I'll Say It Again, The Nokia 808 Pureview Will Blow Your Fucking Mind

DPReview has posted a full review of the Nokia 808, and if you ever wanted proof that it is the camerphone, this is it. DPReview gives you their studio comparison tool that shows, in stark detail, how well the 808 Pureview compares to full cameras. The detail is jaw-dropping. The ISO performance so completely obliterates all other cell phones as to make them seem like toys. Obviously, there is only so much magic that can be done on a sensor of a set size, and the Nikon V1 noticeably outperforms the Pureview at ISO 1600.

The 808 is not without its faults. Most of them are in the software and interface, which can be fixed with updates or with aftermarket software. The only fundamental issue is that the sensor clips highlights, but this could undoubtedly be fixed with access to the raw files.

This is a company-making product. It is unique in the market. Nokia should be proud, because it finally delivered the innovation that people have been wanting since the iPhone came out. With this and the Sony RX100, the P&S camera market has been completely upended.

The Nokia 808 Hurts Me

Reviews for the Nokia 808 PureView are trickling in from major websites and the conclusion that nearly all of them reach is the same: the 808's camera is truly amazing, everything else makes the phone unpurchasable.

This is depressing for an old Nokia fan like me. I owned the Nokia brick in the late 90's. I jumped through various phones, with even the downright bizarre 3650 and 7380 crossing my hands at one point. I owned the N93 — one of the first super-imaging phones — and finished up my love affair a couple of years ago with the N86. By then, it was apparent that Nokia, for whatever reason, was incapable of competing with Apple and the rising Android threat. The colossal disappointment that was the N97 was the final nail in the coffin.

If Nokia had chosen Android, I would have jumped on board. I just cannot see through to using Windows Phone. Microsoft has proven itself to be too corporate, too litigious, and too myopic to be a company that I can support. Google is far from innocent in these regards, but they are at least better; they at least try.

So I don't know what Nokia's internal state is. I don't know what the relationship with Microsoft is. I don't know what their market research data shows. Truly, I don't know anything about Nokia's operations. All I can say is that I, this one person, is not buying Nokia products because and only because Windows Phone is on them. And that hurts, because I want this camera phone but bad.

Nokia's 808 Will Blow Your Fucking Mind

"I can't believe that this is a cell phone," is what you'll say.

GSM Arena has posted its comparison of the Nokia 808 versus other phones. They have the iPhone 4s, representing the best that cell phones can currently produce. For fun, they also include the Olympus E-PL2 and the Canon EOS 5D Mark III — both excellent cameras for their size and price. The 808, no surprise, blows the cell phone competition completely out of the water. Importantly, it also blows the Nokia N8, which was supposed to be the one cell camera to rule them all and totally wasn't, into another time zone.

What was a surprise, though, was that the 808 completely outresolves both the Canon and Olympus. Obviously, that has as much to do with the lens as the camera itself, but since the lens is built in, knowing that it is top-notch is pretty important. Obviously, colors from the Canon are smoother, with a lower amount of noise, but that is completely expected. The Canon's sensor is multiple times larger. The Olympus, though, has its ass handed to it. The Nokia is better in every way save for color rendition. The Nokia produces incredibly cold, blue images, which look very poor next to the warm, natural colors from the Olympus.

The detail, though, the detail is amazing. These are all likely OOC JPEG images, and as such, more detail is possible from the Oly and Canon, but I doubt that they would ever match the Nokia. In the first set of crops, look at the far left of the image. The doors and windows have a chain-link pattern that is only visible in the Nokia.

This is an epic performance, one that only drives home that cell phones will quickly become a threat for even standalone camera companies. That it took this long for Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, and the entrenched camera companies to respond to the unavoidable threat of cell phones is a disgrace. Once the final tests come out, this new Nokia may very well obviate the Sony RX100, Fuji X10, and Canon G1X. And Panasonic's and Olympus' ridiculous quest to turn micro 4/3 into the new point-and-shoot cameras will be their downfall. Will those cameras produce better images? In many cases, yes. But the fact that most compact cameras still outperform most cell phones hasn't stopped cell phones from ripping up the market.

The Nokia 808 portends a dark future for camera companies, unless they finally, finally, stop being arrogant, intransigent, old men, and start driving the market forward with innovation and investment.

Nokia 808 Pureview Video Samples Appear

A Youtube user got his mitts on a Nokia 808 Pureview and rendered a video. The only way to describe it is stunning. Now, if only everything else about the phone wasn't total crap. I don't like Windows Phone very much, but I have to admit, if Nokia released a WinPho phone with this camera inside, I'd buy it. No hesitation. Just take my money!

UPDATE: For some reason, the original uploader deleted his video. This smells like an official "leak" to me, since it's already available from a few other uploaders, one of whom I have posted here.