The case for the Nokia PureView 808 isn't complicated: if you want the best cameraphone ever made, you'll think £500 may be worth paying. If not, the price will make you openly laugh.
But even those firmly in the latter camp must surely be just a little curious to know just how good that 41-megapixel camera really is. Well, according to the chaps over at the respected DPReview, it's good enough for a prestigious Gold award.
In case you don't know DPReview, it's one of the most read and respected camera sites in the business, happy to throw 10,000 words at a time at evaluating every last detail of the latest in DSLRs, compact system cameras and pretty much everything else photography related.
So what do they say about the 808? How about that it's a “fascinating and compelling product” and that “as a cameraphone, the Nokia blows its competition out of the water”?
The PureView tech itself is hailed as “one of the most important innovations – arguable the most important – in mobile photography since the smarphone era dawned”.
In fact, in terms of the handset's skills as a camera – DPReview is a camera site after all – the review is almost entirely complimentary (though with unavoidable mentions of the whole “considering it's a phone” thing).
But there's no misinterpreting statements like “in terms of sharpness and detail, the 808 is more than a match at low ISO settings for most compact cameras (and some DSLRs)”.
As for its credentials as a phone, even a photography site isn't going to gloss over Symbian's failings, both in terms of interface issues and other frustrations that will affect the serious photographer, as well as the platform's crumbling position in the wider mobile sense.
But when it comes to the hardware itself – and more importantly the PureView imaging technology considering Nokia's intentions to port it across to its Windows Phones – the review is rich in its praise.
That still doesn't mean Nokia will sell many at all – I know I won't be buying one. But I'm also in no doubt that the mobile industry would be worse off without the increasingly rare originality that the 808 PureView brings to the table.
Yes, it's no match for your iPhones and Galaxy S3s, but it's also not likely to be starring in any court cases any time soon either, and that should count for something.
Via WMPowerUser
