Nokia 808 PureView Specs Review

What do we mean here? Well, first of all, the Nokia 808 PureView comes to succeed the N8 – the smartphone that kind of set the new benchmark for camera phones when it came out. Well, interestingly, the still largest handset manufacturer by volume seems to be aiming even higher this time by introducing a handset with a camera which has not 12, not 16... but an enormous 41 megapixels! Sounds pretty wicked, we know.

First of all, we should note that the handset looks like a typical Nokia, which isn't a bad thing, of course. It has a large 4" screen on the front, however, it still has Symbian's usual nHD resolution, which is 360x640 pixels. The display uses the AMOLED technology, and overall it looks cool, despite the relatively low resolution. Touch sensitivity is also pretty good.

Do not expect wonders from this device on the build quality front. Is's actually quite light, and doesn't feel as premium as the N8. Still, it's not bad either.


		Also known as Nokia 808 PureView RM-807 General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 Announced 2012, February Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2012, May Body Dimensions 123.9 x 60.2 x 13.9 mm, 95.5 cc Weight 169 g Display Type AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 360 x 640 pixels, 4.0 inches (~184 ppi pixel density) Multitouch Yes Protection Corning Gorilla Glass - Nokia ClearBlack display Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes - Dolby Digital Plus - Dolby headphone enhancement Memory Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB Internal 16 GB storage, 1 GB ROM, 512 MB RAM Data GPRS Class 33 EDGE Class 33 Speed HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, UPnP technology Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP NFC Yes USB Yes, microUSB v2.0, USB On-the-go support Camera Primary 41 MP (38 MP effective, 7152 x 5368 pixels), Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, Xenon flash Features 1/1.2'' sensor size, ND filter, up to 4x lossless digital zoom, geo-tagging, face detection Video Yes, 1080p@30fps, lossless digital zoom, LED light Secondary Yes, VGA; VGA@30fps video recording Features OS Nokia Belle OS CPU 1.3 GHz ARM 11 Sensors Accelerometer, proximity, compass Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM Browser HTML5, Adobe Flash Lite Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS; FM transmitter GPS Yes, with A-GPS support Java Yes, MIDP 2.1 Colors Black, White, Red - SNS integration - Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic - HDMI port - MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ player - MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player - Voice command/dial - Document viewer - Video/photo editor - Predictive text input Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh (BV-4D) Stand-by Up to 465 h (2G) / Up to 540 h (3G) Talk time Up to 11 h (2G) / Up to 6 h 50 min (3G)

Design

The obvious drawback to having an enormous camera in a smartphone is that it physically takes up quite a lot of space. That is why the Nokia 808 PureView is pretty bulky by today's standards with a thickness of 14 millimeters. So yeah, sexy is far from the first terms one would use to describe the device. Also, it is definitely among the heaviest of smartphones as it tips the scale at 169 grams. And with that kind of weight, you will definitely be able to feel the 808 PureView in your pocket. Last but not least, its design is okay, yet surprisingly, the smartphone does not feel as that premium of a device as the Nokia N8, as it became evident from our Nokia 808 PureView hands-on review.

Display

With its 4 inches of display real estate, the Nokia 808 PureView hits the sweet spot for many smartphone users. It is neither too big, nor too little, and it is very usable with a single hand. The combination of AMOLED and ClearBlack screen technologies ensures that the display delivers rich colors and deep blacks even when used outdoors on a bright, sunny day. And to make things even better, the display's surface is protected by Gorilla Glass, meaning that it is well armored against every day wear and tear. However, there is something that we cannot overlook, namely that the display on the Nokia 808 PureView has a relatively low for its size resolution of 360 by 640 pixels, which translates into a usable, but unimpressive pixel density of 184 pixels per inch.

Hardware

In terms of hardware, there isn't much that can make the Nokia 808 PureView stand out. Inside it we have a 1.3GHz single-core processor based on ARM11 architecture and backed up by 512 megabytes of RAM. However, that is more than enough to deliver a smooth Nokia Belle experience, so don't worry too much about the smartphone's seemingly underpowered hardware. On-board storage is another thing that should not be much of a concern. You get 16 gigabytes, which is okay for a contemporary smartphone, and if those full-res snaps and HD videos start piling up, you can always expand the handset's storage with a microSD card. Last but not least, we have a 1,400 mAh battery under the device's back cover. It can provide 6.5 hours of talk-time on 3G or about three weeks of stand-by time, which is acceptable by today's norms.

Software

The Nokia 808 PureView runs Nokia Belle with Feature Pack 1 enhancements

What runs on the 808 PureView is the Nokia Belle platform with Feature Pack 1 enhancements, which is the latest Symbian iteration to date. Thankfully, a lot has been done to its interface, which is why it now looks a lot more like a contemporary mobile platform than it did before. Multiple home screens, variety of widgets, even a drop-down menu reminiscent of that we have on Android – these are the new features that Belle introduced with its release. Besides, it runs noticeably smoother than previous versions as its code has gone through some serious optimizing. For more details, we happen to have a really nice Nokia Belle review.

Connectivity

Connectivity-wise, the Nokia 808 PureView supports everything that is essential for a modern smartphone. For web access there is Wi-Fi b/g/n, and for the times when a hot spot is not around, the 3G HSPA radio can reach peak speeds of up to 14.4Mbps. You also get Bluetooth 3.0, NFC, TV-out via Micro HDMI, and USB mass storage mode for fast and easy file transfer between the smartphone and a PC and vice versa.

Camera

The 41-megapixel camera is what makes the Nokia 808 PureView shine, and it shouldn't be surprising that thanks to it, the smartphone won the Best New Mobile Handset award at Mobile World Congress 2012. We have yet to test it out ourselves, but those Nokia 808 PureView image samples, which are also available in full resolution, look pretty good for a camera phone. Achieving that level of quality is a complicated process, so if you want to learn more about the way the 808 PureView's camera works, we have given it a full-blown overview right here. The camera experience would have not been completed if it wasn't for the xenon flash and LED light helping out in low-light situations. And when it comes to video, the handset can capture footage at 1080p resolution.

Expectations

The Nokia 808 PureView may be pretty average as a smartphone, but as a camera phone, there doesn't seem to be anything else on the market that can beat it. Still, whether that is 100% accurate will become clear once we get our hands on a final unit and put it through its paces. The smartphone is expected to become available in May and will retail for about $600 off-contract.

The pictures taken by 41 megapixel