focus error, macro mode focusing and auto exposure lock. I hope they would fix this problems through a software update!

                                        Mmm, by the way, is there something you can do on macro mode? If 808 has a large minimal focus, is there something you can do to focus at a shorter distance without zooming? Also, the focusing error, is there something Nokia can do to fix that problem? I know that auto exposure lock can be fix through software update, if Nokia will do that (I hope Nokia will do!). One thing, I hope too that Nokia would also add simultaneous capturing photo while recording video, something HTC and Samsung has done with their smartphones!

                                        Wew! this phone is a real killer in mobile camera business!