Smooth operator
The Nokia 808 does not feature an optical or conventional digital zoom but it does compensate with the introduction of what Nokia calls a "lossless" digital zoom, which is basically a system of cropping the image to the desired area. But since there is no upscaling or interpolation of the image involved, the quality of the zoomed image remains pretty much the same as the native shot.
Pixel binning v. zooming function
The 808 lets you zoom – 3x for stills and 4x for full HD 1080p movies – either through physical controls or directly on the screen by sliding your finger until you have selected the area you wish to zoom into. Once you release the finger from the screen the camera will automatically perform the zooming action.
This SlideZoom function works particularly well for videos, where it results in much smoother action than manual zoom. The other added benefit of the lossless zoom for video is that, being totally silent, it avoids recording the mechanical optic movements onto the soundtrack. Video quality is also very good with a particularly clear and warm audio.
The Nokia 808 PureView lets you easily share images on social networking sites such as Facebook or Flickr by simply clicking on the relevant social media icon provided at the bottom of each image in the gallery.
But first things first. In order to use essential features, such as e-mail and social networks, you need an internet connection and that’s when I hit my first wall. I soon realized that getting the 808 on-line was not going to be the painless thing it normally is with any other phone.
Next page: Sample Shots
COMMENTS
instagram?!
"Instagram, being one example that photographers and Facebookers alike will certainly miss. "
So Nokia goes to great pains to create the highest quality mobile phone camera ever seen, and then the major complaint is you cannot install an app for degrading the pictures...
Pureview on Microsoft phones.... don't hold your breath it is NOT the same!
They've done the typical thing. Produced an amazing camera on an OS which is able to support such massive changes to the entire way the camera and the graphics functions. They have given this a name and then applied that same name to an OS which can NOT do the same in the hope of conning some people into spending money on a 'new' camera phone in the expectation it is as good as this 'old' camera phone.
It won't be, because it can't be. Maybe by the end of next year some of the magic can have been transferred but don't hold your breath.
As to the battery life comment, the battery life on the 808 - and indeed ALL symbian based phones runs rings around all the other smart phone contenders. The OS was designed from the very start (back in the '80's) to run on batteries - it is basically an evolution of the Epoc32 system that ran in the Psion series 5 hand held computers. Android and iOS are loosely based on linux which is a desk top system, winpho is sat on top of wince which is another cut down desk top. You will NEVER get the battery life out of these other devices that you will out of Symbian.
I would LOVE a copy of this whole article though - I worked on the device :) (not that you would guess I might be biased - but truly nothing else even comes close).
"The best camera is the one you have with you"
Or whatever the quote is. The snag with a decent quality camera (which until now has been "any dedicated camera") is that you rarely have it while you tend to have your phone a lot.
Sounds like Nokia could do well to ditch the phone components and repackage it as toughened, waterproof 'action sports' compact, possibly retaining the satnav optimised for mountains. It's got to be easier to make this design of camera shockproof than it is a camera with moving lens parts.
Re: instagram?!
Instagram...now if ever there was an app for muppets...
"Yeah the idea for the app is we let people make their crappy photos even more crappy!"
"Who wil fall for that???"
"Who do you think..Hipsters!"
