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Nokia 808 PureView costs £540 in UK

Online retailers are taking orders for the 41-megapixel Nokia 808 PureView -- for £540.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm
2 min read

The most powerful camera phone ever made is coming to Britain. An online shop is taking orders for the 41-megapixel Nokia 808 PureView -- for £540.

Clove is taking orders for the 808 PureView now, and will relieve you of £538.80 for the pleasure -- surely making the 808 the most expensive Symbian phone ever.

It's worth taking that with a pinch of salt though. Clove, gawd bless 'em, has discovered the PR value of being first to announce a price for a hotly tipped new phone, so the actual price may not reflect that. We also don't know the release date yet. I've contacted Nokia to find out if these details are kosher.

The 808 is the first phone to boast PureView technology, which marries multi-megapixel hardware with powerful photography-focused software. It has way more features and manual control of the camera than any camera phone yet -- but still feels to us more like a prototype or proof of concept than an actual consumer product. In fact, if Clove is on the level we're pleasantly surprised we'll be able to get it in the UK at all, after previous niche Nokia the N9 failed to make it to these shores.

But the PureView technology is set to trickle down to more phones. In fact, word on the street is that a 41-megapixel Windows 8 phone is on the cards. Nokia has a track record with camera phones -- the camera was by far by the best thing about the otherwise disappointing Nokia N8 -- so PureView could put Nokia way ahead of the competition.

I'm excited about PureView, and looking forward to giving the 808 a proper test. In the meantime, check out our in-depth photo gallery or press play on our video to see how it works:

Watch this: Nokia PureView 808 hands-on

Are you excited about the Nokia 808 PureView? Would you pay £540 for a Symbian phone? Tell me your pure views in the comments or on our Facebook page.