Monday, February 27, 2012

Nokia 808 [updated] PureView- 41-megapixel camera phone

[Thanks to Timo]
Geez Loueeeze, this is getting ridic.

Update:




Ten years ago, I said: "I think that in ten years, we can get a pocket camera with large-format resolution" (large format is 4x5-inch negative or larger). But I didn't think it would happen in a phone first.

For the record I'm sure this thing can't compete with the new Nikon D800 36MP camera. There are many different sizes and qualities of megapixels. But still this seems pretty remarkable, and apparently it does have a Zeiss lens. The time can't be far off when camera-shake is a thing of the past, in any light. Low-light grain too. And small sensor cameras like this have practically infinite depth of field, so that handles focus errors also.

Update:
See links in the comments, like these pictures. The shallow depth of field in the first one indicates that this phone must have a much larger sensor than we're used to in phones.
Full resolution sample images. OK, this has the iPhone camera beat all to heck. Didn't see that coming so soon.


Update: Andrea sends this link to a hands-on article.
Sadly, the phone runs the Symbian OS, which is on its way out. But surely the camera will be used in more modern phones soon.

20 comments:

TC [Girl] said...

(funny new window! The preview window sucks, quite, still!) Quite amazing, the low light...not to mention, of course, the amount megapixels; nuts! Now, I'm wanting to see how well it would do with...[as anyone who has read one of my forever "quests"] a moon shot!

Nokia has also always been my favorite kind of phone. I'm going to HOPE that this one is included in my next upgrade selection! :-D

Timo Lehtinen said...

They say the Nokia 3310 is indestructible. But then they don't make those anymore.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Good luck, TCG, this sounds like a flagship model.

TC [Girl] said...

Yeah, we'll see, Eo! I thought I got my last Nokia through Sprint but it seems that I must have gotten it through another carrier that I refuse to support any longer; I called my Sprint dude and he sez they don't carry Nokias and hadn't heard of it! :-( Of course, that doesn't mean much because many don't know much about what is coming down the pike until it's announced!

Found a couple of items, both "interesting re: this phone: first off, it sure didn't hurt that they threw Zeiss glass in it! NICE! That would probably account for the nice bokeh, hey?

And...then there are "worrying" things (wish I could find the board I just read the issues on! Arg!) re: "Windows" vs. LTE (I still have to figure out what that is (found it) but...it seems to be the technology that they are moving ahead with and is NOT used in this phone!)

TC [Girl] said...

Found it!

"...at this stage of the game there is little reason to get new Windows Phone. The new LTE network is coming and that is where its emphasis lies. Any new phones will be LTE capable rather than wimax and phone makers are not going to put any effort into a technology that is dying. Yes, it will be around for another few years for people holding onto old phones, but the future of Sprint is LTE.

Since Sprint didn't make the decision to go LTE public until November it will take phone makers at least 9 months to get a Spring-enabled LTE device engineered, designed, prototyped, testes and manufactured.

That is where the August-September date is coming."

So...not sure what that means, for Sprint. I guess I'll have to wait and see, come July!

Timo Lehtinen said...

Sample images

Low light video

I want this phone just for use as a camera!

Timo Lehtinen said...

Full resolution sample images: Archive2.zip

TC [Girl] said...

I want this phone just for use as a camera!

Exactly! Just not too thrilled to have to pay $600 for a phone! It's still difficult for me to comprehend how many people spend that for phones, etc.; and they say this nation is in a rrrrecession! EEP! :-/

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Thanks for the links etc guys.

Andrea said...

I wonder how the point and click camera market is going to react.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

In the long run, they are probably pretty much screwed.
In the short run, so far the only phones with good cameras are pretty expensive.

Philocalist said...

Hmmm ... give the Sony PS Vita a decent camera, and the ability to send text and make phone calls, and you may have most of the phone manufacturers looking over their shoulders!

Timo Lehtinen said...

Sadly, the phone runs the Symbian OS, which is on its way out.

Reportedly no other OS (WP, Android or iOS) could have handled the needed throughput and synchronization. It uses a dedicated processor for the camera functions. So at least those sections of the code must be running pretty much on bare metal.

Why do you care what OS it is? The OS will continue to run for as long as the hardware holds together. It is not going to exit the device, as you imply.

What OS does your Nikon(s) and Canon(s) run?

Andrea said...

Timo, i think the OS on a phone is pretty important. It is probably the thing an average person uses more during the day. It was the OS and poor interface that made me ditch my nokia for an iphone.

Timo Lehtinen said...

I can understand the OS matters a great deal if you are writing software for the phone. But why would an end user of a phone/camera care about the internals? More likely, what matters to them are 1) user interface; and 2) overall reliability.

The user interface of the Nokia 808 PureView is demonstrated in this video. I have no experience with any smartphones; I have barely even seen an iPhone. Please tell me what the weaknesses of Symbian are from the user's perspective.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I mentioned it because the linked article says:

"The PureView 808 runs Symbian, the awkward, decade-old OS that Nokia has said it's phasing out in favor of Windows Phone. Symbian is also not very popular among U.S. operators, making the PureView unlikely to come to a U.S. carrier. Nokia EVP Jo Harlow said the company has been working on the 808 for quite some time, implying that this device was in the works well before Nokia decided to move to Windows Phone. PureView technologies will come to "other devices" eventually, Harlow said.
The PureView I was playing with had plenty of apps on board, and the phone's home screens were set up with attractive imaging and social networking widgets. But like most Americans nowadays, I just find Symbian's interface unfamiliar, and it feels like it takes too many taps to get at things. Screens flicked smoothly, but Symbian's interface simply lacks the easy flow common to more modern OSes."

(... So if the OS makes it "unlikely to come to a US carrier", that matters for some.)

Timo Lehtinen said...

(... So if the OS makes it "unlikely to come to a US carrier", that matters for some.)

Why does it matter? Personally, I've always felt the subsidy lock in handsets is tyrannical. Much better to (be able to) get the plan and the gadget separately.

Especially in the case of a 808 where many have said they intend to use it just as a camera. Why risk ruining a shot in your indy filmmaking project when the camera starts to ring? ;-)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Sure, that's fair, geeks have very different needs and wants.

Timo Lehtinen said...

Interesting interview here.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Cool, thanks.