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Nokia 808 PureView Preview

Nokia Philippines is hosting a one-on-one preview of the Nokia 808 PureView this week as a form of a soft launch to their 41-megapixel cameraphone (this ninja release is in lieu of the usual, formal media launch). Check out our first impressions, sample photos and videos after the break.

The Nokia 808 actually came out in select Nokia Stores earlier this week but is limited in stock so you might not be able to see and get one immediately. The suggested retail price is pegged at Php26,550 and it is available in white, black and red colors.

The handset itself is typical Nokia Symbian touchscreen phone, reminiscent of the 5800 XpressMusic. It’s obviously very thick because of that large camera sensor at the back and it’s got a bit of heft to it.

Here’s a really short clip showing the body and exterior of the cameraphone.

I wasn’t too familiar with Symbian anymore but with the limited time I had on the Nokia 808, Nokia Belle was actually polished, smooth and responsive. I had the impression that the display was small despite it being actually 4 inches already (I guess the low screen resolution had to do with it).

Nokia isn’t big with hardware specs so the 808 PureView wold look like your typical mid-range smartphone if you have to put it under the Android line-up.

Nokia 808 Pureview specs:
4.0″ display @ 360×640 pixels
1.3GHz single-core processor
512MB RAM
16GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 3.0
HSPA 14.4Mbps
41MP Carl-Zeiss rear camera w/ Xenon flash
1080p video recording
GPS w/ aGPS support
Nokia Symbian Belle

What it definitely boasts is the 41-megapixel sensor, almost 4 times the size of any other high-end smartphones in the market. That’s the reason why a lot of folks refer to this as a cameraphone rather than a smartphone with a big-ass camera.

If you want the particulars about the camera itself, here’s what we got so far from the specs sheet.

• Carl Zeiss Optics
• Focal length: 8.02mm
• 35mm equivalent focal length: 26mm, 16:9 | 28mm, 4:3
• F-number: f/2.4
• Focus range: 15cm – Infinity (throughout the zoom range)
• Construction:
· 5 elements, 1 group.All lens surfaces are aspherical
· One high-index, low-dispersion glass mould lens
· Mechanical shutter with neutral density filter
• Optical format: 1/1.2”
• Total number of pixels: 7728 x 5368
• Pixel Size: 1.4 microns

For those who are familiar with photography, note that the maximum aperture opening while other smartphones like the Galaxy S3 has f/2.6 and the One X has f/2.0. We’ll get more into that in a separate article.

We only took a few sample photos as we had limited time and the room at the Nokia office had little scenic spots and subject to take photos of.

In any case, we were still impressed with the optics of the phone. Here are sample photos.

[fancygallery ID=”pureview”]

Notice the first image in the gallery is a cropped version of a bigger image at 100% so you can see the zoomed image at 1:1 ratio.

Tick on the 1080p quality and play it on a larger display to better appreciate.

What we’re more impressed is the 1080p video. We tried to connect this and output the video to a 32-inch HDTV and the video quality is still very fine and crisp.

There was a limited number of Nokia 808 and only about 4 units are available for the media (as such, there was no review unit to speak of, just a limited 1-hour hands-on preview). We’ll try to secure our own units and do a full review.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

48 Responses

  1. Avatar for Sam Sam says:

    Would you know if they sold the protective hard cover? I don’t like keeping my 808 in a pouch…

  2. Avatar for Mr. Curious Mr. Curious says:

    Well I think the iPhone is quite a wish in a shooting star. Because apple may want to have the best phone still, they want to keep the slim and sleek design of their phones. It would be impossible for them to put up a huge piece of camera like this on their phones or even in the iPods or iPads. I mean, is that really should be the size of the camera? I know for a fact that it is a monter, but can’t they compress the size? just curious hoping for an answer :D

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      Simple. Law of Physics and Optics. You can’t have a sensor that big with a lot of megapixels and individual cells / pixels that are 1.4 microns, mind you the SAME SIZE as that of the sensor of the 8MP iPhone 4S. The Nokia 808 PureView managed to pack 5 times the amount of pixels but still WITH THE SAME SIZE as that of the iPhone 4S.

      You cannot have a large sensor without depth, thus the big camera bump.

      Now if they had put OPTICAL ZOOM, then you’d get these:

      http://bit.ly/LP0MLF

      http://bit.ly/LP0PXS

      compared to this:

      http://bit.ly/LP12KK

      I hope I answered your query adequately.

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      Simple. Law of Physics and Optics. You can’t have a sensor that big with a lot of megapixels and individual cells / pixels that are 1.4 microns, mind you the SAME SIZE as that of the sensor of the 8MP iPhone 4S. The Nokia 808 PureView managed to pack 5 times the amount of pixels but still WITH THE SAME SIZE as that of the iPhone 4S.

      You cannot have a large sensor without depth, thus the big camera bump.

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      Simple. Droit de physique et d’optique. Vous ne pouvez pas avoir un capteur qui avec un grand nombre de mégapixels et des cellules individuelles ou pixels qui sont 1,4 microns, l’esprit vous la même taille que celle du capteur de l’iPhone 8MP 4S. Le Nokia 808 PureView réussi à emballer 5 fois la quantité de pixels mais toujours avec la même taille que celle de l’iPhone 4S.

      Vous ne pouvez pas avoir un grand capteur sans profondeur, ce qui la bosse grosse caméra.

      Google Translate = French.

  3. Avatar for Mr. Curious Mr. Curious says:

    Just imagine, an iPhone with that kind of camera (not a fanboy here) or any HTC or samsung phone with that camera, BOOM! I say :D

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      Interesting proposition. However, due to the closed, proprietary nature of iOS and the lack of I/O and hardware that this device already have, it would be deemed a downgrade to some degree and some aspects. IMO.

  4. Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

    @dong : Click my link to find out.

  5. Avatar for PeteV. PeteV. says:

    Off topic here. Sir Abe, bsta gusto nyong i post yung sinabi ng Foxconn chairman na wait for iphone5, it will put samsung galaxy s3 to shame.

  6. Avatar for nebula nebula says:

    single core tapos 1080 recording hahaha di kaya ng android yan lol,

    may led flash pa for video recording sa gabi,
    sa videoke or concert pwede hindi basag/garalgal ang tunog pag niplay na to dahil sa pureview rich recording technology

    • Avatar for dong dong says:

      pureview rich recording…nice one lol. baka pureaudio rich recording. 808 equals wow!

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      @dong : nebula is right. PureView Rich Recording. If you just care to Google a bit, you’ll find there are lots of technical people using this technical term from Nokia themselves, even Mr. Damian Dinning, Heidi Lemmetiyenen and Juha Alakarhu. So yes, PureView Rich Recording it is.

    • Avatar for Paolo Paolo says:

      Nokia Rich Recording po ang totoong pangalan. PureView Pro Technology ang ginagamit na term para sa “over sampling” sa camera. Nokia Rich Recording ang term para sa Audio. Pero parehong maganda ang features. Dahil pa sa Dolby Surroung sound technology na built in sa device, panalo ang mga tunog na manggagaling sa 808. High def video at audio. Single core pa lang yan. ^_^

  7. Avatar for roiji roiji says:

    hahantayin ko na lang magmura to hahah

  8. Avatar for Mr A Mr A says:

    If this phone is advertised for its camera and only has the camera as its strong point. Then would it be better to actually buy a good camera for that price? As much as I like the technology, everything else about is not interesting enough to warrant the price. If Nokia just made a camera out of this technology is better. Actually, it would be a good transition point for their company if Windows can’t save their company in the mobile space.

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      Summer of 2010 we went to Singapore to buy this beauty Samsung ST-1000. It has a 3.5″ capacitive touchscreen with multitouch, Optical Zoom 5x, 1080i video @ 30 fps, Megapixels 12.2, with GPS, Blutooth, WiFi and Social Network support. It even has a decent Schneider-Kreuznach lens. We bought it for almost 20K. Decent super compact P&S.

      The most logical successor would have been the Canon S100. But then this monster came along.

      Now with those specs, how can one pass up the Nokia 808 PureView @ PHP 26,550.00?

      And it’s a smartphone, too.

    • Avatar for Mr A Mr A says:

      What you said is a Camera then a Phone. Looking at the Samsung site, its seems to be using a custom firmware for the software.

      That aside, you got to ask yourself: What are you buying? A Phone or a Camera? If you want a camera, then from that price point, you can get a better P&S or a 2nd to entry level SLR. Much better camera. Now if you want a Phone, then I don’t think this will be a good choice.

      I am not saying that this is a bad product. But I feel that Nokia is simply releasing their early test product for this technology. It would be best to avoid this and just wait for the 2nd or 3rd generation. Which I would guess, be on Windows Phone 8 devices. The next Lumnia perhaps?

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      Microsoft Windows Phone 8? No thanks, I don’t wanna be scr00d by Microsoft in just every 3-6 months after releasing a “FLAGSHIP” device.

      In case you’re wondering, yeah. Test device. Nokia 808 PureView project in R&D at Nokia started as early as year 2007, parallel development as Nokia N8-00. This was set to be the successor of Nokia N90/N93.

      So yeah. Test product it is. 5 years of development. That’s why they had to use Symbian, not Pocket PC, Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, etc.,

      I was really intent on the Canon S100, being the best Point and Shoot there is at the price range.

      Nothing right now at this price range comes close to the Nokia 808 PureView.

      Read and see the reviews and comparison in GSMArena and PureViewClub. Also try to search Nokia 808 in Flickr. It’s no DSLR, but take time and you’ll see. :)

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      MS Windows Phone 8? No thanks, I don’t wanna be scr00d by MS in just every 3-6 months after releasing a “FLAGSHIP” device.

      In case you’re wondering, yeah. Test device. Nokia 808 PureView project in R&D at Nokia started as early as year 2007, parallel development as Nokia N8-00. This was set to be the successor of Nokia N90/N93.

      So yeah. Test product it is. 5 years of development. That’s why they had to use Symbian, not Pocket PC, Win CE, Win Mobile, Win Phone, etc.,

      I was really intent on the Canon S100, being the best Point and Shoot there is at the price range.

      Nothing right now at this price range comes close to the Nokia 808 PureView.

      Read and see the reviews and comparison in GSMA and PureViewClub. Also try to search Nokia 808 in Flickr. It’s no DSLR, but take time and you’ll see. :)

      p.s., I now understand since you are an MS advocate. ;)

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      Mary had a little lamb,
      Its fleece was white as snow.
      And everywhere where Mary went,
      The lamb was sure to go.

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      /\/\1(r0$0Ph7 \/\/1|\|D0\/\/$ p|-|0|\|3 8? |\|0 7|-|4|\||<$, 1 d0|\|'7 \/\/4|\||\|4 b3 $(r3\/\/3D b'/ /\/\1(r0$0Ph7 1|\| jU$7 3\/3r'/ 3-6 /\/|\|7|-|$ 4Ph73r r3L34$1|\|9 4 "pHL495|-|1P" d3\/1(3. 1|\| (4$3 j00Z R \/\/0|\|D3r1|\|9, '/34|-|. 73$7 d3\/1(3. |\|0|<14 808 pUr3\/13\/\/ pr0j3(7 1|\| R&D @ |\|0|<14 $74r73D 4$ 34rL'/ 4$ '/34r 2007, p4r4LL3L d3\/3L0P/\/\3|\|7 4$ |\|0|<14 |\|8-00. 7|-|1$ \/\/4$ $37 70 b3 7|-|3 $U((3$$0r 0Ph |\|0|<14 |\|90/|\|93. 50 '/34|-|. 73$7 pr0DU(7 17 1$. 5 '/34r$ 0Ph d3\/3L0P/\/\3|\|7. 7|-|47'$ \/\/|-|'/ 7|-|3'/ |-|4D 70 U$3 5'//\/\B14|\|, |\|07 p0(|<37 p(, \/\/1|\|D0\/\/$ (3, \/\/1|\|D0\/\/$ /\/B1L3, \/\/1|\|D0\/\/$ p|-|0|\|3, 37(., 1 \/\/4$ r34LL'/ 1|\|73|\|7 0|\| 7|-|3 (4|\|0|\| 5100, b31|\|9 7|-|3 b3$7 p01|\|7 4|\|D 5|-|007 7|-|3r3 1$ @ 7|-|3 pr1(3 r4|\|93. |\|07|-|1|\|9 r19|-|7 |\|0\/\/ @ 7|-|1$ pr1(3 r4|\|93 (0/\/\3$ (L0$3 70 7|-|3 |\|0|<14 808 pUr3\/13\/\/. R34D 4|\|D $33 7|-|3 r3\/13\/\/$ 4|\|D (0/\/\P4r1$0|\| 1|\| 95/\/\4r3|\|4 4|\|D pUr3\/13\/\/(LUB. 4L$0 7r'/ 70 $34r(|-| |\|0|<14 808 1|\| pHL1(|<r. 17'$ |\|0 d5LR, bU7 74|<3 71/\/\3 4|\|D j00Z'LL $33. :) P.$., 1 |\|0\/\/ U|\|D3r$74|\|D $1|\|(3 j00Z R 4|\| /\/\5 4D\/0(473. ;)

      You may Google L337 Speak Converter to convert my message.

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      Microsoft Windows Phone 8? No gracias, no quiero ser follada por Microsoft en tan sólo cada 3-6 meses después de la liberación de un “buque insignia” del dispositivo.

      En caso de que usted se está preguntando, sí. Prueba de dispositivo. Nokia 808 PureView proyecto en I + D de Nokia comenzó a principios del año 2007, el desarrollo paralelo como Nokia N8-00. Este fue creado para ser el sucesor del Nokia N90/N93.

      Así que sí. Producto de prueba que es. 5 años de desarrollo. Es por eso que tuvieron que utilizar Symbian, no Pocket PC, Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, etc,

      Yo estaba muy atento a la S100 de Canon, siendo el mejor punto y disparar no está en el rango de precios.

      No hay nada ahora mismo en este rango de precios se aproxima a la PureView Nokia 808.

      Leer y ver los comentarios y comparación en GSMArena y PureViewClub. Además, trate de buscar Nokia 808 en Flickr. No es ninguna réflex digital, pero llevará tiempo y verás. :)

      ps, ahora entiendo ya que usted es un defensor de MS. ;)

    • Avatar for chaoz chaoz says:

      @Mr A, I don’t think you get the point. If you are a professional photographer then buy a DSLR but if just want a great camera that you can bring all the time then this phone is for you. Digicams? You really want to bring it all the time with you? You will look like a wannabe photographer aspiring to be a pro photographer but cannot afford a DSLR. And besides Digicams is not an everyday device. I myself has a DSLR and I sold it because I can only use it when there is an event or getaways. Yes you can bring it with you on malls and take pictures with your friends but it is very INTIMIDATING. You look like a photographer every time and that makes me sick.

      TL;DR: 808 is for those who want to take a snap everyday anywhere he wants without getting the attention of others and the camerphone itself is not shouting SMILE!!!!! unlike DSLR.

  9. Avatar for Danny Danny says:

    Magdadala ka ng dslr kahit saan? N808 pede na sa bulsa lang at 1 lang kailangan me phone ka pa.

    Me nabasa ko for sale na to sa atin sa internet nga lang 24k din ang price.

    • Avatar for Iceman Iceman says:

      So why not just buy a decent compact point and shoot at half the price or less? Oh becomes it also acts a phone lol.

    • Avatar for Iceman Iceman says:

      So why not just buy a decent compact point and shoot at half the price or less? Oh becomes it also acts a phone. Makes sense lol.

  10. Avatar for iceman iceman says:

    Why not just buy an entry level DSLR or a bridge cam if you’re just getting this for the camera?

  11. Avatar for thomasmmm thomasmmm says:

    awesome optics, good stress on cameraphone vs. smartphone. looking forward to the ‘clearer’ review.

  12. Avatar for topGUN topGUN says:

    This phone is fantastic gonna have this one..LORD willing:)

  13. Avatar for lane lane says:

    where’s the link to the video?

  14. Avatar for Erwin Erwin says:

    WP8 + Pureview = Panalo!

  15. Avatar for Myalyf Myalyf says:

    Almost 30k for a single core phone with an outdated OS and low resolution screen? No thanks.

    • Avatar for JM JM says:

      nobody pleases you. But let me just tell you this.
      Single core on Belle is just like dual-core running in android OS. Well you have to read to find out yourself. I do not please you to have this phone. But I will do have this phone.

    • Avatar for NovicePlayer NovicePlayer says:

      You got your expectations wrong. No one is buying this phone because of the OS or the resolution of the screen. People are going to buy this because of the camera.

    • Avatar for pinescruiser pinescruiser says:

      sa price na yan, camera lng tlga ngpamahal jan.. why not dual core or quadcore?, its because symbian os can run smoothly on single cores; useless lng ung extra cores kung hindi nman mgagamit. parang IOS and WPs, hindi na kailangan ng sangkatutaak na cores para mgrun smoothly.. and i think only Symbian os can handle the pureview 41 megs n camera.

    • Avatar for chaoz chaoz says:

      ganito din reaction ko nung una, konti nalang kapresyo na ng S3 tapos single core at symbian pa. Sabi nga ni sir abe this phone was considered as cameraphone rather than smartphone. Kung fan ka ng nokia cameraphones (n82/n8) you might get this. Single core on symbian phones can run smoothly but not as fluid like S3 and 4S. Specs wise, S3 talaga ang panalo or any other quad core phones + the Android OS but looking at those bokeh shots I don’t know what to choose. Kung malayo lang sana yung price niya sa S3 (20k?). And sabi sa mga reviews this may be the last epic symbian phone Nokia will ever made.

  16. Avatar for Guest Guest says:

    Sir, Galaxy S3 has f/2.6 aperture.

    This pureview is a monster cameraphone. Nice focal length, you can shoot a dslr-like bokeh effect with this.
    Other cameraphones focal length is only 4mm.

  17. Avatar for mel mel says:

    that will be great for travellers lalo na kung kelangan mag point and shoot lang ng scenes, but how does it perform on night shots/vids?

  18. Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

    Gano kaya kalaki file size ng Pix nito?

    • Avatar for Ramon Ramon says:

      Same size as a picture from a 5megapixel camera

      Yung camera sensor lng yung 41mp, then images are converted to 5mp pics :-D

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      1-2MB for 2,3,5,8MP PureView pictures. It’s the best that you’ll get for that resolution.
      6-12MB for 34,38MP Full Resolution pictures.

  19. Avatar for raffy raffy says:

    Anlupet nito kung WP8 ang OS!

    • Avatar for steelicon steelicon says:

      And to what effect? A gimped 41MP cameraphone without proper multitasking and a closed, proprietary OS aping iOS and mimicking Android / Symbian widgets with crippled Metro UI tiles that prevents sideloading and limited I/O connectivity?

      No thanks. Android, maybe. WP8, long shot. Good luck, though. We are enjoying this with Nokia Belle FP1, Symbian platform.

  20. Avatar for Max Max says:

    any plans in smart or globe?

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