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Nokia 808 PureView in the UK by end of June

Nokia has confirmed its whopping 41-megapixel camera will be out in the UK by the end of June.

Luke Westaway Senior editor
Luke Westaway is a senior editor at CNET and writer/ presenter of Adventures in Tech, a thrilling gadget show produced in our London office. Luke's focus is on keeping you in the loop with a mix of video, features, expert opinion and analysis.
Luke Westaway
2 min read

The 808 Pureview -- Nokia's smart phone with a scarily powerful 41-megapixel camera -- will be out in the UK by the end of June.

We'd already caught sight of a speculative £540 price tag for this Symbian-powered super snapper, but now Nokia has confirmed to CNET UK that the 808 PureView will be headed to the UK in the second quarter of this year, which means it'll be lining British shelves by the end of June.

I've contacted all the major UK networks to ask who'll be selling the 808 PureView when it lands. O2 has told me it has "no plans" to sell the phone -- I'll let you know if I hear anything from the others. Nokia today confirmed that the 808 PureView would be winging its way to "select markets" this month. Fingers crossed Brit shoppers aren't forced to wait too long.

Watch this: Nokia PureView 808 hands-on

To be honest, just hearing that the 808 PureView is going on sale is a bit of a surprise. When it debuted at Mobile World Congress earlier in the year, my esteemed colleague Rich noted that it felt like a bit of an experiment on Nokia's behalf -- despite the potentially mind-blowing camera the 808 is hampered by Symbian, the unattractive, out-of-favour operating system found on older Nokia phones.

Shutterbugs looking for cutting-edge camera tech in their next smart phone may want to hold fire on a purchase, as rumours are circulating that our favourite Finns may be cooking up a PureView device powered by Microsoft's fresher Windows Phone operating system, which is currently galavanting on the Lumia 800.

That would make sense to me. Nokia has form in the hardware stakes -- even 2010's miserably disappointing N8 offered a decent snapper. Nokia's released a teaser clip for the PureView snapper, which you can ogle here.

Are you intrigued? Has Nokia changed camera tech forever, or is the 808 just a headline-grabbing stunt? Let me know in the comments or on our Facebook wall.