Galaxy Camera vs. 808 PureView: Shoot 'em up

16 January 2013
So, this may as well be the first against the last of their respective kind. Nokia would gladly try and sell you PureView in various wraps and Android-powered cameras are not unheard of, but a shootout like this...

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • vw1
  • 23 Jan 2013

There actually should not be a comparison between these two as the represent two different families.
Nokia 808 is a phone with some revolutionary camera options while Samsung galaxy camera(SGC) is a sort of semi-slr with internet sharing capabilities.

As this article mentions, Nokia Pureview 808 is the best camera phone.

Samsung galaxy camera has to be compared with either Sony HX100V or Nikon P500 or some equivalent Canon camera to actually understand whether is 21x optical zoom and picture quality is justified.

Nokia 808 can be accommodated in your pockets whereas SGC has to be cannot be carried on the go.

Hope Nokia brings 808 features to some Lumia.

    • C
    • Carol
    • L7g
    • 23 Jan 2013

    andyqwerty, 22 Jan 2013The key thing to remember is that: Pureview is a phone wit... moreThe key thing is that GS camera is a camera, not a phone. A so called smart-camera or connected camera:). The second j\key is that 808 is a smartphone with a camera that owns this camera...

      • C
      • Carol
      • L7g
      • 23 Jan 2013

      AnonD-68354, 17 Jan 2013The Galaxy camera is a 1st generation Connected camera and ... moreFirst off all: Please don't talk about something you don't know. All it does, is showing that you are nothing but a fandroid, doomed to believe that the world is a small android based system. It is clear you don't have to much Symbian experience in you, so don't bother to answer on this one. Second of all: Gs camera connected (or smart, whatever) is crapp. And if will have success (though i expect that people to be smarter then this), then what i believe is very true. Have you ever seen Idiocracy? It is a movie that has allot to say about this days humans;). People sell rubbish cause people buy rubbish. And if this insane useless technology doesn't stop being bought, then, expect in 15 years for your toiletdroid to send a fart on Fartbook with your smell and to get 30 likes. This camera is S**t, and all to come will be the same!
      -What is the purpose of a smartphone?
      - To be a small computer with everything inside, even with a camera (from business utilities to multimedia to entertainment, to connecting people).
      -What is the purpose of 808?
      -To be that small machine but with a great camera.
      -What is the purpose of point and shoot cameras?
      -To take a picture.
      -Is it useless for this cameras to be smart?
      -YES!
      -Why?
      -Cause they have no purpose!
      -Why?
      -Cause what they can do, all smartphones can do, and are easier to carry, much much more.
      -Yes, but this cameras take better pictures...
      -Better then what? Then s1, s2 ,s3, ip,2,3,4,5? Maybe! But shouldn't samdung make better camera-smartphones instead of this? A not so great camera taking "not so great" pictures? In front of Nikon, Cannon, Panasonic, Olympus, Leica... and now, also in front of a smartphone has NO chance! So, what is the purpose of this camera? None! It is big, expensive, has nothing impressive and with the same android you can find on any corner.
      -Is samdung disparately trying to take share over the whole market?
      -Yes!
      -What that means?
      -Allot of crapp, everywhere, and will sell to.
      -Does this mean that they are the best?
      -In what? In making low class gadgets. I expect soon a 10 core disposable cardboard camera, boiling eggs and cutting the lawn! And they will tell you that this is the future. Will be expensive to. So, take good care of it!
      -Was this made to fight with the 808?
      -I think yes! Why? Cause they have no chance making a smartphone with a good camera, so they thought to make a smart-camera that still has no chance in front of 808 or any other point and shoot camera to come, becoming useless...

        • a
        • andyqwerty
        • nGr
        • 22 Jan 2013

        The key thing to remember is that:
        Pureview is a phone with a camera
        Galaxy camera is a camera with a phone.

        The pureview is thick but the galaxy is a whole different level. Nokia approach of squeezing lots of pixels in is far better than optical zoom. As once a 39mp picture is taken, you will be able to revisit that picture and zoom into any part of it without degrading the quality. Once cameras get to 200+ mp, optical zoom will be redundant. just simply zoom afterwards. But ofcourse, I am not sure how the focus will work. Perhaps layered photos at different focuses to make each arear of the picture zoomable,

          • s
          • sawq
          • b1q
          • 22 Jan 2013

          AnonD-104123, 22 Jan 2013First of all, GSM-Arena, thanks for this fantastic review! ... moreWindows Phone doesn't support the required hardware for the Phase 1 system found in the 808.

            • D
            • AnonD-104123
            • xjg
            • 22 Jan 2013

            First of all, GSM-Arena, thanks for this fantastic review! Ever since I stumbled upon your site in 2009/2010 it was evident that you have a particular penchant for the optics/photo capabilites of mobile phone devices. Your reviews of the Nokia N8 have been legendary, especially the direct face-to-face comparison with a dedicated Sony point and shoot camera, that the N8 clearly won.

            Now, you did it again, and compared the photo-skills of the probably best camera-phone of all times (808) with the most recent "connected camera" today, the Galaxy cam.

            And again, your review clearly unveils the unparalleled strengths of the 808 compared with the Galaxy shooter: it's sensor and image quality. Of course, the 808 has no optical zoom, while the Galaxy does have it; ergo, the Galaxy can be used for things the 808 cannot. And still, the 808 is such a brave fighter and Shows how much sensor-quality can be packed into a Smartphone. The 808 technology is definitely a benchmark technology, setting standards far ahead of its time. I only wish Nokia would have the balls to implement the best of the 808 PV Technology in their upcoming Lumia devices. The current crop, incuding the much lauded L920 does not have ANYTHING of what made the 808 famous. It does have the optical Stabilisation, which is great, but this alone doesn't make for a good camera.

            Nokia, if you care about your Business, then listen carefully: Make Advantage of what you alerady have (=the sensor Technology of the 808) and put this in a state-of the art modern Lumia device, perhaps add the new lens stabilization, and voila, you will have the hottest mega-seller of 2013.
            I think that Nokia are not aware of how many photo enthusiasts would kill to get such a device. They could sell tens of millions of them. I really wonder, Nokia why does it take so long to understand what the customers really want?

              • C
              • Carol
              • L7g
              • 22 Jan 2013

              Anonymous, 21 Jan 2013um... how is this a comparison? the GS Camera straight owns... moreYour sight is not good my friend, Take another look, The gs camera is a Big piece of s:8t in front of 808. It stands no chance. In fact all samdung cameras are pure crap in front of Nokia's. Now, if you want a better camera then Nokia. You need a DSLR. Cause all point and shot cameras are useless in front of this baby.

                • a
                • ashin
                • 9G%
                • 22 Jan 2013

                Samsung cant beat 808 in camera

                  • A
                  • Alok
                  • ysw
                  • 22 Jan 2013

                  Galaxy camera is a camera built with phone but 808 is the mobile built with some very good pure view camera ..

                  808 is just amazing and handy unlike galaxy camera

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • 9xB
                    • 22 Jan 2013

                    pureview has better photo quality than the galaxy hands down... from what I see from the review, the galaxy aced only on the zoom properties and the wide angle lens... so unless you're a peeper... the pureview beats galaxy period...

                      • R
                      • RVM
                      • Bvg
                      • 21 Jan 2013

                      Since Belle FP2 update you're able to multi-select photos (for deleting) in gallery, and also you can check photo details (by tapping on MP button on top of the photo) including histogram and gps coordinates (you can jump to maps directly from there to see where photo has been taken).

                        • D
                        • AnonD-80094
                        • 7Ei
                        • 21 Jan 2013

                        AnonD-61316, 21 Jan 2013808 rules..g c sux...in terms of photography....808 with sy... moreThere is no such Android phone... it needs at least dual core to record 1080p video.

                        And don't forget that the 808 uses its whole sensor for video, which means that its actually processing/oversampling one billion pixels per second for HD recording. No other smartphone can do that.

                        Its obvious in the video samples GSMarena gave, just look at the file size.. the 808's video file is 2x smaller, but it has more detail and less noise.. oversampling at work. Same goes for the images.

                          • D
                          • AnonD-61316
                          • U@p
                          • 21 Jan 2013

                          808 rules..g c sux...in terms of photography....808 with symbian bell is much more better...it has only 512 mb ram, and a single core 1.3 ghz processor..but still it captures 1080p videos and amazing photos without a single glitch...can u give a name of single android device which can capture 1080p videos with just 512 mb ram and single core 1.3 ghz of processor? maybe not.,..because android isnt capable ofthat.. it cant even properly run with such specs....even with a dual core processor android lags....

                            • D
                            • AnonD-80553
                            • 5i4
                            • 21 Jan 2013

                            Very impressive shots with the pureview,and very disappointing from the GS.

                            Let's hope we'll see a pureview WP phone sometime very soon.

                              • z
                              • zoks
                              • Mfx
                              • 21 Jan 2013

                              Too bad that you didn't performed low light test without flash, although that kind of test will be unfair to Samsung. I'm not surprised by relatively bad Samsung image performance, I had experience with compact/ultrazoom cameras and all of them were quite shitty and mostly unusable. Big optical zoom and complicated optics in combination with very small sensor is not lucky combination. Pictures are always noisy and fool zoom is only usable at daylight sunny day.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • j5J
                                • 21 Jan 2013

                                um... how is this a comparison? the GS Camera straight owns the 808.

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-58540
                                  • U@x
                                  • 21 Jan 2013

                                  AnonD-103300, 20 Jan 2013If you are interested in photography , invest in a DSLR and... moreare u nuts or what????? Are u still studying in high school???? An iphone cost anywhere around $800-900 or here in india 45000 inr, plus a entry level slr costs around $500.. Aruond 30000inr. So if we go according to u we spent like $1300 over n slr and phone . And now lets calculate sm more. A lens ( if u have any idea bout slr , its lens comes over $200 and u have hundreds of lenses according to ur photography need) is a main part of slr, similarly all these paid games and apps are part of ios as well u shell out atleast( counting the minimum) $1 per app or game, so if u bought 10 games in a month or say a combinagion of 10 games +app u spent like $10 every month and in a year dat cmes to $120 or cud b more cos nt every item is worth $1. So ur phone costs roughly $120-150 more....just for that piece of junk i wont spend that much, even sme goes vid android as well, i hv a note 2. And premium apps are very costly. Had a symbian n8 and there were not too many games or premium apps but they were like 1\10th of a $..
                                  I have personally use this phone, and image quality stands way ahead of pt and shoot cams,, the only drwback is symbian and to sm extent the hardware( people say its bulky but hell yaa it seems like a phone in hand and u get a deceng grip dat even mh note cant give me as it becomes frustrating after smtym using dat big 5.5) , u dont have to use both hands to take a pic even one hand vll do dats the best part about this cameraphone... My cousin spent like 25000inr or u can say $500 for this, he has a entry level slr, a gud screen to watch movies vid decent battery, free offline navigation, best call quality, durable phone..... I regret leaving symbian but nokia didnt left me anh choice and now m regretting that,,, first time in my life i feel like have bought a headache, i never complained bout any nokia phone i purchased in last 6-7 yeara,,, i still have my e5 and at anyday i prefer using it for daily use without any hassles..... One thing please keep in mind all this android crap is just a platform to spend ur hard earned money, same goes with iphn.. U are robbed right below ur nose and u only realise it when u buy all that crappy apps for $5-6 only to delete them later on...blaah blaah...anyways if nokia cud set up meego( thanks to elope it was screwd up) vid this camera then i will sell mh note 2 and go for it, i dont care bout apps and games, cos whh should i pay $3-5 for a game thag i can buy for $6-7 and play in my 42" led in my xbox.... Dong b a fool if u spend ur moneh like this u will have credit card bills lying on the door always.... Respect for what innovation....

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-80094
                                    • 7Ei
                                    • 21 Jan 2013

                                    The sound recording is way better than any P&S out there.. including the galaxy camera.

                                    See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cofha_RWqpU

                                      • D
                                      • AnonD-27284
                                      • IaH
                                      • 21 Jan 2013

                                      I want both =)

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-85611
                                        • L4C
                                        • 21 Jan 2013

                                        AnonD-103300, 20 Jan 2013If you are interested in photography , invest in a DSLR and... moreWhy anyone that knows much better options would want an iPhone?